Instagram Video Requirements

Why invest in Instagram marketing? It’s a hot spot for brand discovery. 

Why invest in Instagram video? It drives double the engagement (or more) of posts with images alone.

Plus, social media has been skyrocketing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instagram in particular has seen more growth than other social networks, like Facebook, during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

2020 social media usage instagram vs snapchat vs facebook

All this to say… It’s a good time to be posting videos to your brand’s Instagram account. But, for your video to enjoy all the reach and engagement it can, you need to follow Instagram’s video requirements.

Read on for your quick guide to the recommended Instagram video formats for your feed, Stories, Live, and IGTV.

Instagram Feed Video Requirements

Instagram posts can have one of three video formats: landscape, square, and vertical. If you’re uploading a video as a post, here are the specs you need to know.

  • File Type: MP4 or MOV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9 for landscape, 1:1 for square, and 4:5 for vertical
  • Minimum Resolution: 600×315 for landscape, 600×600 for square, and 600×750 for vertical
  • Maximum File Size: 4GB
  • Maximum Length: 60 seconds
  • Frame Rate: 23 to 60 FPS

While 600px is the minimum resolution for Instagram video posts, Instagram experts recommend using 1080px. This ensures your video is quality enough to attract views and engagement.

Speaking of engagement, post vertical or square videos whenever possible. You can’t tilt your phone when using Instagram, so if you upload a video in landscape format, it will be difficult for your followers to watch it. On the flip side, with a vertical video, your post takes up more real estate within the app and people can see more of the details of your video.

Instagram Feed Video Ad Requirements

You can use any of the same three video formats for your Instagram video ads (landscape, square, and vertical). To get your ad approved, make sure it meets these requirements:

  • File Type: MP4, MOV, or GIF
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.91:1 to 4:5 (4:5 is recommended)
  • Minimum Width: 500px
  • Minimum Resolution: 1080×1080
  • Maximum File Size: 30MB 
  • Length: 1 second up to 2 minutes
  • Primary text: up to 125 characters
  • Headline Text: up to 40 characters
  • Hashtag Limit: 30

Instagram recommends including captions and sounds with your video ad, but they are not required. 

Instagram Stories Video Requirements

You can also upload videos as Instagram Stories. Here are the specs.

  • File Type: MP4 or MOV
  • Aspect Ratio: 9:16
  • Minimum Resolution: 600×1067 (1080×1920 is recommended)
  • Maximum File Size: 4GB 
  • Maximum Length: 15 seconds 

Note: If you upload a video longer than 15 seconds, Instagram will split up your story into 15 second clips.

Instagram Live Video Requirements

Instagram Live has similar video requirements to Instagram Stories. The main difference is that you can record for up to 4 hours.

IGTV Video Requirements

You can upload both horizontal and vertical videos to IGTV. Here are the requirements for IGTV:

  • File Type: MP4
  • Aspect Ratio: 9:16 for vertical videos and 16:9 for horizontal videos
  • Minimum Resolution: 720 pixels 
  • Maximum File Size: 650MB for videos shorter than 10 minutes, 3.6GB for videos up to 60 minutes
  • Minimum Length: 1 minute
  • Maximum Length: up to 15 minutes for videos uploaded on mobile, and 60 minutes for videos uploaded via web
  • Minimum Frame Rate: 30 FPS

Ready to Get Started with Instagram Video?

Now that the technical stuff is out of the way, it’s time for the fun part: creating your video!

Do you need help crafting an engaging video strategy for Instagram? Contact the social video marketing experts at Your Marketing People.

Take a look at our work here.

Alisha Rechberg

Author Alisha Rechberg

More posts by Alisha Rechberg

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