Telegram Character Limits: Messages, Captions and Bio

The short answer

On a free account, one Telegram message can hold up to 4,096 characters. If you type more, the app cuts the text at that point and sends the rest as a second message. Telegram Premium raises the limit for one message to 32,768 characters, the figure Telegram gives for its rich text editor.

Limits for each kind of text

The caption, bio and story numbers are the default values in Telegram's published client configuration. Telegram can change them, so treat the table as the current picture rather than a promise. The one-message limits were checked by sending long messages, as described below. For the other things Premium doubles, see the doubled limits.

What happens when you go over

We sent a string of repeated digits to Saved Messages from Telegram Desktop:

• Free account, 4,100 characters: it arrived as two messages, one of 4,096 characters and one with the remaining 4.
• Premium account, 4,100 characters: it arrived as one message.
• Premium account, 33,000 characters: it arrived as a 32,768-character message and a second one with the remaining 232.

The split messages also reach the other person as separate messages, and because the cut is made by count, it can fall in the middle of a sentence or a word. For a very long paste, Telegram Desktop may also offer to send the text as a file instead.

When a caption is too long

A caption over its limit cannot travel in the same message as the photo. Shorten it, or send the photo with a short caption and put the full text in the next message. To make a short caption work harder, see formatting text in captions.

Ways to send something really long

• Split it yourself into several messages, so the breaks fall between paragraphs instead of mid-sentence.
• Publish it on Telegraph and send the link. Long articles with headings and pictures open inside the app; see publishing with Telegraph.
• Send it as a file. A text or PDF document is not affected by the character limits at all.

To make long messages easier to read, see which text formatting actually helps. To make the most of 70 characters, see how to write a good Telegram bio.