How long can a URL be?

This is a popular question because different browsers can have their own URL length limit . A URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to a resource. Most web browsers display the URL of a web page above the page in an address bar. Extremely long URLs are usually a mistake. If you keep URLs under 2000 characters , they'll work in virtually any combination of client and server software.

There is really no universal maximum URL length . Although the specification of the HTTP protocol does not specify any maximum length, practical limits are imposed by web browser and server software. The max length is determined only by what the client browser chooses to support, which varies widely. HTML3 imposes a 1024-character limit to attribute values, while HTML4 has no such restriction.

Chrome

Google Chrome browser limits URLs to a maximum length of 2MB for practical reasons and to avoid causing denial-of-service problems in inter-process communication. On most platforms, Chrome's omnibox limits URL display to 32kB ( kMaxURLDisplayChars ) although a 1kB limit is used on VR platforms.

Firefox

The max length in Firefox seems to be unlimited. After 65,536 characters, the location bar no longer displays the URL in Windows Firefox 1.5.x. However, longer URLs will work.

Internet Explorer

The 2,083 limit is only present in Internet Explorer (all versions up to 7.0). Microsoft states that the maximum length of a URL in Internet Explorer is 2,083 characters, with no more than 2048 characters in the path portion of the URL.

Safari

At least 80000 characters will work. If you attempt to write more than this limit then the page will display a message stating an error.

Opera

Opera seems to have no max URL length whatsoever, at least 190,000 characters will work. Opera 9 for Windows continued to display a fully editable, copyable and pasteable URL in the location bar even at 190,000 characters.