TikTok video specs in 2026: size, length, format and the settings TikTok requires

Export TikTok videos as vertical 1080×1920 MP4 files with H.264 video at 23–60 frames per second and keep them under 4 GB. The length limit is not one number: TikTok's API sends up to 10 minutes, but every account has its own maximum, and a scheduler has to check it before each post.

TikTok video file requirements

These are the limits from TikTok's Content Posting API, which is what applies when a video goes out through a scheduler instead of the TikTok app:

The 360-pixel minimum applies to both sides, so a very small or oddly cropped export can be rejected even when it plays fine. At the other end, a 4K vertical file (2160×3840) fits within the 4096-pixel maximum; anything taller does not.

How long can a TikTok video be?

TikTok's media transfer guide states it plainly: developers can send videos up to 10 minutes, creators can post 3-minute videos, and only some have access to 5- or 10-minute posts. The limit belongs to the account, not to the app you post from.

That is why TikTok requires every posting tool to fetch the creator's current settings before showing the posting screen. The response includes max_video_post_duration_sec — "the longest video duration in seconds that the TikTok creator can post" — and TikTok asks apps to stop a post that runs longer. Two accounts can therefore get different answers for the same 4-minute file.

Caption length, hashtags and mentions

A TikTok caption (the title field in the API) can be up to 2,200 UTF-16 units. Most emoji take two of those units, so a caption full of emoji reaches the limit sooner than its visible character count suggests. Hashtags and mentions are written inside the caption and recognised when they are separated by spaces or line breaks. If you send no caption, the post goes out without one.

The limit is rarely the problem — few good captions are 2,200 units long. The bigger question is how many hashtags help; TikTok publishes no number, and we cover what the platforms do document in how many hashtags each platform allows.

Photo posts

TikTok's API also accepts photo posts (carousels) with their own limits:

• Formats: JPEG or WebP.

• Size: up to 1080p and 20 MB per image.

• Interactions: only comments can be switched on or off; Duet and Stitch don't apply to photos.

The settings TikTok requires on every post

TikTok's Content Sharing Guidelines tell posting tools exactly what the posting screen must show. These rules are the reason a TikTok post in a scheduler asks more questions than a YouTube one.

Privacy: you choose, every time

The options come from the account itself. A public account can post to everyone, to mutual friends, or privately (only you). A private account can post to its followers, to mutual friends, or privately. The guidelines don't allow a pre-selected default, so a compliant tool never decides who sees your video for you.

Comments, Duet and Stitch

Each interaction is a separate checkbox, none ticked by default. If you've set an interaction to "No one" in your TikTok privacy settings, the tool has to show it greyed out — you can't switch it on from outside the app.

Commercial content

If the video promotes your own business, choose "Your brand". If it is a paid partnership, choose "Branded content" — and a branded content post cannot be private. TikTok then shows the matching label on the video.

The consent line before publishing

Next to the publish button, TikTok requires a declaration: "By posting, you agree to TikTok's Music Usage Confirmation", or, for branded content, "By posting, you agree to TikTok's Branded Content Policy and Music Usage Confirmation". The tool may not upload anything before you've seen it.

Why a scheduled TikTok can end up private

TikTok reviews every app that publishes through its API. Until an app has passed that audit, "all content posted by unaudited clients will be restricted to private viewing mode" — the post goes out, but only you can see it. If a tool's TikTok posts always land as "Only me", whatever you selected, this is the most likely reason, and it is worth asking the tool's support whether its TikTok integration is audited. Uplonic's TikTok integration has passed TikTok's audit, so the visibility you choose is the visibility the post gets.

The other common blocks are TikTok's own: a daily posting cap per account (the API answers "spam_risk_too_many_posts" without publishing a number), or an account that TikTok says can't post right now. Both are limits on your account, and waiting is the only fix.

A checklist before you schedule

• MP4, H.264, 1080×1920, 30 fps, under 4 GB.

• Length within your account's limit — check the longest video you've been able to post.

• No important text in the bottom quarter or the right edge, where TikTok's buttons and caption sit — see safe zones for TikTok, Reels and Shorts.

• Caption under 2,200 units, hashtags at the end.

• Privacy, interactions and commercial disclosure chosen for this post.

• A cover frame chosen — TikTok takes a frame from the video, not an image (see video cover sizes).

You can run the file checks in your browser with our video spec checker. For every other network, the social media video specs overview lists the limits side by side.

In Uplonic, the TikTok posting screen follows these guidelines: it loads your account's current options before each post, has no default privacy, greys out interactions you've disabled, and checks the video length against your account's limit again at the moment of publishing.