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Instagram stories last how long


Instagram Story Video Length: How Long Your Videos Should Be

The maximum length for an Instagram Story video is 15 seconds. 

But if you're wondering how to get around the time constraint, here’s a simple trick: You can string multiple 15-second clips together to make a longer video sequence. 

IG Stories are short video clips that disappear after 24 hours. Stories are only visible to your followers. 

Instagram Story videos are shorter than the average “story” format of other social media platforms:

  • ‍Facebook Stories: Up to 20 seconds‍
  • Snapchat Stories: Up to 60 seconds‍
  • WhatsApp Status: Up to 30 seconds

Story content isn't just limited to video. You can intersperse images and videos to create a more textured Story experience for your followers. Like a carousel post, viewers can tap through a mix of images and videos in your Story sequence.

How do Stories compare to other types of Instagram videos?

  • Instagram Story videos: The maximum length for an IG Story video is 15 seconds. Photos in Instagram Stories appear for 7 seconds.
  • Instagram Reels: Reels are Instagram's response to TikTok. A Reel video can last up to 60 seconds.
  • Instagram Live videos: Livestream videos shot from the Instagram app can be up to 4 hours long. They can also be uploaded in their entirety to your Story or Feed after they've ended.
  • Instagram Video: As of October 2021, IGTV video and Instagram Feed videos are now one format—Instagram Video. Video previews on the feed last up to 60 seconds. Regular accounts can upload video clips between 15 seconds and 10 minutes in length. Verified accounts or accounts with large followings can upload up to 60-minute videos.
  • Instagram Video ads: Story ads can last between 5-15 seconds. Reels ads, up to 30 seconds. And Feed video ads can last up to 60 seconds.

How to edit the length of an Instagram Story video

If you're starting with a video that's longer than 15 seconds, and you want to post it to your Stories, you have two options:

Option 1

If you want to post longer videos from your camera roll to Stories, but they exceed the 15 second limit, Instagram automatically splits the first minute of your video into 4 x 15-second story cards.

As long as the video is less than a minute, you're fine. And since you're starting with a single video, your sequence will still maintain a sense of continuity, even though it's broken into separate parts.

Option 2

If your video is longer than a minute, Instagram will turn the first minute into 4 x 15-second cards like in Option 1, but will discard anything past the 60-second mark.

To upload the full video you’ll need to trim your content manually using Instagram's native video editing feature. Or, you can use a quality third-party video editor tool like CutStory to trim and edit your footage before posting.

Instagram has a new native editing feature that lets you trim videos to the desired length. 
Credit: Instagram

Is it better to use long videos or short videos?

Long and short Stories can both work well. 

It ultimately depends on the type of content you're looking to post and how well you can capture and hold the viewer's interest. 

→ Pro tip: As a rule of thumb, the longer the story sequence, the more you'll need to incentivize users to continue watching. Keep reading for a few tips on how to do this.

But first, let’s take a look at how to make either format work for you. You’ll also learn how to make an Instagram Story video that gets people to engage.

Longer videos

Stringing several Instagram Story videos together gives you more space to share your message. 

The challenge? 

If your first video doesn't hook a user in the sequence, they will likely ignore it and tap to the next Story in their feed.

That first video has to grab their attention. Let’s take a look at how this works in practice.

Example
: Everlane
Length: 90 seconds+ across multiple Story cards

Everlane sells ethical activewear, including a variety of quality denim goods. 

To communicate one of their central themes—transparency—they published a sequence of stories to educate followers on the truth about modern denim manufacturing.

But education alone isn't enough to hold people's attention. You need to incentivize them to watch your content.

Everlane accomplishes this with interactive polls and quizzes to increase engagement and therefore, Watch Time. This makes it easy for viewers to tap through to the end of the Story sequence.

