What You Need to Know About Instagram Video Size
Enabling users to share their video content was a game-changer for Instagram. Insta-stories and IGTV are trending now, and here is what you need to know about Instagram video size, resolution, dimensions, and formats.
A huge audience, plenty of advertising opportunities, and the ability to reach out to a narrow target audience or partners in the B2B segment - these and many other reasons encourage entrepreneurs to spend money, time, and energy to promote their business on Instagram. It would be reckless not to use such a "live" developing platform to benefit your business.
SMM specialists have developed strategies and methods of promoting companies and brands on Instagram. Smart entrepreneurs use this social network to make their brand recognizable, find loyal customers, create lead generation, and manage the company's reputation and feedback.
Instagram is no longer just about photos. Relatively recently, the network has also become a platform for video content. Immediately, in-feed and live videos, stories, and IGTV have become a part of many Instagramers' content plans.
Instagram Video Dimensions and Types
Since Instagram focuses on mobile gadgets, its creators made sure that all video content uploaded to the platform runs smoothly on smartphones and tablets. A clip made with a phone camera is ready to be published. But if you use a professional camera, you should check if it meets the Instagram video requirements.
Instagram supports almost all video formats and does not announce any restrictions. However, the best video format for Instagram is MP4. MOV is the second popular choice of Instagramers. The maximum video resolution is 1080p.
In-Feed Videos
You can choose a clip in any format up to 60 seconds with a max video size of 4 GB for In-Feed posts. Keep in mind the following video specs:
- Square orientation: size from 600*600 pixels, aspect ratio 1:1
- Horizontal orientation: size from 600*315 pixels, aspect ratio 1.9:1
- Vertical orientation: size from 600*750 pixels, aspect ratio 4:5
Instagram supports only 2 codecs, H.264 and VP8. The bitrate should not exceed 3,500 kbps. However, it's recommended to upload videos with the bitrate from 3,000 kbps; otherwise, it will affect the quality.
When choosing an Instagram video format, consider that vertical clips are not the best option for publishing on Instagram. They take up most of the display, making it uncomfortable for the followers to like or comment.
Instagram Stories
The Instagram story is the most popular type of content on the platform. Many users check stories before going through their feed. Stories highlight the most relevant and trendy topics and often have links to the usual in-feed posts. They disappear in 24 hours.
Instagram story video requirements:
- Only vertical format with 9:16 aspect ratio
- Video resolution: from 600 by 1067 pixels to 1080 by 1920 pixels
- Standard length: 15 seconds (the system automatically breaks longer videos into 15-second clips)
- Max video size: 4 GB
IGTV
In 2018 Instagram creators introduced a new service, IGTV, that is now compared with YouTube. The main IGTV's purpose is to publish long videos. Here, the max video length increases to 10 minutes, while verified accounts can post videos up to 1 hour.
The basic video requirements for IGTV are pretty much the same as for story content. However, IGTV supports only MP4 format. Video specs:
- IGTV dimensions: 1080 x 1920 pixels, 9:16 vertical or 16:9 horizontal aspect ratio
- Size limit for videos up to 10 minutes: 650 MB
- Size limit for videos for 10 to 60-minute videos: 3.6 GB
Tips for Video Editing
If your video's specs don't meet Instagram's requirements, you need to use a video editor. Some Instagramers rely on automatic compression, but it often leads to low quality.
A wisely-chosen video editing software for PC can help you resize and edit your videos. Such handy tools are often user- and beginner-friendly and provide a good number of features to make your video stylish and professional - transitions, effects, background replacement, filters, and many others.
Some online video editors are perfect for adding subtitles, creating GIFs, and even making memes. These programs make the process as easy as possible: you only need to upload your video and chose the social network. Done!