Instagram Reels can now be up to one minute long, double the previous 30-second time limit. Instagram initially debuted Reels with a brief 15-second time cap, then quickly doubled it just a month later. Reels is now nearly a year old, so it seems it’s time for an update again.
Instagram Reels can now be twice as long
From 15 seconds, to 30 seconds, to one minute
From 15 seconds, to 30 seconds, to one minute
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
Until recently, TikTok also capped videos at 60 seconds long, and it’s with that time constraint that the platform really blew up. So it’s probably wise that Instagram is expanding its short video limit to give creators a little more space to work with. TikTok’s longer limits were better for cooking videos, storytelling, and plenty more, and they still maintained the app’s quick-flipping pace of programming.
TikTok recently expanded its limit to three minutes for all creators, so it’s probably a matter of time before Instagram nudges its cap even further. Instagram has yet to share in detail how well Reels is doing, but Instagram’s leader, Adam Mosseri, said in January that “we have to be honest that TikTok is ahead.” For what it’s worth, I saw a ripped Instagram Reels video on TikTok for the first time recently, so that’s something.
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