A video on X can be up to 140 seconds long and 512 MB on a free account, according to X’s help page on videos. Subscribers to X Premium, or to the paid plans of The X Subscription, can upload videos under 4 hours and up to 16 GB. X’s developer documentation lists different caps for videos posted through its API: 20 minutes by default and 125 minutes for Premium or verified accounts.
Key Takeaways
- Free account, in the app or on x.com: 140 seconds and 512 MB, per X’s help page on videos (archived 21 October 2026).
- Paid subscription: under 4 hours and 16 GB on the same page. X’s Premium page still says about 3 hours and 8 GB, so X’s own pages disagree.
- Through the API: X’s developer docs list 20 minutes and 8 GB for default accounts and 125 minutes and 16 GB for Premium or verified accounts, as of October 2026. In April 2026 the same page said 140 seconds and 512 MB.
- Who decides: X checks a video twice, when it is uploaded and again when the post is created. A scheduler cannot raise your limit.
- One video per post: a post holds up to 4 photos, 1 GIF or 1 video.
X video length limits at a glance
Every row comes from X’s own help pages or developer documentation, read on 31 October 2026. The help pages were read through the Wayback Machine, because help.x.com blocks automated readers; the archive date is in each row.
| Where and who | Max length | Max file size | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| App or x.com, free account | 140 seconds | 512 MB | Help page on videos (archived 21 Oct 2026) |
| App or x.com, paid subscriber | Under 4 hours (720p between 2 and 4 hours) | 16 GB | Help page on videos (archived 21 Oct 2026) |
| x.com and iOS, Premium subscriber | About 3 hours at 1080p | 8 GB | X Premium help page (archived 21 Oct 2026) |
| API, default account | 20 minutes | 8 GB | X developer docs |
| API, Premium or verified account | 125 minutes | 16 GB | X developer docs |
| API, video in a DM | 140 seconds free, 10 minutes Premium | 512 MB free, 1 GB Premium | X developer docs |
| Minimum length | 0.5 seconds | X developer docs |
The first two rows are the safe numbers to plan around if you post from the X app. The API rows matter if a tool posts for you.
How long can a video be on X?
On a free account, 140 seconds. X’s help page says that if you are not subscribed, “you can still upload videos up to 140 seconds long with a maximum file size of 512MB”. Subscribers to X Premium, or to the Plus, Premium, Super and Ultra plans of The X Subscription, “are able to upload videos shorter than 4 hours at 1080p with a maximum file size of 16GB”.
The same page also says subscribers can upload videos “above 2 hours and under 4 hours at 720p”, while it gives “shorter than 4 hours at 1080p” elsewhere. The page does not reconcile the two sentences, and it says nothing about how such videos play back.
140 seconds is two minutes and twenty seconds. It is the number most guides lead with, and on a free account it is still the one X’s help page prints.
Why do X’s own pages give different limits?
X does not say why the three pages disagree. On the same archive date, 21 October 2026, the help page on videos said subscribers get under 4 hours and 16 GB, while the X Premium page said Premium subscribers “can upload videos up to ~3 hours long and up to 8GB file size (1080p)”, on x.com and iOS only.
X’s developer documentation gives a third set: 20 minutes for default accounts and 125 minutes for Premium or verified accounts, for videos attached to a post. It also states that “these Post-video caps match the X app”, which is not what the help page says for free accounts.
The developer docs changed recently. An archived copy of the same page from April 2026 capped every video at “0.5 seconds and 140 seconds” and 512 MB. By September 2026 it listed the 20-minute and 125-minute caps, and it still did on 31 October 2026.
Our view: if you post from the app, plan to the help page, 140 seconds free and under 4 hours paid, because that is the page X points users to. Treat the API figures as what X’s documentation says today, not as a promise the app will accept a 20-minute file on a free account. The only test that settles it for your account is an upload.
How long can a video be when a scheduler posts it?
As long as X’s API lets your account post. X’s developer documentation says the limits “follow the authenticated user (X Premium / verified status), not your developer API plan”. So a scheduler cannot give you more than your account has, and paying for a bigger API plan on the developer side changes nothing about video length.
The docs describe four steps for every video: initialize the upload, append the file in chunks, finalize it, and wait while X processes it. Each chunk should be 5 MB or less. Then the app creates the post with the video attached, and X checks the length again against the posting account.
That second check is the one that catches people out. X’s docs warn that “upload limits and Post-create limits are separately enforced”, so a video can upload without error and still be refused when the post goes out. The refusal is a 403 error that reads “This user is not allowed to post a video longer than N minutes”, where N is the account’s cap.
The upload also names a media category. X’s docs say to use tweet_video for a regular post and amplify_video for ad creatives, and that “for Posts, Premium and default duration/size caps are the same” for both. Picking amplify_video does not buy extra length.
What file size and format does X accept?
