Why Won’t My Videos Send on Instagram?

People spend a lot of time on Instagram. I sure do!

As a photographer and videographer, Instagram is a great mobile app for sharing your work and one of the best social media platforms for getting inspiration.

If you want to upload videos to your Instagram account, you sometimes run into an error message telling you that your video isn’t sent. Why won’t your Instagram videos send correctly?

Keep reading to learn about some possible reasons why this happens in this troubleshooting guide. It should help you to determine what’s going on.

Hopefully, you’ll be able to remedy the situation shortly with a few simple steps.

Check out 10 Instagram Tricks with Video you should be doing.

Problems with Your Network Connection

The first thing is to check if there are any poor internet connection issues. Perhaps your video won’t upload to Instagram simply because your internet connection isn’t adequate.

Your internet could be down, or it might be very slow right now because of a simple network issue. Sometimes, things can cause your internet speed to get really low.

You might have too many people doing things that take up a lot of bandwidth on your Wi-Fi. It’s also possible that you simply need to restart the router and modem.

Try to check your internet connection to see if there are problems. You can check the internet speed to see if it’s good enough and then try to fix things from there.

If you’re using your mobile device and have used all your mobile data, try connecting to a local wi-fi network instead. On the other hand, if you’re on a Wi-Fi connection, try switching to mobile data instead.

Simply navigate to your network settings on your iPhone or Android phone and change the network type as the first step.

Also, check if your phone has a power-saving scheme or low power mode and has disabled your network altogether. The same goes for flight safety mode.

Your Account is Banned, or Disabled

Of course, you won’t be able to upload photos if your account is banned. You also won’t be able to upload videos or Instagram stories if your account has been disabled recently.

Instagram might ban your account if you do things that are against the terms of service (this is why I don’t use the third-party tools).

Sometimes people will get banned for arguing with others or posting hurtful things.

Be sure to read the terms of service so that you will understand what is and isn’t allowed on the platform.

The person you’re trying to contact has blocked you

Instagram offers the opportunity to send photos and videos to other Instagram users as direct messages.

However, you can’t send a video directly to someone if they blocked you. If you are not able to communicate with someone on Instagram, they might have blocked you.

If this is the case, you should leave them alone!

You’re Trying to Upload Inappropriate Content

Trying to upload inappropriate content is not a good idea. This goes for both photo and video content. Fx explicit nudity is always a no-go. So are female nipples.

If you post photos or your video contains things that are against the terms of service, you’ll wind up getting banned. If the video or photo does upload at all, it might not stay up for long before you get in trouble.

Understand that Instagram has strict community standards. You must adhere to the standards if you wish to use Instagram. Otherwise, you’d be better off finding a platform for your videos that is more accepting.

Be mindful of the type of content that you share on Instagram since pictures and videos that are too risque might cause issues.

Video File, Size, or Format Issues

Another common problem is using the wrong file format. You could be trying to upload a video file that Instagram doesn’t support.

Instagram supports several file types such as MP4, MOV, and GIF. If you’re using an older or more obscure file format, that might be the cause of the videos not making into the Instagram feed.

Fx, if you plan to use the HEVC container, you’re going to need a reliable HEVC to Instagram converter. And, naturally, if your video is shot in RAW or 10-bit or 12-bit HDR, you need to convert it first.

MP4 and MOV files (encoded with the H.264 codec) can be directly uploaded to the platform with no issues. Instagram doesn’t support H.265 yet.

Thus, it’s a lot easier to use MP4 or MOV files than anything else. You can still use other file formats to record your videos, but there are extra steps involved if you want to share them to Instagram.

Video Format Issues

Related to the file format, you should also pay attention to the video format itself. Things like the wrong file size, aspect ratio, and frame rate are also common reasons why Instagram won’t accept videos.

Also, be mindful that there is a difference between IGTV videos and Instagram Story videos. While IGTV allows videos up to 60 minutes, Instagram Story only allows videos of up to 60 seconds.

• IGTV videos up to 10 minutes long must have a maximum file size of 650MB.
• IGTV videos between 10 and 60 minutes long must have a maximum file size of 3.6GB.
• Instagram Story videos need to be less than 4GB in size.

Check my guide on How to share a YouTube video on Instagram Story.

Also, Instagram likes videos with a minimum frame rate of 30 frames-per-second (fps).

Try to get everything right so that you don’t encounter problems while uploading videos to Instagram.

Best video specs for Instagram video

So with the above out of the way, here are the best Instagram specification for video in 2023:

• .mp4 or .MOV format
• AAC audio at 128kbps
• 30 fps (frames per second) minimum framerate
• Between 1,91:1 and 9:16 aspect ratio. 4:5 is also good
• Minimum 720 pixels wide and tall
• H.264 codec

Check out how to resize videos and change width and height in Premiere Pro.

Is Instagram Down?

You won’t be able to upload Instagram or use it properly if the Instagram servers are down. The app could be down for maintenance, or there might be problems with the servers.

Go to Downtector to check to see if Instagram is experiencing any outages. If the site and app are down, you’ll have to wait patiently for things to return to normal.

Update the Instagram App

Could there be problems with the Instagram app itself? Sometimes Instagram might not work correctly if it isn’t updated.

You might want to check to see if you have the latest version of Instagram before moving forward. You do this simply by going to the Google Play Store (Android) or Apple Store (iOS) and checking to see if there’s an update ready for you. If so, update Instagram asap.

Then check to see if you’re still unable to upload videos.

Clear the Instagram Cache

Try to clear data from the Instagram app cache. The cache files hold information about all your activity and might take up a lot of memory on your phone.

How to clear the Instagram cache in 2023

1. Open Instagram
2. Tap ‘Settings’
3. Tap ‘Security’
4. Tap ‘Account’
5. Tap ‘Browser Settings’
6. Tap ‘Clear’ next to Browsing Data to clear cache

Use a browser on your desktop or laptop instead

Try switching to a different device.

Instagram is available for iOS devices from the app store and for Android from Google Play Store. But you can now also use it from a browser such as Google Chrome.

Until recently, it has only been natively possible to upload photos and videos from an iOS device or Android device until recently.

But luckily, it’s now also possible – and even officially supported – to share and manage an Instagram post from your browser on your PC or Mac. I’ve been waiting a long time for this, as I didn’t trust the third-party apps available!

While this next step doesn’t exactly fix your initial problem, if you can upload from a Mac or PC, you can rule out things like being banned or blocked from Instagram as being possible causes.

Check out how to change the sequence resolution in Premiere Pro.

In Closing

I hope you found this guide to common causes for various Instagram issues useful?

Figuring out what went wrong while trying to upload videos to Instagram might take some time, but hopefully, you’ll have resolved the issue if you check each of these points.

It could be as simple as a poor network connection, you’ve used all your cellular data, or you might be trying to upload a file type that isn’t supported. You also might want to try to clear app data or update Instagram to a new version.

Take the time to ensure that your files are the right size and format before proceeding. You can make the necessary changes and then upload your videos if that is what’s holding you back.

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