  • Engage your audience by asking questions: Use binary yes-no engagement poll stickers (just tap a button to weigh in).
  • Use micro commitments: A small form of engagement at the start, or micro commitment, increases the odds you’ll stick through to see the end.
  • Combine education with interaction: Multiple polls interspersed with facts and insights for more engagement opportunities.
Why it works:

Everlane's first Instagram Story card opens with a simple question that immediately grabs your attention: "Denim is notoriously dirty… Do you know why?" 

The hook in the first second of the video determines whether or not a user is sticking around to watch the rest of the Story. 

Everlane interspersed "question" cards with "education" cards, which makes the educational experience fun and interactive, and makes it easy for people to tap through the full Story sequence.

Shorter videos

Once upon a time, there was an app called Vine. Vine videos were 6 seconds long and could tell entire stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Shorter instagram Story videos—under 15 seconds using a single Story card—can be highly effective and addictive too.

The key is remembering they need to stop a user in their casual Story swiping. You have to grab their attention, just like longer videos. 

Let’s look at an example from a company that sells custom couches DTC and see why it works.

Example: CouchHaus
Length
: 14 seconds

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Couch Haus (@couch_haus)

  • Design for sound-off: Most people don’t watch Instagram with sound on. This is true of Stories and most other IG video placements. Be sure that your content doesn’t require sound to understand. Use captions to communicate the key points.
  • Quick video cuts: Within this single 15-second Story card, there are at least six different video clips strung together to tell a simple coherent story. This adds motion and visual variety, which keeps you watching. In just 14 seconds, you've learned exactly how the product works and what makes it interesting.
Why it works

While not necessarily the norm for Stories content (most are filmed spontaneously), this short video is heavily-edited to make the content shorter and easier to consume.

In a single Story card, CouchHaus walks you through the entire process of ordering a custom couch online. They use captions to communicate value props, and visuals to show off the product and simple order process.

If you strip away the video, you're left with a clear testimonial that explains the product and speaks to its value props:

  • Custom couches online: I designed a custom couch on CouchHaus.
  • Easy process: The process was so easy.
  • Wide selection: I picked the color, fabric, and size.
  • Pet-friendly: I chose the performance fabric, which is perfect for pets.
  • Easy to clean: It's easy to keep clean, and it looks amazing in my house.
  • Positive experience: I never knew it would be that easy.
Pro tip

If you're going to invest the amount of time and energy to create a video like this, make sure to repurpose it in as many places as you can.

For instance, this example is clearly a repurposed social ad, but it still works as an organic Story post. The same principles that make this CouchHaus video effective apply to all social ads and social media platforms.

How to make an IG Story video

There are several ways to do it. Here’s an easy tutorial:

Step 1

Log in to your Instagram account. Tap the “Your Story” icon in the top left of the Instagram app on iPhone, iOS device, or Android. You’ll jump straight into the camera.

Step 2

Shoot a video in the default “Normal” mode or drag the side menu to any of the following video modes:

Create

Use text, music, stickers and GIFs to bring your Story videos to life. You can also use a number of interactive features to increase engagement with your Stories posts, including: 

  • Shoutouts: @ another account in your Story.
  • Polls, Questions, and Quizzes: Let your audience engage with your Stories. 
  • Donations: Build goodwill by asking for donations to a good cause.
  • Countdown timers: Drive urgency for product launches and special events.
  • Gifs, stickers, templates: Use visual overlays to enhance your content. 
Boomerang

Videos that play forward. Then play backward. Then forward again.

Layout

Divide your Story video into various grid patterns. 

Hands-free

Record without holding the button down. Or, select a video from your camera roll, simply by swiping up.

Multi-capture

Take up to 8 photos at a time, in quick succession.

Dual

Record video using both camera lenses simultaneously.

Level

Displays an on-screen level to help orient your shot.

Step 3

Your video preview should now be looping. Tap the arrow icon in the bottom right of the video to instantly post the video to your Instagram Story.

Tap "Your Story" to post your video.

Tip: To upload multiple videos to your Stories sequence, consider using a tool like Sked Social to upload assets in bulk rather than one-by-one.

