TikTok is testing the ability for users to upload 15-minute videos, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday. The social media giant said the new upload limit is being tested in select regions with a limited group of users, but declined to share specifics. The new option increases the video upload limit on the app from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.
The change was first noted by social media consultant Matt Navarra, who posted a screenshot of a message shown to users who have access to the new option. According to the screenshot, users can upload longer videos to the platform from both the TikTok app and on desktop.
TikTok initially gained fame for being the most popular short-form video platform, but has slowly been embracing long-form content. The company expanded its maximum video length to 10 minutes, up from three minutes, back in February 2022. Before that, the limit was 60 seconds after initially expanding from 15 seconds.
The expanded video length will give creators even more time and flexibility when sharing things like cooking recipes, beauty tutorials, education content and comedy sketches. Currently, if a video is longer than 10 minutes, creators will direct viewers to a “Part 2” video. With this expanded time limit, creators may no longer have to create an entire video series when sharing content.
The change puts TikTok in even more direct competition with YouTube. The move indicates that TikTok is looking to attract longer-form video creators who normally post content on YouTube. In the past, TikTok was seen as the platform for short-form content, while YouTube was seen as the home for long-form content. The past few years have blurred the lines between the two companies as TikTok embraces longer videos and YouTube adopts shorter videos with Shorts.
It’s worth noting that TikTok has also inched further into YouTube’s territory with a horizontal full screen mode that’s being tested in select regions.
It’s likely that not everyone will welcome the new video time limit. TikTok is known for short and entertaining videos, so that’s probably what people go to the platform for, not necessarily long videos. Not everyone has an appetite for long videos, which TikTok seems to be aware of given its recent launch of a feature that lets you fast-forward videos by holding down the right-side of a video.
TikTok did not say if or when it plans to roll out the change to everyone.