YouTube
Shorts and long-form videos
YouTube is OpenPost’s highest-bandwidth channel. We upload through the YouTube Data API v3 and support Shorts, standard uploads, and scheduled publishes.
Connect YouTube
Pick the Google account that owns the channel
If you manage multiple channels, sign out of other Google accounts first or use Chrome’s profile switcher. The account you pick determines which YouTube channel we can upload to.
Connect from OpenPost
Connections → + Add channel → YouTube. You’ll land on Google’s consent screen with these scopes:
youtube.upload— upload video files.youtube.readonly— read channel info and video metadata.yt-analytics.readonly— pull performance data.
Select the channel (if you have several)
Brand accounts can own multiple channels. OpenPost shows every channel the connected Google account administers; pick the one you want to upload to.
Daily upload quota
What OpenPost publishes
Short
A vertical video under 60 seconds, 9:16 aspect. Must include #Shortsin the title or description for YouTube to classify it correctly — OpenPost auto-adds it if missing.
Standard upload
Any aspect, up to 12 hours per video by YouTube’s rules. OpenPost caps the source file at 1 GB at upload — anything larger should be uploaded natively on YouTube. Title up to 100 characters, description up to 5,000 characters.
Scheduled publish
Upload now, go public later. Set schedule_atin the API — the video uploads as private and flips to public automatically at the scheduled time.
{
"content": "Behind the scenes of our v2 launch",
"title": "OpenPost v2 — The making of",
"integrations": ["int_yt_abc"],
"media": ["med_video"],
"schedule_at": "2026-05-01T18:00:00Z"
}
Video limits
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| container | MP4, MOV, AVI, WMV, MPEG, WebM | MP4 + H.264 is what we recommend; codecs H.264, H.265, VP9, AV1, and AAC audio are all accepted. |
| duration | 1 s – 12 hours | Shorts capped at 60 s. 15 min default limit until you verify your channel. |
| file size | YouTube: ≤ 256 GB · OpenPost upload cap: ≤ 1 GB | Uploads above 256 MB use resumable chunked transfer (8 MB chunks). Files over 1 GB should go direct on YouTube. |
| title | ≤ 100 chars | Emoji allowed. Don't use ALL CAPS — YouTube flags and demotes them. |
| description | ≤ 5,000 chars | First 125 chars show above the fold. Include key links there. |
Thumbnails
For Shorts, YouTube auto-picks a frame. For standard uploads, set a custom thumbnail from the composer (or pass thumbnailin the API). JPEG or PNG only, 640×360 minimum, 1280×720 maximum, under 2 MB. Custom thumbnails require a verified YouTube channel — YouTube surfaces a warning if yours isn’t yet.
Analytics we pull
YouTube has the deepest analytics of any platform we support. Expect a 48–72 hour data-settling window before numbers finalise.
Views
Unique + total
Watch time
Hours
Average view duration
Seconds
Subscribers gained
Per video
Impressions CTR
From browse / suggested
Data delay
48–72 hours to finalise
Scheduling and visibility
YouTube uploads support four visibility states:
- Public— live immediately on publish.
- Unlisted— accessible by URL only, not searchable.
- Private— only you and people you share with can view.
- Scheduled — unlisted until
schedule_at, then flips to public automatically.
Common errors
Disconnect
Connections → three-dot menu → Disconnect. We revoke the Google OAuth token. Videos already uploaded stay on YouTube; scheduled posts move to failed.