Instagram Stories tips

There’s no right way to make an Instagram Story video. But here are some tips to help you get started:

Optimize for the format

Instagram Story videos are always vertical. They’re designed to be watched on your phone. So when you’re creating content, be sure that it’s also natively vertical. If it isn’t, Instagram automatically adapts it to the Story format. But vertical videos that are designed for the platform tend to have higher engagement than non-native videos.

Keep it casual

You don’t need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on expensive video equipment. Video recorded from a smartphone works just fine. In fact, many times phone footage outperforms high-production video because it feels more natural and less like marketing.

Use Instagram add-ons

There are infinite ways you can deck out your Instagram Story videos. Draw all over them. Use hashtags, emojis, polls, and text to spice them up. These make your videos pop and make them more engaging. And they fit how Instagram users use the Stories placement.

Turn your top Story videos into highlights

Instagram Story videos last for 24 hours. Then they’re gone. But you can turn your Story videos into highlights that stick around on your profile forever. This is a great way to feature your best Story content.

Reshare Story video posts you’re tagged in

If you’re tagged in another user’s Instagram post, you can re-share their post to your Story. This is a great way to feature happy customers shouting out your brand. And sharing that enthusiasm with the rest of your audience.

How to View Old Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories have become one of the most popular features of the social media platform, Like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories only appear on your feed for 24 hours, or until the person who posted the Story deletes it.

However, unlike Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories don’t actually disappear completely after 24 hours. While Instagram Stories do disappear from your feed after 24 hours, they remain archived in the app. So, if you post a story but it expires before you get a chance to save the video, don’t worry, you can still recover it.

Like many users, you may not know that this feature exists, let alone how to access it. Let’s take a look at how you can view old Instagram Stories.

Accessing Your Expired Instagram Stories

As Instagram Stories increased in popularity, more and more users started asking Instagram for a way to access their stories outside of the regular 24 hour time limit.

In response to this, Instagram added the Highlights and Archive features back in 2017. Highlights allow you to group story elements and post them on your profile as a regular post. They’re labeled as Highlights but they behave the same as a regular Instagram post.

The other feature, Archive, saves your stories for future use. It’s important to note that your stories get archived for your use only. For other people, they will disappear after 24 hours like normal.

The archiving feature should be turned on by default, but if it isn’t, you can turn it on in your Settings. Find the Stories panel in your Privacy Settings and toggle on the option that says Save to Archive.

  1. To view your older Instagram Stories, navigate to your profile screen, and tap on the hamburger icon in the top-right corner.
  2. From that menu, you should tap on Archive to access your Stories Archive.

From there, you can re-share, highlight, and otherwise interact with your Stories. That’s the gist of accessing your old Stories but seeing other people’s old Stories is an entirely different matter.

Can You View Someone Else’s Expired Instagram Story?

By design, Stories are only viewable for 24 hours, and there’s not really any way around this. However, if you’re acquainted with the person who created the Story, you could request that they share it with you by saving it from their Archive.

In terms of seeing other users’ Stories that have already expired, that’s about as far as you can go. This feature was always intended to be ephemeral, just like Snapchat Stories.

However, if you frequently find yourself wanting to view other users’ expired stories, there are a few proactive steps you can take.

Saving Other Users’ Stories

The good thing about Stories is that they last a whole 24 hours. This gives you plenty of time to decide whether you want to save one.

Some websites are designed to save Instagram Stories. The most minimalist and approachable of these is Storiesig.

  1. All you need to do is enter someone’s username and the website will find all their active Stories.
  2. From there, just select the Story you want to save and click Download.

This isn’t the only option, as many other websites can do the same. However, this is the most hassle-free way to do it. Also, this won’t give you access to expired Stories, but if you catch them within the 24 hours since they were published, you’re good to go. This website also works on mobile devices, but there is another option for your phone.

