TikTok expands maximum video length to 10 minutes

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Is TikTok still a short-form video platform? The company announced today that it is increasing the maximum length for uploads to 10 minutes. TikTok has been testing longer uploads for years, recently introducing three-minute videos, but this is the largest increase yet, and will now roll out globally.

The company is always thinking about new ways to bring value to the community and enrich the TikTok experience. We hope that uploading videos that are up to 10 minutes will unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world.

Matt Navarra shared the news as a notification within the app for some users.

Although TikTok's rise to popularity was founded on a never-ending stream of short videos, the company has been pushing longer content for a while now. Longer videos allow TikTok to better compete with YouTube, as well as capture an older audience and increase overall engagement time on the app. It is possible that a switch to longer content will hurt the firm by limiting the amount of data it can collect on users. It's a balancing act to get the length of content right.

As TikTok expands to offer creators and users longer content, its rivals have done the opposite. Short-form videos can be found on the likes ofInstagram, YouTube, and Snapchat. The companies are trying to get the formula right.

Navarra says that longer-form content is easier to monetize and keeps people on platform longer.