Social Media Character Limits, Explained
A rundown of X, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube character limits, how emoji and links are counted, and where posts get truncated.
Limits vary widely by field
There is no single social media character limit; each field has its own. An X post stops at 280 characters while an X Premium post allows 25,000. Instagram gives captions 2,200 characters but bios only 150, and LinkedIn splits a generous 3,000-character post from a 220-character headline. YouTube caps titles at 100 and descriptions at 5,000, while Bluesky, Threads, Pinterest descriptions, and Mastodon toots cluster between 300 and 500. Picking the exact field matters more than picking the app.
How characters are counted
Most platforms count by Unicode code point, which is why a plain letter and a single emoji each count as one even though the emoji uses two UTF-16 units under the hood. This counter follows the same per-code-point rule for predictable results. The wrinkles are at the edges: some emoji are built from several joined code points and count as more than one, and a few platforms weight certain ranges differently, such as counting many CJK characters as two. When you are within a few characters of a limit, verify in the app itself.
Where text gets cut off
Hitting the limit is not the only way text disappears. Instagram and Facebook collapse long captions behind a more link, so the opening line does most of the work in the feed. Search engines and link previews trim titles and descriptions to fit their own boxes, and thread tools split anything past the limit into numbered posts. Knowing where the fold sits helps you decide what belongs in the first line versus the tail.
Writing to fit the limit
The reliable approach is to front-load the message so it survives truncation, then trim toward the limit rather than padding up to it. Cut filler words, shorten links, and remove blank lines, which count as characters too. When a post genuinely needs more room, the Posts needed count tells you how many messages a thread will take so you can break at natural points instead of mid-sentence.