Both Android and iOS have screen recorders for their newer versions. You can also get a screen recorder app and simply record the story. AZ Screen Recorder is a good option for both Android and iOS. All you have to do is start recording, view the Story, and then save the recording.

Again, these methods don’t give you access to past Stories, but they do allow you to retain active Stories on your device for future use.

Screen Recording Instagram Stories

If you’re looking to save someone else’s Instagram Story for future reference you can always screen record or screenshot the content during the 24-hour active period. You may wonder if Instagram will notify another user that you’ve captured the content.

There is a lot of debate about this, but as of right now you’re in the clear to take undetected screenshots of Instagram Stories. This won’t work with DMs, and Instagram has changed this several times through the years, so you’ll want to test it on another friend before taking a screenshot of someone who you’d rather your activities stay anonymous.

Once you’ve captured the story on your iPhone or Android, you can revisit the story in your camera roll as many times as you’d like.

Viewing Instagram Stories Saved as Highlights

Thanks to the highlights feature on Instagram, you may get lucky and revisit your favorite content as much as you’d like by visiting your friend’s profile. When a story is created, the account owner has the option of saving the story as a Highlight.

The story will remain on their profile until the user deletes it. It’s a permanent option for displaying the best content. To check if your favorite stories were saved as a highlight do this:

  1. Tap on the magnifying glass icon or tap on the following option from your profile to locate the account you’re interested in.
  2. Locate the story under the Following and Message icon – these highlights are round icons with an image
  3. Tap on the story

That’s all there is to it. If you don’t see any stories here they either weren’t saved as a highlight, you’re not an approved follower, or their account is set to private.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I watch a Story more than once?

Absolutely! As long as it’s within the 24-hour period you can watch the Story as many times as you’d like. Instagram does tell the creator that you watched their content, but it doesn’t tell them how many times you watched. Just beware, if you watch their Story over and over again, they’ll see the view count increase and you may be the only person who’s seen it. This is a sure-fire sign that you’ve been watching their Story, a lot.

Can I re-publish and old Instagram Story?

Yes.

1. If you have a favorite Story, you can re-post it by navigating to your Archive folder as described above, then tap on the Story you’d like to re-post.

2. In the lower left-hand corner tap on the three vertical dots to access the sub-menu.

3. Then, tap on Repost.

4. Follow the prompts and your Story will live on in the feeds of others for another 24 hours.

5. If you’d like to re-post another person’s Story you can do that too. All you need to do is tap on the paper airplane icon and share.

If you don’t see the option, it’s probably because the other user has a private account. A private account means you can’t share their content for anyone else to see.

Final Thoughts

That pretty much sums up the resources you have when it comes to viewing and saving Instagram Stories.

Your own stories are archived for future use, but the Stories posted by other people are a little trickier. You can’t really see them once they expire, but you can save them while they’re active. Use a website made for saving IG Stories or a screen recorder on your mobile device.

How often do you feel like saving a Story you see on Instagram? If you could easily view old Stories at will, do you think it would defeat the purpose of Stories altogether? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

How many seconds is 1 Instagram story: how to upload long videos

One Instagram story lasts 15 seconds, so users have a question how to upload long stories? To do this, you need to follow simple instructions.

Content

  1. Maximum and minimum length of Stories
  2. Photo duration
  3. How to upload short and long videos to Stories
  4. Allowed photo and video formats for Stories
  5. How many hours is Instagram Story available?
  6. How to make Instagram Stories permanent?

    The minimum clip length is 3 seconds. The maximum time is 15 seconds. A longer video is also published, 1 minute in size. In this case, the application will automatically break it into frames, each 15 seconds long.

    You can add not only pictures, but also videos.

    Photo duration

    Stories allow you to warm up the interest of the target audience, as well as attract new subscribers. The question arises, how many seconds does an Instagram story last? Most often, users add photos to Stories. One picture is shown to subscribers for 5 seconds.

