TikTok does not publish a file size limit for posting from the app. Search for one and you will find 72MB, 287MB, 500MB, 4GB and 10GB all stated confidently, on different pages, with no source attached to any of them.
What TikTok does document, in its own developer documentation, is a complete set of video restrictions for posting through its Content Posting API. Those are real numbers with a real source. This page gives you those, says plainly which path they govern, and stops where the evidence stops.
What TikTok officially documents
From TikTok's Content Posting API media transfer guide, under "Video restrictions":
| Property | TikTok's documented value |
|---|---|
| Maximum file size | "Maximum of 4GB" |
| Minimum dimensions | "Minimum of 360 pixels for both height and width" |
| Maximum dimensions | "Maximum of 4096 pixels for both height and width" |
| Frame rate | "Minimum of 23 FPS" to "Maximum of 60 FPS" |
| Containers | MP4, WebM, MOV |
| Codecs | H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9 |
The scope caveat matters, so here it is up front: these govern uploads made through the API. They are TikTok's own documented numbers for getting video onto TikTok, which makes them the best-sourced figures available — but they are not a published statement about what happens when you tap the plus button in the app. Anyone telling you the in-app limit with a specific number, including pages that rank above this one, is not citing TikTok.
The duration answer is "it depends," and that is official
This is the part worth reading even if you skip everything else. TikTok's documentation states:
"All TikTok creators can post 3-minute videos, while some have access to post 5-minute or 10-minute videos."
So the reason you find contradictory answers about maximum video length is not that people are careless. It genuinely is not one number. Baseline access is three minutes; longer ceilings are rolled out to some accounts and not others. For developers posting through the API there is a hard stop: "The longest video a developer can send via the initialize Upload Video endpoint is 10 minutes."
If your video will not post and the length is near one of those boundaries, the fix is to trim rather than to keep re-exporting at different sizes.
How large files are actually transferred, and why that matters
TikTok's documentation is unusually specific about how a large video gets sent, and the rules explain a class of upload failure that otherwise looks random.
Uploads are chunked, with thresholds that are stated exactly:
"Videos with a total size less than 5 MB must be uploaded as a whole, with
chunk_sizeequal to the entire video's byte size."
"Videos with a total size greater than 64 MB must be uploaded in multiple chunks."
"Each chunk must be at least 5 MB but no greater than 64 MB, except for the final chunk, which can be greater than
chunk_size(up to 128 MB)."
"There must be a minimum of 1 chunk and a maximum of 1000 chunks."
Two things fall out of this that are worth understanding even if you never touch the API.
A large upload is many transfers, not one. A video past the 64 MB threshold is split and sent piece by piece. Every piece is an opportunity for a flaky mobile connection to drop something. This is the mechanical reason a big file "just fails" more often on cellular than on Wi-Fi, and why retrying sometimes works with no other change — you are not fighting a size limit, you are fighting the odds across many sequential transfers.
There is an upper bound implied by the chunk rules themselves. With at most 1000 chunks and a documented maximum of 64 MB per non-final chunk, the arithmetic lands near the stated 4GB ceiling rather than contradicting it. The two constraints describe the same envelope from different directions.
The practical takeaway is the same either way: a smaller file is not just faster, it is structurally more likely to complete.
Two corrections to what page one tells you
"TikTok requires H.264." TikTok's documented codec list is H.264, H.265, VP8 and VP9. H.264 is the safe default because it is the most universally handled, but it is not a requirement in the documentation.
"The limit is 72MB on Android and 287MB on iPhone." These two numbers are repeated across many pages and appear in no TikTok documentation. They may well reflect something real that someone once measured, but they are not published limits, and nothing indicates they are current.
A practical target that stays inside every documented bound
Rather than chasing an unpublished ceiling, aim for an envelope that satisfies everything TikTok actually documents and matches how the feed displays video:
- 1080×1920, 9:16. Comfortably inside the 360–4096 pixel bounds, and the native shape of the feed.
- 30 fps (or 60 if the motion needs it). Both sit inside the documented 23–60 range.
- H.264 in MP4. On the documented codec list and the most broadly compatible option.
- Modest file size. Not because a specific cap is documented, but because a smaller file uploads faster, fails less on mobile connections, and gives the platform's own re-encode less to fight with.
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
This runs in your browser — the file is read from disk, re-encoded locally, and handed back. Nothing is uploaded to a server, which for unreleased footage is the difference between one copy and two.
Why your uploads look worse than the original
TikTok re-encodes what you give it. That is not a bug and you cannot switch it off; every platform that streams video does it. What you control is what it starts from.
Handing it an enormous 4K file does not produce a better result than handing it a clean 1080p file, because the output is being re-encoded either way. What an oversized source does reliably produce is a slower upload and more opportunities to fail. Exporting close to the display shape and resolution gives the encoder less to throw away and gives you a more predictable result.
For the underlying trade-offs, how to compress a video without losing quality covers what bitrate and resolution actually do. If your source is a QuickTime file from a Mac or iPhone, MOV to MP4 converts the container without a detour through an upload, and all Clapr tools covers the rest of the workflow.
The bounds that reject a file outright
Most upload problems are about size. A smaller set are about falling outside a documented range, and those fail in a way that feels arbitrary because the file is small and looks fine.
Two of TikTok's documented limits catch real footage regularly:
Frame rate: 23 to 60 FPS. A 120 fps or 240 fps slow-motion clip straight off a phone sits outside that range until it is conformed. Some editors conform it on export and some pass the original rate through, which is why the same phone can produce a clip that posts and a clip that does not.
Dimensions: 360 to 4096 pixels on both axes. The floor is the one that surprises people. A heavily cropped vertical clip, a square export from an old template, or a downscaled preview can end up under 360 pixels on its short side. The ceiling matters in the other direction: some cinema-camera exports exceed 4096 on the long edge.
Both are fixed the same way — re-encode at a standard size and frame rate before uploading, rather than trying to work out which setting the app objected to.
Ads are a different rulebook
If you are uploading an in-feed ad rather than an organic post, TikTok publishes a separate specification through Ads Manager, with its own accepted formats, duration and size rules. Do not apply the numbers above to ad creative — check TikTok's Ads Manager help pages for that path.
FAQ
What is the maximum file size for a TikTok video? TikTok's Content Posting API documentation states "Maximum of 4GB." TikTok does not publish a file size limit for posting from inside the app, and the numbers commonly quoted for that path (72MB, 287MB, 500MB) have no official source.
How long can a TikTok video be? Per TikTok's documentation, all creators can post three-minute videos, and some accounts have access to five or ten minutes. It is deliberately not a single value, which is why online answers disagree.
What resolution should I upload? 1080×1920 at 9:16 matches the feed and sits well inside TikTok's documented 360–4096 pixel bounds. Uploading 4K does not bypass the platform's re-encode.
Does TikTok accept H.265 / HEVC? TikTok's documented codec list includes H.265, along with H.264, VP8 and VP9. H.264 remains the safest default for broad compatibility.
Why did my video fail to upload with no error? Check the documented bounds first — frame rate outside 23–60 fps and dimensions under 360px are both documented rejection criteria and both are easy to hit accidentally with slow-motion clips, timelapses, or cropped exports.
Specifications quoted from TikTok's Content Posting API media transfer guide, checked 16 September 2026. These govern API posting; TikTok does not publish equivalent figures for in-app upload. Platform specs change — verify against the source before relying on them.
