Are you uncertain of how lengthy Instagram reels needs to be?
Instagram reels have a most size of three minutes, however ought to your reels actually be that lengthy?
On this publish, we talk about Instagram reels size and reveal knowledge on what function the size of your reels have on engagements.
We got here to the conclusion that longer reels which might be about one minute lengthy are finest for views and engagement, however let’s see how we received there.
How lengthy can Instagram reels be?
Instagram reels had a most size of 90 seconds, or 1 minute and 30 seconds, for the longest time.
Nevertheless, now you can publish reels which might be so long as three minutes, or 180 seconds.
Movies don’t have to be recorded in a single take.
You’ll be able to report a reel in a number of takes utilizing a number of clips spliced collectively.
As you create the reel, Instagram will show a progress timer letting you see the present video size and the way shut you might be to its size limits.
How lengthy ought to Instagram reels be?
Reels could be as much as three minutes in size, however do they should have a selected video size as a way to succeed?
In accordance with an occasion hosted by Meta, which included an look by Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, reels which might be longer than 90 seconds can damage distribution.
There’s additionally an outdated determine from a Hootsuite examine that’s not accessible that states that the perfect Instagram reel size is between seven and 15 seconds for high-performing reels.
Sadly, many blogs nonetheless quote this determine despite the fact that it not has a traceable supply.
There’s not a lot video content material you possibly can pack right into a reel that’s solely 15 seconds lengthy.
Longer movies provide the freedom to create no matter kind of content material you’d like for Instagram, all whereas nonetheless utilizing a short-form video format.
How lengthy is a typical Instagram reel?
I used a small pool of knowledge for these figures, besides, they show how nearly all of Instagram reels are longer than 30 seconds.
I checked out 10 reels that have been posted in a row on every account. I additionally used accounts of various sizes:
- @joshandjase – 578,000 followers
- @dylanpage.ning – 1.3 million followers
- @legendary – 3.7 million followers
The common video size for @joshandjase and @dylanpage.ning’s was one minute and 9 seconds every whereas @legendary’s common video size was 42 seconds.
Listed below are just a few extra statistics for every account:
Avg. Views | Avg. Likes | Avg. Feedback | Avg. Shares | Avg. Engagement Price | |
@joshandjase | 667,800 | 42,310 | 1,518 | 1,401 | 7.07% |
@dylanpage.ning | 1,152,100 | 64,380 | 780 | 1,277 | 5.63% |
@legendary | 955,000 | 54,817 | 224 | 9,366 | 5.13% |
Probably the most attention-grabbing factor about this knowledge is the correlation between follower rely and engagement, particularly, {that a} decrease follower rely results in the next engagement fee.
However that’s not why we’re right here. We’re right here to see how video size performs a task in these numbers.
Actually? It doesn’t play an enormous function.
These are the statistics for every account’s longest movies:
Size | Views | Likes | Feedback | Shares | Engagement Price | |
@joshandjase | 1:23 | 360,000 | 21,300 | 672 | 273 | 6.18% |
@dylanpage.ning | 1:30 | 1,400,000 | 77,500 | 1,656 | 2,481 | 5.83% |
@legendary | 1:08 | 681,000 | 40,600 | 210 | 1,989 | 6.29% |
And these are the statistics for the shortest:
Size | Views | Likes | Feedback | Shares | Engagement Price | |
@joshandjase | 1:00 | 411,000 | 39,900 | 2,265 | 1,150 | 5.26% |
@dylanpage.ning | 0:28 | 1,100,000 | 63,800 | 754 | 1,661 | 6.02% |
@legendary | 0:05 | 162,000 | 2,413 | 18 | 51 | 1.53% |
Dylan truly had just a few movies that hit the one minute and 30 second mark.
The others had view counts of 1.3 million, 833k and 812k, respectively. Their engagement charges have been 7.9%, 5.02% and 5.79%.
The movies with the very best view counts of 1.6 million for Josh & Jase, 2 million for Dylan and a pair of.2 million for Good Legendary Morning had video lengths of 1:10, 1:03 and 0:53, respectively.
Their engagement charges have been 9.36%, 5.79% and 10.34%.
It’s this motive that I consider the optimum Instagram reel size to be round one minute lengthy.
How lengthy ought to your movies be?
Does this imply each reel you publish must have a selected video size?
No. It’s only a guideline to observe in case you’ve gotten a whole lot of footage to work with and aren’t certain of when to cease.
Like Instagram themselves say, in case you add longer Instagram reels of 90 seconds or extra damage distribution, and it’s probably as a result of dwindling consideration spans result in fewer engagements on these movies.
You’re higher off selecting a video size on a case by case foundation whereas discovering intelligent methods to make movies shorter.
For instance, in case you’re posting a recipe video, you don’t must report a clip of you gathering every ingredient. You’ll be able to merely report a brief one to two-second clip of you holding every ingredient as much as the digicam or including it to your dish.
Use background music and voiceovers to make splicing a number of clips collectively seem cleaner if the unique audio will get too jagged.
You’ll be able to even edit your movies with phone-based video enhancing instruments like CapCut, then add them out of your digicam roll if you wish to publish them.
At Meta’s occasion, they mentioned the easiest way to succeed on Instagram is by creating partaking reels, and we totally agree.
Attempt to give you concepts for reels that result in humorous or outrageous moments or fascinating tales.
When is the most effective time to publish Instagram reels?
In actuality, it doesn’t actually matter if you publish on Instagram. That is due to the way in which the app is ready up.
There are a number of locations throughout the app to eat content material, together with the Instagram feed, which showcases the most effective content material from accounts you observe and accounts which might be much like those you observe.
Your newest Instagram story seems on the high of the app.
If a consumer views your profile, they’ll see your reels in a particular reels tab.
The algorithm both chooses which content material to indicate to you primarily based on which accounts you’ve interacted with on the app otherwise you go to an account’s profile on to eat content material.
Sadly, chronological social media feeds are a factor of the previous.
Nevertheless, in our publish on the optimum time to publish Instagram reels, we got here throughout a reasonably dependable statistic from RivalIQ that claims the most effective time to publish reels is between 10PM and 7AM most days however particularly on Saturdays.

