Bluesky raises video length limit to 10 minutes

Bluesky said Tuesday it is raising video limits on the platform to 10 minutes, up from the three-minute limit it had set after raising it last year. The move makes Bluesky more competitive with other text-based platforms that by default allow only shorter video uploads. Alongside the longer limit, the company said users can now upload a maximum file size of 300MB, and that upload speed is now 2x-3x faster.

The new limit matches TikTok’s 10-minute cap for videos recorded directly in its app. Because other apps built on the AT Protocol underpinning Bluesky — including Bluescreen, Reelo, and Skylight — inherit the same infrastructure, they will also be able to serve longer videos.

Social platforms broadly have pushed to make their services more video-friendly. Meta-owned rival Threads allows five-minute videos. X lets free users upload videos up to 140 seconds, but has made it easier for paying users to upload 3- to 4-hour videos up to 16GB in size to boost video consumption on its network, and has also launched a new video editor to encourage original content uploads.

With this change, Bluesky is looking to grow its active user base, which has dropped by over 25% year-over-year as of July, according to data from Similarweb.

Why it matters

Bluesky’s video expansion is a retention play as much as a feature update: a platform losing more than a quarter of its active users in a year needs a reason for people to spend more time in the app, and longer-form video is the lever most of its rivals have already pulled.