Count every character in your YouTube description — and see exactly what shows before the fold.
Description stats
Above-the-fold visibility
YouTube allows up to 5,000 characters in a video description, but only the first ~157 characters appear before viewers must click "Show more." This free YouTube description counter tracks your total character count against the 5,000-character limit in real time, counts lines and words, and shows a live fold preview so you can make sure your most important hook, links, and keywords land above the cut.
YouTube allows a maximum of 5,000 characters (including spaces and line breaks) per video description. If you exceed this limit, YouTube will reject or truncate the description.
On desktop, YouTube displays approximately the first 157 characters of your description before hiding the rest behind a "Show more" button. On mobile, the visible window can be even shorter, so it's important to put your hook and key information at the very start.
Yes. Most emojis are encoded as 2 UTF-16 code units, so they typically count as 2 characters toward your 5,000-character limit. This tool counts characters the same way JavaScript does (using .length), matching YouTube's own counter.
The fold is prime real estate. Use it for your main keyword phrase, a compelling one-sentence hook about the video, and a strong call to action (subscribe, watch next, visit a link). Save timestamps, credits, and hashtags for below the fold.