YouTube Title Checker
YouTube takes 100 characters and feeds cut the title at about 55. Paste yours to see the count, the score and how it reads beside your thumbnail on a computer and on a phone. Free, no sign-up, and your image never leaves your device.
Your title
Best between 20 and 550 / 100
Thumbnail (optional)
To see the title and thumbnail together, as a viewer does. It stays on your device.
How it looks
On a computer
Your title appears here
Your channel
12K views · 2 days ago
On a phone
Your title appears here
Your channel · 12K views · 2 days ago
What it scores
0
Characters
0
Words
40
Score
Title score40 / 100
Type a title to see how it lands.
Quick facts
- YouTube's cap
- 100 characters — a title longer than that is refused
- Where it gets cut
- about 55 characters in feeds, search and suggested videos
- The comfortable band
- 20 to 55 characters, which fits everywhere
- The catch nobody mentions
- < and > are rewritten before upload, so each one costs four characters
- Emoji
- count as two characters each, not one
- Your thumbnail
- read in your browser to draw the preview; never uploaded, never kept
- Cost
- free, with nothing to sign up for
How it works
- Step 1
Paste your title
Type it or paste it in. The counter, the score and both previews move as you type, so you can feel where the line is rather than counting characters yourself.
- Step 2
Add the thumbnail
Optional, and it never leaves your device. Titles are read next to the picture, not on their own, so seeing the pair together is the only honest preview.
- Step 3
Check both screens
A computer shows a short, wide title beside the thumbnail; a phone stacks them and gives you more room. The same title can survive one and get cut on the other.
- Step 4
Trim and publish
Move the important words to the front, cut what a viewer would not miss, and check the score settles. Then upload — or schedule it with everything else you post.
Pro tips
- Put the words that matter first. A title is trimmed from the end, so anything past 55 characters may never be read.
- 20 to 55 characters is the band that survives every screen — long enough to say something, short enough to stay whole.
- Write the title a viewer would search for, not the one that sounds clever. The words in it are what match a query.
- Angle brackets are expensive: YouTube rewrites < and > before upload, so each costs four characters against the cap rather than one.
- An emoji counts as two characters. One at the front can earn its place; three rarely do.
- ALL CAPS does not make a title perform better, and it makes a long one harder to scan at thumbnail size.
- Numbers and brackets — a year, a count, a [Guide] — give the eye something to land on, as long as they are true.
- Say the same thing the thumbnail says, in different words. Repeating the thumbnail's text wastes the title.
- Test variations. Paste two or three in turn and compare the previews before you commit to one.
- Check it on the phone preview before the desktop one: most YouTube watch time is mobile, and the two cut differently.
FAQ
What is the YouTube title character limit?
100 characters. YouTube refuses anything longer, and this app enforces the same number when it uploads for you. The practical limit is lower though: feeds, search results and suggested videos start trimming a title at around 55 characters, so 100 is where it breaks and 55 is where it stops being read in full.
How long should a YouTube title be?
Between 20 and 55 characters. Under 20 there is rarely enough in the title for anyone — viewer or search — to judge the video by. Past 55 the end starts disappearing behind an ellipsis in most places it appears, so anything you put there is decoration rather than information.
What YouTube titles are not allowed?
Anything over 100 characters, an empty title, and titles containing angle brackets in raw form — YouTube rejects < and > outright. This app rewrites them to < and > before uploading so the post still goes out, which is why the checker warns you: each bracket then costs four of your hundred characters instead of one. Beyond the mechanics, YouTube's own policies cover misleading and clickbait titles, which no character counter can check for you.
Why does title length matter on YouTube?
Because the title is cut, not scrolled. A viewer scanning a feed sees the first line or two beside your thumbnail and nothing else, so a title whose point arrives at character 70 has no point at all in that moment. Length also decides whether the words you want found are visible next to the picture.
How does the title score work?
It starts at 100 and comes down for the two things that cost you views: being too short to say anything, and being long enough to get cut. Under 20 characters it drops 3 a character; past 55 it drops 2 a character, and 2 more again past 80. Over the 100-character cap it is zero, because the title would not be accepted. It is a rule of thumb about length, not a judgement of your writing.
Can I see my thumbnail and title together?
Yes — add an image and both previews redraw with it. That pairing is the whole point: nobody reads a title on its own, they read it next to the picture, and a title that works alone can be redundant or unreadable beside the thumbnail. The image is read in your browser and never uploaded.
What happens if my title is too long?
Up to 100 characters YouTube accepts it and the feed trims the end with an ellipsis — the title is whole on the watch page, but the part that persuades someone to click may be missing where it matters. Past 100 it is not accepted at all: uploaded through this app it would be cut to fit, and elsewhere you would get an error.
Does this work for YouTube Shorts titles too?
Yes. Shorts use the same 100-character cap and the same title field, so the counter and the score apply. The difference is where they are read: a Short's title sits under a vertical video with much less room, so the shorter end of the band serves it better.
Do emojis count toward the character limit?
Yes, and most count as two rather than one. Emoji are stored as two units each in the encoding YouTube counts, so three emoji cost you six characters of the hundred. They also render differently across phones and desktops — worth one at the front of a title, rarely worth more.
How accurate is the mobile preview?
It is a close model, not a screenshot of your phone. YouTube's own apps change their layout from time to time and vary by screen size, so treat the previews as showing roughly where a title gets cut rather than to the exact pixel. The character counts are exact; the layout is an approximation.
Should I write for desktop or mobile?
Mobile, if you have to choose — most YouTube watch time happens there. A title that survives a phone feed almost always survives a desktop one, so writing for the tighter case covers both. Keeping inside 55 characters makes the question moot.
Can I check several title variations?
Yes, one at a time: paste a version, read the score and previews, then paste the next. Nothing is saved between them, so keep the ones you like in a note. Comparing two or three seriously is worth more than polishing one.
Is anything I type or upload sent to you?
No. The counting, the scoring and the previews all happen in this page, and your thumbnail is read from your own disk and drawn straight into the mock. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is stored, and closing the tab is the end of it.
Can I schedule the video once the title is right?
Yes — iHatePosting uploads YouTube videos and Shorts on a schedule, with the title, description, tags and privacy you choose, alongside the other networks you post to. The same title you settle on here is the one that publishes.
More free tools
The title was the quick part
Uploading on a schedule is the rest of it. iHatePosting publishes your YouTube videos and Shorts — title, description, tags and privacy — alongside the thirteen other networks you post to.