In a recent development, YouTube has increased the video length upload limit by 50% to 15 minutes from the earlier 10 minutes.
“Without question, the number one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes. We’ve heard you, and today we’re pleased to announce that we’ve increased the upload limit to 15 minutes,” informs YouTube’s blog.
The former upload limit was introduced by the site because of copyright infringement. YouTube didn’t want to become a host for every movie and TV episode out there and capped the length of the videos to discourage the uploading of full-length videos. Of course, people split the episodes in 10 minute slices and still got them on the site, but it was a deterrent nonetheless. There are technical reasons as well; longer videos take up more storage space and eat up more bandwidth.
The new move of a lenient limit is because of the introduction of the Content ID System. “We’ve spent significant resources on creating and improving our state-of-the-art Content ID system and many other powerful tools for copyright owners,” wrote YouTube product manager Joshua Siegel, in the site’s blog. “Now, all of the major U.S. movie studios, music labels, and over 1,000 other global partners use Content ID to manage their content on YouTube. ”
YouTube has planned an event and contest to celebrate the increase: “15 minutes of Fame”. Users are asked to submit videos, presumably over the 10-minute mark in length, and the winning entries will be featured on the homepage. This is the second such initiative by YouTube after their ‘Life in a Day’ initiative.
However, one can’t stop wondering if the new change will create indeed a furore. Because the vast majority of content that is uploaded, and also the one that gets accolades, is only a few minutes in length any way. Viewers lose interest quickly, and keeping videos short has always been the better option. Those who turn YouTube into a profession, those known as partners, already had the ability to upload longer videos. So we will have to wait and watch if the new milestone helps the site take a leap in popularity.
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