Why a visible character count can differ from X
X uses weighted counting. Its documentation says most Latin characters count as one, while emoji, CJK characters, and certain other Unicode ranges generally count as two. Valid URLs count as 23 characters regardless of their original length because X wraps them with t.co.
Complex emoji sequences and Unicode normalization create edge cases. This page is useful for drafting, but publication software that needs exact parity should use X's official twitter-text library.
- Standard Latin letters and punctuation usually weigh 1.
- CJK characters and emoji generally weigh 2.
- A detected URL is budgeted as 23 characters.
Standard and longer posts are different formats
The familiar standard-post limit is 280 weighted characters. Longer posts are available to Premium subscribers and can contain up to 25,000 characters according to X Help. Everyone can read them, but only eligible subscribers can create them.
A longer allowance does not make every message better as one post. If readers need a sequence, evidence, or separate discussion points, a thread or linked article may be easier to navigate.
Draft with a small buffer
Leave a few weighted characters unused when copy will be edited by multiple people or moved through a scheduler. Smart quotes, emoji substitutions, appended tracking URLs, and account mentions can change the final count.
Always paste the final version into the current X composer. Media and reply mentions have context-specific rules that a standalone text box cannot fully reproduce.