Platform video limits keep changing: keep a dated table, check by plan

Keep the platform limits your renders depend on in one dated table in your repo, with the vendor page each number came from, and check every planned render against it before you pay. Sume's unbilled POST /v1/timeline-1.0/plan returns duration_seconds without creating a job, so the check costs nothing.

Numbers move. YouTube now says Shorts can be up to three minutes for uploads on or after October 15, 2024, and third-party guides still quote older limits for Instagram and others. The table below is what each vendor's own page said on 2026-10-06.

What do the vendors' own pages say today?

The pages are YouTube Help, TikTok Support, and Instagram Help.

How do I turn the table into a check?

Store each limit as data: platform, max_seconds, read_on, and the URL. For every Timeline body you plan to send, call POST /v1/timeline-1.0/plan and compare duration_seconds with each target's max_seconds. A failed comparison means cut the body or pick another platform, before any credit is reserved. The plan call needs Sume-hosted media URLs and no Idempotency-Key, as described in the Timeline 1.0 docs.

Add a re-read date. A limit you have not read in 90 days is a limit to re-check.

What about things the plan cannot tell me?

A plan cannot predict short-source pad or loop warnings, and it knows nothing about vendor rules beyond the numbers you store. Treat it as a length and cost gate, not as a policy check. For files you already have, a probe-only video inspect tells you what is really in the MP4.