YouTube Shorts checker: will my video be a Short?

This YouTube Shorts checker answers one question before you upload: will my video be a Short? Pick the file and your browser reads its length, its width and height in pixels and its aspect ratio, then checks them against the rules YouTube publishes. A video uploaded today becomes a Short when it is 3 minutes or shorter and square or vertical. Anything longer, or wider than it is tall, is published as a regular video. You also see whether the size matches the recommended 1080 x 1920, an estimate of the frame rate, and what to change if the answer is No. It works as a Shorts length checker and a Shorts size checker in one, and nothing is uploaded: the file stays on your device. If your browser cannot open the file, type the three numbers instead.

How does the Shorts checker work?

YouTube decides whether an upload is a Short from two things: how long it is and what shape it is. Its help page says that videos uploaded on or after 15 October 2024 with a square or vertical aspect ratio, up to three minutes long, are Shorts. The checker reads the duration, width and height that your browser sees when it opens the video, and applies that rule:

• Length: 180 seconds (3:00) or less.
• Shape: height equal to the width (square) or greater than it (vertical).

Worked example with three real phone exports:

How to check if a video will be a Short

Step 1: Choose your video

Click Choose a video file, or drop the file on the box. Your browser opens it on your device; nothing is uploaded.

Step 2: Read the verdict

The first line says Yes or No, then the length, size in pixels, aspect ratio, shape, frame rate and file size.

Step 3: Check the details

Each rule gets its own line: the 3-minute limit, the vertical or square shape, the recommended 1080 x 1920 size, and the copyright claim rule for Shorts over 1 minute.

Step 4: Fix and check again

If the answer is No, follow the fixes (crop to 9:16, trim to 3:00), export again and pick the new file.

How long can a YouTube Short be?

Up to 3 minutes. YouTube raised the limit from 60 seconds to three minutes for videos uploaded on or after 15 October 2024 (for Official Artist Channels the date was 8 December 2025). Videos uploaded before that date keep their old status: a vertical video over 1 minute uploaded in 2023 stays a regular video. There is no minimum length in the rule.

What size should a YouTube Short be?

Google's guidance for Shorts recommends vertical 9:16 at 1080 x 1920 pixels. Other vertical shapes and square videos still count as Shorts; they just do not fill a phone screen edge to edge. Common sizes:

To check where the like and comment buttons will cover your picture, use the Shorts safe zone tool.

What happens if a vertical video is longer than 3 minutes?

It is still published, but as a regular video: it plays in the normal player and appears with long videos, not in the Shorts feed. The same goes for a vertical video over 1 minute uploaded before 15 October 2024. If you want it to be a Short, trim it to 3:00 or less before you upload; if you want it to stay a regular video, nothing needs to change. YouTube's own tip for keeping a video out of Shorts is to use a wider shape such as 16:9.

Why did my video not upload as a Short?

• It is a little too long. 3:00.5 is over 3 minutes. The checker shows the length to a tenth of a second.
• It is a few pixels wider than tall. 1080 x 1076 is landscape, not square. Export at exactly 1080 x 1080 or a vertical size.
• Black bars were baked in. A vertical clip placed inside a 1920 x 1080 frame is a landscape file, whatever it looks like.
• The phone stored it sideways. Some phones save the picture sideways with a note to rotate it. Browsers apply that note, so check the shape shown here; if it looks wrong, export a fresh copy from your editor.
• It was uploaded before 15 October 2024 and runs over 1 minute: those uploads stay regular videos.

Do I need #Shorts in the title?

The rule YouTube publishes is about length and shape only, and its three-minute Shorts help page does not mention a hashtag. A vertical or square video of 3 minutes or less is a Short without one.

Shorts over 1 minute and copyright claims

YouTube blocks any Short longer than 1 minute that has an active copyright claim of any type, worldwide, until the claim is resolved; it cannot be played, recommended or monetized meanwhile, and there is no penalty to the channel. If your Short uses music or clips you do not own, keep it under a minute or clear the rights first.

How big can the file be?

YouTube's upload limit is 256 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less, so a Short of 3 minutes is never limited by file size. The checker shows the size of your file for reference.

How accurate is this checker?

The length and pixel size come from the file itself, as your browser reads it, so they match what your video player shows. YouTube makes the final call when it processes the upload, and we cannot see that. A few limits:

• The length can differ from YouTube's by a fraction of a second, because audio and video tracks can end at slightly different times. Stay a second or two under 3:00 to be safe.
• For MP4 and MOV files the frame rate is read from the file's own index: the number of frames divided by the length of the video track. For other formats it is an estimate: the checker plays the first second of your clip, muted, and times the frames with your browser's video frame callback; browsers without that feature show Not available.
• Some files (for example HEVC from some phones, or ProRes) cannot be played in every browser. Then type the numbers by hand.

Sources

• Understand three-minute YouTube Shorts, YouTube Help, checked 26 Oct 2026.
• YouTube Shorts ads: vertical 9:16 at 1080x1920 and the red zones to keep clear, Google Business, checked 26 Oct 2026.
• Upload videos longer than 15 minutes (the 256 GB or 12 hour upload limit), YouTube Help, checked 26 Oct 2026.
• HTMLVideoElement: requestVideoFrameCallback() method (how the frame rate is measured), MDN Web Docs, checked 26 Oct 2026.

Why we built this Shorts checker

The question "will this be a Short?" usually gets answered after the upload, when the video lands in the wrong place. The rules are simple, but the numbers that decide it (a few pixels of width, a fraction of a second) are hard to see in a file manager. Nitin Raja, who builds PlaylistTime, tested a lot of these pages before building this one: after testing out a lot of websites, he found what people need and what they do not, and built around that. People need the answer before uploading, with the exact numbers and a fix, without handing their video to a website.

What this checker does

• Opens the video in your browser with a standard video element and reads its duration, width and height. The file is never uploaded or stored.
• Checks the length against 3 minutes and the shape against square or vertical, the rule on YouTube's Shorts help page, and the size against the recommended 1080 x 1920.
• Reads the frame rate from the index of MP4 and MOV files (frames divided by the video track's length); for other formats it times frames while the clip plays muted for about a second.
• What it does not do: it cannot see YouTube's processing, copyright claims or how your upload date is recorded, and it does not check the content of the video. The share link only holds the three numbers you typed, never the file.

Why it is different

Built by Nitin Raja. Last updated 26 October 2026.

Questions

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