It started as a social photo platform, but now Instagram has grown into a behemoth, with over 500 million active users sharing photos, videos, and a mix of both in the form of Stories and IGTV. High-quality videos can have a positive impact on your audience and convey your message more vividly.
There are many video formats on Instagram to share your visual creations, specifically, there are streaming videos, story videos, and IGTV. Posting videos is similar to uploading images to your page. You can either record videos with your camera through Instagram, or import content from your library.
Creating videos directly from within the platform is not the best option as Instagram doesn't allow you to adjust its aspect ratio, which will be at a 1:1 ratio by default. Square videos may not be as good a choice as 4:5 or 9:16 clips that fill the mobile screen and feature a wider viewing angle to their content. That's why it's better to import videos that have already been created and saved on your phone.
- Instagram video format
Streaming video: MP4 or MOV format with 1.91:1, 1:1 and 4:5 aspect ratio depending on the image viewing option (landscape, square and portrait respectively).
Instagram Story: MP4 or MOV, the aspect ratio is highly customizable if you import videos instead of recording them directly through Instagram.
IGTV Video: Supports MP4 only, with an aspect ratio of 9:16 (or 16:9 horizontally). Please note that the IGTV preview will crop your clip in the center with an aspect ratio of 4:5. The minimum frame rate is 30 FPS and the resolution must be at least 720 pixels.
- Instagram video duration
Streaming video: Can last from 3 to 60 seconds and the file size does not exceed 4GB.
Instagram Story: same as streaming video, you can record a story within 1 minute, but the good news is that you can keep recording and Instagram will group your clips under one story, with slightly noticeable transitions from one clip to the next.
IGTV videos: 15 minutes (mobile uploads) – 60 minutes (web uploads by verified users). Maximum file size is 650 MB for videos under 10 minutes and 3.6 GB for videos up to 60 minutes long.
- Recommended Instagram video specifications
As you can already see from the information above, there are much stricter restrictions on video length and size on Instagram compared to YouTube or other video sharing platforms. This makes sense, as Instagram is a mobile-centric platform where speed matters.
Users don't watch movies or shows on Instagram, but rather quickly browse to find content that appeals to them. To get the most out of your content, make sure your Instagram video meets the following specifications.
- H.264 format for video and AAC for audio.
- The maximum video width should be 1080 pixels.
- Use portrait/landscape modes to fill your viewers' mobile phone screen.
- Blurry 4K videos on Instagram? See here how to fix them.
It's really unfortunate to have meticulously created a high-resolution video and then discover that it's blurry on Instagram.
1 minute of 4K video at 60 fps is about 400MB using modern mobile phones. Based on this, you should have a 60-minute high-resolution video. However, due to Instagram's compression algorithm, your 4K videos are subject to serious quality loss.
While iPhones, drones, and GoPro cameras are capable of producing 4K resolution, it's disappointing not to be able to share high-resolution content on Instagram.
To upload a 4K video to Instagram, you can resort to high-quality video editing tools that are capable of converting and cropping videos, avoiding noticeable loss of quality.
Here are three tools that can help you:
a. VideoProc
Designed to manage videos with 1-click editing, conversion, and enhancement capabilities, VideoProc is one of the best tools for Instagram videos.
With an advanced compression algorithm and 370+ ready-to-use presets for various videos, content creators can use VideoProc to compress or edit their videos to meet their requirements, without compromising video quality (especially 4K videos).
Key features:
- Convert common and rarer video formats to MP4/MOV to make them Instagram-friendly.
- Automatically split long videos into mini clips for posting to IG stories and video carousels.
- Compress large videos / 4K – 1080p into smaller file sizes while maintaining high quality.
How to upload long videos to Instagram with VideoProc
Instagram stories and streaming video are limited to 60 seconds, but the trick here is that you can post video carousels or multiple clips (up to 10) within a story to make the video longer.
Let's say you have a 7-minute video, you can use VideoProc to automatically split it into 7 one-minute mini-clip segments and upload it to your Instagram story or main feed.
b. Handbrake
Handbrake , and Linux. With a simple interface and clear layout that doesn't require much learning curve to convert videos for Instagram.
You can also use it to trim long videos to fit within Instagram timelines. It can trim the video accurately based on seconds or frames.
Key features:
- Fast presets at 1080p30 to reduce file size.
- Enable double-pass encoding when converting video.
- Option for fixed frame rate or maximum frame rate for Instagram videos.
c. Online UniConverter
Created by Wondershare, Online UniConverter offers high-speed conversion with just a drag and drop of the video. Whether it's in WAV, AVI, FLV or other formats, you can count on this tool to convert your footage to MP4 and MOV for Instagram.
Within the same website, you can find the video compressor and editor, if your clips exceed the required duration and size.
Key features:
- Flexible online toolkit for editing Instagram videos.
- High conversion speed up to 30 times faster.
- 30 days free trial to fully enjoy all features.
- How to post a YouTube video to Instagram
Creating a video is a time-consuming process. If you already have content on YouTube that your viewers love, why not take advantage of that content?
You can quickly create content from YouTube videos by trimming them into small clips, joining video segments together, or adding animated text and other features that Instagram offers.
Step 1: Try one of the above recommended tools to edit YouTube videos.
Step 2: Using Airdrop or Google Drive, share and save your material to your phone.
Step 3: Import videos from your library to post as a streaming video or as an Instagram story.
Using content you’ve already created is a fantastic way to increase your productivity and monetize your viewers. If you’re a certified user, you can also include a “swipe up” feature to direct viewers to your YouTube channel or website.
- Latest tips
Now that you know how to upload long videos to Instagram in high quality, don't forget to use trendy hashtags that are relevant to your content.
For example, if your passion is coffee, instead of using #picoftheday, try #latteartvideo #latteartthrowdown or #coffeeroaster to promote your video to people who are looking for that specific content. If you use Instagram stories, don’t forget to try out the poll and question stickers to make your stories interactive for your audience.
