Comparison
Context lengthvsMax output
Context length
The context window bounds everything combined.
Max output
A separate, usually much smaller, limit bounds how many tokens one response may generate.
The difference
Two different limits. The context window bounds everything combined; a separate, usually much smaller, limit bounds how many tokens one response may generate. Hitting either produces different failure modes: an error on input, truncation on output.
Entry: Context length vs max output →