Reference · Updated July 2026
Instagram Reels length limit
A Reel can run up to 20 minutes — the limit rose from 3 minutes during 2025 — but Instagram says Reels longer than 3 minutes get less recommendation reach, so the practical limit for a video you want people to find is still three. Stories are chopped into 60-second segments, and the file itself can be around 4 GB. Length, not size, is what you'll actually bump into.
Instagram video limits at a glance
| What | Limit |
|---|---|
| Reels (also feed video) | 20 min — Feed videos are Reels now. Limit rose from 3 to 20 minutes during 2025, but Reels over 3 minutes get less recommendation reach. Stories: 60-second segments. |
| File size | ~4 GB (unofficial) |
| What actually stops you | Length. A phone recording rarely reaches 4 GB, but a Reel over 3 minutes is shown to fewer people and a Story over 60 seconds is split. Cutting the clip to the moment you want fixes both. |
Instagram publishes no official size figure, so the 4 GB is best available information; the durations are the ones the app enforces. Because Instagram recompresses everything on upload anyway, there is little to gain from compressing first — trimming is the edit that matters here.
Trim your video to the length you need
Drop the video below and drag the start and end handles over the preview — under 3 minutes for a Reel you want recommended, under 60 seconds for a single Story segment. The cut is exact to a tenth of a second and the result is a standard MP4, made on your own device: nothing is uploaded until you post it yourself.
How long can an Instagram video be?
By placement, as the app enforces it today:
| Where you post | Length limit |
|---|---|
| Reels | Up to 20 minutes |
| Reels you want recommended | 3 minutes or less — longer Reels get less reach |
| Stories | Cut into 60-second segments |
| File size (any placement) | About 4 GB, unofficial |
Limits move often — the Reels ceiling changed twice in 2025 alone. The table above is checked against Instagram's own help pages; the date it was last verified is at the top of this page.
Too long? Trim, don't compress
Instagram recompresses every upload to its own settings, so shrinking the file first buys you nothing and can cost quality twice over. What helps is cutting: a Reel that opens on the moment and ends before the padding is both under the reach limit and more watchable. For a longer piece, trim it into several Reels or let Stories split it into segments.
Everything on this page runs locally in your browser — your video never leaves your device, and there is no account or watermark. If a file really is huge, the compressor can bring it down while keeping the picture sharp, but for Instagram that's the exception, not the rule.