If you’ve ever noticed some of your Instagram videos appear blurry while others are sharp, you’re not alone. According to Meta’s Adam Mosseri, the quality of your Instagram videos depends on the number of views they receive.
In a video shared by a Threads user, Mosseri explained that Instagram aims to provide the best possible video quality. However, if a video doesn’t gain many views early on, the platform reduces the quality to conserve resources. On the other hand, if the video starts gaining traction later, Instagram re-renders it in higher quality.
“The shift in quality isn’t huge,” Mosseri mentioned when asked if this practice disadvantages smaller creators. He emphasized that viewers engage with content based on its substance, not solely its quality. This approach is consistent with Meta’s earlier statements, where the company described its strategy of initially encoding videos with basic settings to save computing resources. Only videos that achieve “sufficiently high watch time” receive more advanced encoding.
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Mosseri also clarified that this process works on a broad level, not targeting individual viewers. Instagram prioritizes higher-quality encoding for creators with more views, using a sliding scale rather than a strict threshold. Essentially, the more popular a video is, the better its quality will become.
This process highlights Meta’s efforts to balance resource allocation while ensuring that high-performing content stands out visually. However, for smaller creators, the focus remains on producing engaging content to capture viewers’ attention, regardless of initial video quality.