Why Instagram reels are vital
Instagram Reels isn’t solely an vital part of the Instagram app, it’s additionally an vital part of social media typically.
In our article on statistics for Instagram reels, we featured knowledge from a Metricool examine that acknowledged how the typical Instagram reel receives 16,152.88 views every on common.
Right here’s how this determine compares to quick movies from different platforms:
- TikTok: Movies on this platform obtain 18,173.32 views every on common
- Instagram Reels: 16,152.88 views
- Fb Reels: 8,553.37 views
- YouTube Shorts: 646.89 views


Metricool additionally broke this knowledge up into teams primarily based on follower rely.
They discovered that Instagram accounts with greater than 50,000 followers acquired a mean of 65,800 views per reel.
Right here’s how this determine compares to related accounts on different platforms:
- TikTok: TikTok accounts with greater than 50,000 followers obtain a mean of 91,400 views per video
- Instagram Reels: 65,800 views
- Fb Reels: 37,500 views
- YouTube Shorts: 5,700 views
That is the remainder of the information for various account varieties on Instagram:
- 50,000+ followers (Enormous): Accounts of this measurement obtain a mean of 65,800 views per reel on Instagram
- 10,001 to 50,000 followers (Large): 9,000 views
- 2,001 to 10,000 followers (Medium): 2,900 views
- 501 to 2,000 followers (Small): 1,200 views
- 0 to 500 followers (Tiny): 558 views


Instagram reels even have an identical engagement fee as different social media platforms that provide the short-form video format.
This may be seen from statistics that have been revealed in Metricool’s examine on the typical engagement fee of short-form movies:
- YouTube Shorts: Brief-form movies on this platform have a mean engagement fee of 5.91% per video
- TikTok: 5.75%
- Instagram Reels: 5.53%
- Fb Reels: 2.07%
A separate examine performed by SocialInsider revealed how Instagram reels have the very best engagement fee amongst most content material varieties on Instagram:
- Reels: This content material kind has a mean engagement fee of 1.48%
- Carousel posts: 0.91%
- Picture posts: 0.69%


These statistics show how excessive utilization of Instagram reels, and Instagram typically, are amongst web customers.
They obtain the second-highest variety of views on common, solely falling quick to TikTok, which is continually dealing with bans throughout a number of jurisdictions all over the world.
In addition they obtain simply as many engagements as they do on competing platforms.
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