# Why does youtube only allow 15 minute videos? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987 "2011-09-20T21:15:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/1 "2011-09-20T21:15:51Z")
Why not an hour or more? I did a GQ search using the term “youtube” and found this from 2008 [How big is youtube?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=470261&highlight=youtube) in which Shagnasty said (of google storage space): > [@](#): > > Back then, they were building data centers all over the world as fast as possible. IIRC, some of their data centers consist of more than 450,000 servers a piece. They have to build them very close to large power plants because that is the only way they can get enough juice. Their servers consist of plain vanilla regular PC’s that can just be dropped into place to join their network. Is it just a money issue - they don’t want to buy any more servers or server space? Is there a legal reason? Is it it a marketing strategy? Is it an artistic decision - long videos are boring? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/2 "2011-09-20T21:17:17Z")
They allow me at least up to 1.5 hours. More, maybe – haven’t tried it. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/3 "2011-09-20T21:23:36Z")
I know some people have channels that allow more. Maybe you’ve got one of those. Generally though half hour tv shows get split into three 10 minute segments or so. And most videos on there don’t seem to exceed 10-15 minutes. I’ve never uploaded one though so I’m only going on what it seems like from the viewers perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/4 "2011-09-20T21:26:08Z")
I have no idea what [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGqPc6poS4) is, but it’s the first thing that came up when I did a search for ‘full episode.’ It’s 48 minutes long. There’s several longer things in the related videos down the right side. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/5 "2011-09-20T21:27:24Z")
It’s to prevent copyright violations so that people can’t just upload whole episodes and movies. People have to demonstrate that they are creating their own content and then they get longer video length possibilities. The effort it takes to do that makes people less likely to run the risk of their account being deleted for copyright violations. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/6 "2011-09-20T21:33:58Z")
ok a legal thing then. That’s what I thought but doesn’t really make sense since the whole tv episode goes up anyway just in three parts. But I suppose you don’t tend to see whole movies on there. Joey P. - that was one of those special channels that are allowed to upload long videos. ETA - Actually not a legal thing, a money thing because all they would have to do is hire to people to keep a watch out same as they do now. They’d just have to hire more people maybe. If they could show a court that they take things down as soon as they appear or as soon as they are notified then that would probably satisfy a court. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/7 "2011-09-20T21:38:46Z")
There are whole movies up there. I watched Little Shop of Horrors on youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/8 "2011-09-20T21:40:15Z")
There is a full, 93 minute film on YouTube, [Home](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU) by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. It is licensed under the Creative Commons so effectively is free from the copyright restrictions the hamper most uploads. ---
**Author:** ![mac\_bolan00](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@mac\_bolan00](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mac_bolan00)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/9 "2011-09-20T23:03:13Z")
i was able to download 1 hour and 45 minutes of “birth of a nation” which was more than 3 hours long. i stopped when i got bored. twas a nice silent movie though. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/10 "2011-09-20T23:13:48Z")
[10 hours of Nyan cat](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZZ7oFKsKzY). So yeah, long videos aren’t entirely a good thing :). Also: [74 hours of a dude counting to 100,000](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQBH-LhJuOc). ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/11 "2011-09-20T23:26:21Z")
I think what you’re seeing is that youtube used to have a restriction that was lifted within the last year. The restriction used to be approximately 10-15 minutes (you say a lot of 9:59 videos), depending partially on file size I believe. Recently they lifted it, though people in violation of certain rules can get the privilege revoked. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/12 "2011-09-20T23:35:21Z")
> [@mutantmoose](#): > > I know some people have channels that allow more. Maybe you’ve got one of those. Generally though half hour tv shows get split into three 10 minute segments or so. And most videos on there don’t seem to exceed 10-15 minutes. I’ve never uploaded one though so I’m only going on what it seems like from the viewers perspective. Some time ago, the only way to get a long video posted was to break it into several parts, which is why I didn’t post those. But anyone who did is stuck with them. They aren’t going to be magically combined into one long show. So that’s why you still see them. I can now post shows of over an hour with no problem. Not only have things relaxed, but maybe the fact that I have over 140 clips posted puts me in a more trusted category. However, YouTube still uses aggressive and sophisticated scanning techniques to look for copyright violations, and I don’t mean just copying of movies. They are attempting to detect and flag music _arrangements_, that is, covers, not just exact copies of hits. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/13 "2011-09-21T00:29:25Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Also: [74 hours of a dude counting to 100,000](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQBH-LhJuOc). There’s a Part 2 with another 3.5 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/14 "2011-09-21T00:32:26Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > However, YouTube still uses aggressive and sophisticated scanning techniques to look for copyright violations, and I don’t mean just copying of movies. They are attempting to detect and flag music _arrangements_, that is, covers, not just exact copies of hits. Wow, I didn’t know it was that aggressive. My sister made a slideshow with some music as the background and was surprised when it got yanked like 45 minutes after she put it up. I suggested that she play the CD on her CD player and record it on her computer (or phone or whatever) and maybe make some background noise. move the recording device around in the room, talk over it a little etc. and use the recording as the music for the slideshow thinking that would get past the filters. But if they can pick up covers, I assume they would pick that up just as quickly. I wonder how many false positives it comes up with? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-youtube-only-allow-15-minute-videos/596987/15 "2011-09-21T01:14:06Z")
The answer is to help stop copyright violation, as some have already noted. Here’s info from the [Wikipedia entry on YouTube](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube#Uploading), which has citations: > [@](#): > > Videos uploaded to YouTube by standard account holders are limited to 15 minutes in duration. When YouTube was launched in 2005, it was possible to upload longer videos, but a ten-minute limit was introduced in March 2006 after YouTube found that the majority of videos exceeding this length were unauthorized uploads of television shows and films.[42][43] The 10-minute limit was increased to 15 minutes in July 2010.[44] Partner accounts are permitted to upload longer videos, subject to acceptance by YouTube.[45] File size is limited to 2 GB for uploads from YouTube web page, and to 20 GB if Java-based Advanced Uploader is used. In December 2010, YouTube announced that holders of standard accounts would be allowed to upload videos of unlimited length, provided that they have a good history of following the site’s Community Guidelines and policy on copyright.[46][47] YouTube accepts videos uploaded in most container formats, including .AVI, .MKV, .MOV, .MP4, DivX, .FLV, and .ogg and .ogv. These include video formats such as MPEG-4, MPEG, VOB, and .WMV. It also supports 3GP, allowing videos to be uploaded from mobile phones.[48] Videos with progressive scanning or interlaced scanning can be uploaded, but for the best video quality, YouTube prefers interlaced videos to be deinterlaced prior to uploading. All the video formats on YouTube use progressive scanning.[49]