Titles and captions for Shorts, TikTok and Reels

The limits

From each platform's own help or developer pages, checked October 18, 2026

Platform	Title	Caption or description	Hashtags
YouTube	Up to 100 characters	Up to 5,000 characters	With more than 60 on a video, YouTube ignores all of them. Up to three appear by the title
TikTok	No separate title	Up to 2,200 characters when posted through TikTok's developer API. We found no in-app limit on TikTok's help pages	Read from the caption. We found no published limit
Instagram	No separate title	Up to 2,200 characters, per Instagram's developer docs	Up to 5 on a post, per its help center. Its developer docs still list 30 for posts made through the API
Facebook	None found	We found no limit on Facebook's help pages	None found

Sources: YouTube Help, YouTube Help, TikTok for Developers, Instagram Help and Meta for Developers.

YouTube Shorts

YouTube says descriptions "tell the YouTube algorithm and your viewers what the video is about", and that viewers see the first few lines before they tap "more", so describe the video there (YouTube Help).
Give each video its own description, and use the words people search for. YouTube points to the Research tab in YouTube Analytics and the report on how viewers find your videos.
Hashtags go in the title or the description and link to a page of other videos with the same hashtag. Misleading or unrelated hashtags can get a video removed, and so can ordinary descriptive tags or repeated sentences in the description (YouTube Help).

TikTok

TikTok counts "captions, sounds, and hashtags" as information about the video when it decides what to recommend (TikTok Newsroom, June 18, 2020).
In its developer docs, the caption field matches hashtags and mentions from the text, up to 2,200 characters counted in UTF-16, so some emoji use more than one (TikTok for Developers).

Instagram Reels

Hashtags can go in the caption or a comment. On a public account, the post shows on each hashtag's page. Instagram's help center allows up to 5 hashtags on a post, and with more than 5 the comment won't post (Instagram Help).
A caption can include hashtags and mentions of other accounts, and those accounts get a notification (Meta for Developers).
Reels can run up to 20 minutes, but Instagram says reels over 3 minutes won't be recommended to new audiences (Instagram Help).

Facebook Reels

We found no caption or hashtag limit on Facebook's help pages. Facebook does say it shows posts with engagement bait less, meaning posts that goad people into liking, sharing or commenting to get more reach, and that Pages that keep doing it lose more reach (Meta Newsroom).

Writing them

Put the topic or the number in the first words of the title and caption.
Say what the video gives, in words that match what happens in it.
Write the copy for each app separately: the limits and what shows first differ.
Use a few hashtags that describe the video, never more than Instagram's 5 on a post.
Skip lines that ask people to like, comment or share to get reach.
Check which search words bring viewers in, and use them in the next title.

Questions

How long can a YouTube Shorts title be?

Up to 100 characters, the same as any YouTube video. Descriptions can run to 5,000 characters.

How many hashtags can I use on Instagram?

Up to 5 on a post, according to Instagram's help center. With more than 5, the comment won't post.

What is TikTok's caption limit?

TikTok's developer docs allow captions of up to 2,200 characters for videos posted through its API. We found no in-app limit on its help pages, so check the caption box in the app.

Do hashtags help a Short get found?

On YouTube, hashtags link to a page of videos with the same hashtag, and up to three show by the title, but more than 60 and YouTube ignores them all. TikTok counts hashtags as information about the video when it recommends.

Sources

All checked October 18, 2026

How to write titles and captions for YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels and Facebook