Joshua Siegel, product manager for YouTube's Upload and Video Management department, said the company made the change because "without question, the number-one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes."

The Copyright Connection

The upload limit for non-partners was 10 minutes for many years, so why is YouTube making this change now? Beyond the "because you've been asking for it" answer, Siegel offered a deeper explanation of the timing.

"We've spent significant resources on creating and improving our state-of-the-art content ID system and many other powerful tools for copyright owners," Siegel said. "Now all of the major U.S. movie studios, music labels, and over 1,000 other global partners use content ID to manage their content on YouTube. Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today."

Loosely translated, that means Google has a better handle on determining who owns the video clip, so it has loosened the restrictions on the length of the videos. Siegel said YouTube will continue to provide advanced technology tools for copyright holders and work on incremental improvements to the site.

The Twitter Threat

That's YouTube's official stance. But Brad Shimmin, an analyst at Current Analysis, suggested the video site's timing could be a quiet response to speculation swirling around Twitter's rumored video plans.

"Timing-wise, my wonderment here is that this follows pretty close on the heels of Twitter opening up its own data center in Utah so they could handle video and image uploads more completely. I am sure Google would see that as a threat," Shimmin said.

"Upping the video length to 15 minutes is not a game changer for people using YouTube. The difference between 10 and 15 minutes is incremental," he said. "If YouTube had changed it to an hour, that would be pretty major. I don't see a tangible change in user behavior. This is more of a marketing play."

'15 Minutes of Fame'

YouTube is making the most of the upgrade by playing off the popular "15 minutes of fame" cliché that suggests we all enjoy 15 minutes of fame in our lifetime. Siegel is encouraging users to make a video of their "15 minutes of fame."

"Imagine that this video is all the world will ever know about you: What would you want to communicate? What will be the enduring stamp you've left on us all?" Siegel asks. "Tag your video with 'yt15minutes,' upload it by Wednesday, Aug. 4, and we'll select a handful of people to truly gain their 15 minutes of fame by featuring them on the YouTube home page in a future spotlight."