As part of its effort to at least make it at least inconvenient to post unauthorized versions of movies and television shows to its site, YouTube has restricted the maximum length of a single video to 10 minutes. However, the video sharing site now says its Content ID system for identifying and removing illegally uploaded videos is working pretty well…so its raising the maximum length for a YouTube video from 10 to 15 minutes.
“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. Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today.”
Users who previously had a video rejected for being too long will have to delete it from their account before uploading again.
Members of YouTube’s Partner program have already been able to upload videos longer than the original 10-minute limit, and YouTube has occasionally featured long-form videos and content by special arrangement. The increased time limit—Siegel indicates it’s the most-requested improvement to YouTube—reflects changes in the online video landscape: when YouTube was founded, broadband was less common and few people had the patience to watch more than a few minutes of video online. However, the success of streaming video services and YouTube itself have fueled a demand for longer-form online videos…even if, we’re sure, much of them will be adoring videos of cats and babies.