Up to 512 MB on a free account and 16 GB on a paid one, per X’s help page. The FAQ on the same page lists the web upload limits: a resolution from 32 x 32 up to 1920 x 1200 (or 1200 x 1900), an aspect ratio between 1:2.39 and 2.39:1, at most 40 frames per second and at most 25 Mbps.
For uploads through the API, X’s developer docs recommend:
- Video: H.264 High Profile, at 30 or 60 frames per second.
- Audio: AAC LC, mono or stereo, at least 128 kbps.
- Frame: 1280 x 720 landscape, 720 x 1280 portrait or 720 x 720 square. The docs add that subscribed users get 1080p playback for a 1080p upload, and others 720p.
- Hard limits: an aspect ratio between 1:3 and 3:1, 60 frames per second at most, progressive scan.
A video never costs characters. X’s help page says “videos do not count towards the character limit in a post”, which the main site’s guide to how many characters an X post can be also covers, along with the 280-character limit itself. The same help page notes that videos of 60 seconds or shorter loop automatically. Photos and GIFs have their own limits, 5 MB and 15 MB, which our guide to Twitter image sizes covers along with the header and profile photo.
How do you post a longer video on X?
There are three ways, depending on how much longer it is.
- Trim it. The X app lets you trim a video by dragging either end of the bar under it, which is the quickest fix for a clip a few seconds over 140.
- Split it. Cut a long video into parts of 140 seconds or less and post them as a thread, one part per post. Our guide to scheduling X threads covers planning the chain.
- Subscribe. A paid X plan raises the limit to under 4 hours on X’s help page. Our review of whether X Premium is worth it covers what else the tiers include and how to test one for a month.
Splitting works best when each part stands on its own, with a first line that says which part it is. A thread of five clips that each need the one before loses people at part two.
How long should a video on X be?
X’s help pages give limits, not an ideal length. Our view is that the length should follow what the clip has to show. A reaction, a product teaser or a single tip lands in under a minute, and short clips loop on X, so a short video that rewards a second look gets one.
Longer videos earn their place when the viewer came for them: a full talk, a tutorial, a match highlight package. For those, a paid account removes the 140-second ceiling. If you post the same clip to other networks too, TikTok gives every account 3 minutes (see our guide to TikTok video length), and Threads takes up to 5 minutes through its API, as our Threads vs X comparison shows.
Can you schedule videos on X with PostNext?
Yes. PostNext schedules single posts, threads and polls to X, and posts with up to 4 images or a video. In a thread, each post can carry its own media, and the whole thread publishes at the scheduled time, each post replying to the one before.
The PostNext X scheduler sends a video you uploaded to PostNext on to X through X’s official API in chunks, using the tweet_video category, then waits for X to finish processing the file before it publishes the post. So the API limits above are the ones that apply to a video PostNext posts for you.
PostNext does not check a video’s length or file size against your X account’s limit before you schedule it. X decides when the post goes out: if your account is not allowed a video that long, X refuses it at publish time. Check the length against your own account’s limit before you schedule, and trim anything that is over. For when to put the post on the calendar, see our guide to scheduling tweets on X.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Twitter video length limit for free accounts?
140 seconds, with a maximum file size of 512 MB, according to X’s help page on videos (archived October 2026). That is two minutes and twenty seconds. X’s developer documentation lists a longer cap, 20 minutes, for videos posted through its API by default accounts.
How long can a video be with X Premium?
Under 4 hours and up to 16 GB, according to X’s help page on videos. X’s Premium page gives a lower figure, about 3 hours and 8 GB at 1080p on x.com and iOS. Videos over 2 hours upload at 720p, the video help page says.
Can you post a 10-minute video on X?
On a paid account, yes. On a free account, X’s help page caps videos at 140 seconds, although X’s developer documentation lists 20 minutes for videos posted through its API. Only an upload from your own account shows which limit X applies to you.
Why does X say my video is too long?
Your account’s limit is shorter than the video. Through the API, X checks the length when the video is uploaded and again when the post is created, and refuses with “This user is not allowed to post a video longer than N minutes”. Trim the video, split it into a thread, or subscribe.
Do videos count toward the character limit on X?
No. X’s help page says videos do not count towards the character limit in a post. A free post still holds 280 characters of text with one video attached, and a subscriber’s post up to 25,000.
Related reading
- How to Schedule Tweets on X: Web, Mobile and Tools
- Threads vs X: Which One Should You Post On?
- Is X Premium Worth It in 2026? Twitter Blue Review + ROI Framework
- How to Schedule X (Twitter) Threads
- How Long Can TikTok Videos Be? 3 to 10 Minutes
Sources
- X Help Center, How to share and watch videos on X, video limits and FAQ (archived copy of 21 October 2026, read 31 October 2026)
- X Help Center, X Premium, longer video uploads (archived copy of 21 October 2026, read 31 October 2026)
- X Developer Platform, Media upload endpoints, Best practices and Chunked media upload (October 2026); the April 2026 version of Best practices via web.archive.org
- PostNext, postnext.io/x-scheduler and the PostNext publishing code (October 2026)
