Instagram is facing a problem as the audio from older videos disappears, but Meta is preparing a fix.
Many of the original videos on Instagram have lost their sound. Videos that have been posted on the platform for more than a year are showing an error that says “video has no sound” when you try to play their audio. The issue appears to affect videos posted before the end of 2014.
It's hard to pinpoint the exact issue, but what we're seeing is that it seems to be affecting videos uploaded between June 2013, when Instagram first added video, and October 2014, as the audio is now missing. The audio isn't working regardless of platform, whether it's PC, iOS , or Android. And since the issue seems to be affecting most videos during this time frame, it seems to be an issue with Instagram rather than a copyright takedown.
See also: Windows 11 23H2: How to fix any slowdowns on your computer?
You can see an example of the missing audio in a video posted by Sam Sheffer, then head of social media at The Verge, the day Instagram first launched videos. Notice that in the embed below, the audio works, but is absent when you view the video directly on Instagram.
For long-time Instagram users, the absence of audio from their older videos can be a significant loss. Posting videos on Instagram is often done to preserve moments from the past, and audio is often an important element that makes a video special or memorable.
See also: Moody's: Why is it downgrading China's outlook to "negative"?
The problem appears to have started earlier this year. “I recently lost a good friend and I have videos of him on Instagram that I would like to hear,” one user wrote on Reddit in June. Another user wrote in May that he lost sound in a video of his dog that died. Another reported in May that he had no sound in old videos of his daughter. We were alerted to this unexpected issue thanks to a reader, and we’ve also noticed this phenomenon in videos by Verge editors.
Meta it ’s expected to be fixed. “We’re aware that a bug was causing some people to have trouble accessing audio in older feed posts,” spokesperson Seine Kim tells The Verge. “The issue is being fixed, and we apologize for the inconvenience.”
Source of information: https://www.theverge.com
