Bluesky raises video upload limit to 10 minutes with 300MB cap

What changed

Bluesky has more than tripled the length of videos its users can post, raising the ceiling from three minutes to ten. According to TechCrunch, the company announced the change in a post, which also confirmed two related upgrades: a maximum file size of 300MB per upload, and upload speeds that are now two to three times faster than before.

The three-minute limit was itself an increase Bluesky introduced the year before, so this marks the second consecutive year the platform has loosened its video restrictions.

How it compares

The new cap brings Bluesky level with TikTok, which allows videos of up to 10 minutes when recorded directly in its app. It also moves Bluesky ahead of Threads, Meta's text-centric rival, which caps videos at five minutes.

X sits at both extremes. Free users can upload clips of just 140 seconds, but paying subscribers can post videos three to four hours long with file sizes up to 16GB. As TechCrunch notes, X has also rolled out a new video editor in an effort to push users toward producing original video content.

The protocol effect

One consequence of the change reaches beyond Bluesky's own apps. The network is built on the AT Protocol, and TechCrunch reports that other applications running on it, including Bluescreen, Reelo and Skylight, will also be able to serve the longer videos. In practice, a capability upgrade on Bluesky's infrastructure propagates to the wider ecosystem of clients built on the open protocol, something closed platforms cannot easily replicate.

Why it matters

The timing is hard to separate from Bluesky's growth problem. Citing data from Similarweb, TechCrunch reports that Bluesky's active user base had fallen by more than 25% year over year as of July, which makes video a plausible lever for re-engaging existing users and attracting creators who need room for longer content.

Social platforms across the board have been racing to become more video-friendly, and longer uploads are increasingly table stakes for competing against TikTok, YouTube and X. For Bluesky, the change signals an ambition to be more than a short-form text network: hosting mid-length video is a way to keep people on the platform rather than sending them elsewhere.

The move also highlights a structural advantage of the AT Protocol. Because the underlying infrastructure is shared, one investment in longer video support benefits every app built on it, and third-party clients gain the capability without doing their own engineering. If Bluesky's bet on longer video pays off, the whole protocol ecosystem shares in the gain.