With YouTube being one of the most popular websites online, people are going to push the limits of what is possible on the platform. This includes uploading extremely long videos.
So, what is the longest video on YouTube?
As of right now, the longest video on YouTube is 200 hours long. The video is titled “200 Hour Countdown Timer Video – Longest Timer in the World on Youtube” and it was uploaded by Mac Paverick on 10 August 2020. As the name suggests, the video is simply a 200-hour countdown timer.
In this article, we’re going to look further at YouTube video length, what the record is for the longest YouTube video, and more.
Let’s start with YouTube’s current video length restrictions.
How long can a YouTube video be?
If a YouTube channel is verified, it can upload a video up to 256 GB in size and with a maximum duration of 12 hours. For unverified channels, uploads are restricted to a maximum length of 15 minutes.
Verifying your channel only takes a couple of minutes, and you can follow the later part of this YouTube channel setup guide to get your channel verified if it is not already.
Those are the restrictions for videos being uploaded to YouTube, but what about live streams?
How long can a YouTube live stream be?
Live streams on YouTube have no length restriction. However, there are some restrictions if you plan on using the video on YouTube after you’ve finished streaming.
If you want your live stream to be available on YouTube after streaming, then it needs to be less than 12 hours, YouTube only archives live streams that are less than 12 hours in length.
Many live streams start with some troubleshooting. You know, the kind, where someone is trying to figure out how to work their camera or audio. Well, if you want to cut that out of your live stream when it’s archived, you can.
If you want to edit your live stream using YouTube’s built-in video editor, your live stream needs to be less than 6 hours in duration, after that the video editor will not be available.
What is the longest video on YouTube right now?
The longest video on YouTube right now is “200 Hour Countdown Timer Video – Longest Timer in the World on Youtube” uploaded by Mac Paverick on 10 August 2020.
As we mentioned earlier, this is simply a 200-hour countdown timer uploaded by the channel based out of Germany.
If you were to sit down and watch the entirety of it, it will take you over 8 days.
Here is the video if you find yourself with 8 days of free time on your hands.
As YouTube is constantly changing its video length limitations, and currently has a limit of 12 hours, unless this video gets removed or is set to private, it will be the longest video on YouTube for the foreseeable future.
There have been longer videos before this one though, but they are no longer available on the platform for various reasons.
Let’s take a look at the longest YouTube video ever.
What is the record for the longest video on YouTube?
The World Record for the longest video on YouTube is 596.5 hours in duration. Appropriately titled “THE LONGEST VIDEO ON YOUTUBE – 596.5 HOURS”, it was uploaded by Jonathan Harchick of MoldyToastMedia on 14 December 2011.
The video is no longer available on YouTube and many of Jonathan’s channels have been removed due to YouTube policy violations.
To give you an idea of how long it would have taken to watch the longest video on YouTube, you would be able to watch the entirety of the Olympic games, and also the current longest video available on YouTube and still have a couple of hours to spare.
If you were to have watched it all continuously (or at least have it playing in the background) it would have taken 24 days 20 hours and 30 minutes to finish.
Final thoughts on the longest video on YouTube
These days you can only upload videos with a maximum duration of 12 hours, but before YouTube implemented these restrictions, there were some really lengthy contenders.
Most of these videos weren’t very useful, so it’s understandable that YouTube implemented these restrictions to better manage their resources with more people using the platform.
Still, the longest video you can watch on YouTube right now is 200 hours long, and the record for the longest YouTube video ever, of 596.5 hours, are two milestones no one is going to be beating anytime soon unless YouTube decides to change their upload limitations.
Even if you had all the time in the world, we don’t think many people would want to watch a 200-hour or 596.5-hour video.