    Up to 10 photos can be added to create a mini story from photos. The result is a 1-minute story.

    How to post short and long videos to Stories

    Anyone can upload a 15 second video to Instagram Stories. It does not matter what type of account is used.

    To add a short video:

    1. Launch the Instagram app.
    2. Click on the icon with the inscription: "Your story" (upper left corner).
    3. Activate hands-free mode.
    4. Press the record button.
    5. Click on the "Recipient" button.
    6. Select "Stories".

    The duration of the video in the Instagram story during the shooting is calculated automatically. If you want to record a 1-minute video, you just need to shoot. The application will automatically split it into 15 second files.

    There is another way to load long clips. First you need to shoot a video using your phone or camera. When the video is ready, it needs to be broken into short stories.

    This can be done using the Android application:

    • Video Splitter;
    • YouCut;
    • VidTrim

    iPhone owners are recommended to install on their mobile device:

    • CutStory;
    • Crop Video;
    • Contiual.

    Apps uploaded to Play Store and App Store.

    To post split 15 second files on Instagram:

    1. Launch the app.
    2. Click on "Stories" - open the gallery.
    3. Click on the inscription: "Select several" - leave checkboxes on the desired videos.
    4. Click "Next" - add captions or emoji.
    5. Click Next.
    6. Select "Your story".

    After that, Stories from the prepared files will appear in the feed.

    Allowed photo and video formats for Stories

    In order for the story to not turn out to be cropped and attract attention, you must adhere to the correct proportions - 9:16. Therefore, photographs must have a size:

    • minimum - 600 × 1067;
    • maximum - 900×1600;
    • recommended - 720×1280.

    The extension of photos added to Stories can be png or jpg. Other formats are not supported by the social network.

    Videos are also subject to restrictions. The file size is 4 GB. In this case, the video must have the extension mov or mp4. If the camera shoots in a different format, you need to convert.

    How many hours is available Stories on Instagram

    Stories attract more target audience. Unlike a post, Stories cannot stay in the feed for a long time. Regardless of the length of Instagram Stories, the post will be archived after 24 hours.

    During this period, the history can be supplemented. To do this, you need to publish a new Stories. It will automatically be added to the post.

    How to make Instagram Stories timeless

    Some people use Timeless Stories. Thanks to this, you can increase the duration of Stories. To create an everlasting story:

    1. Launch Instagram.
    2. Click on the person icon.
    3. Click on "New" in the "Recent" section.
    4. Select posted Stories.
    5. Click Finish.

    After that, an eternal story will appear in the profile. For some users, 15 seconds of a story on Instagram does not allow revealing a thought. Therefore, you can use the eternal Stories to increase the length of the video.

    How long is Instagram story in seconds for videos and photos

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    Home / Blog / Instagram Stories Duration – How to Post Everything You Want

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    Article content

  7. How many seconds a photo is shown in an Instagram story
  8. How to increase the video length and bypass the limitation
    • Make multiple stories from one big video
    • Add video to IGTV
  9. How long history is shown
  10. The maximum number of stories that can be uploaded per day is

How many seconds does an Instagram story video last

To experimentally understand how many seconds an Instagram story lasts, just try to upload a video clip longer than one minute into the editor.

Having done this experiment, we can conclude that the maximum duration for a video will be one minute. In this case, the file will be split into short fragments of 15 (fifteen) seconds, everything that is more than a minute will be deleted.

How many seconds is the video in the story Instagram

Conclusion: the maximum duration of stories on Instagram: 1 (one) minute.

When publishing a story in a story, try to keep within one minute so that the editor does not throw out the “tail”. The following will provide instructions on how to bypass this limitation.

How many seconds a photo is shown in Instagram stories

When placing photos in a story, the situation is not as clear as with a video, and depending on the content of the story, the duration can vary from 5 to 15 seconds.

Thus, uploading a photo to a story, you can adjust its duration in time:

  1. You can upload one photo and it will be displayed for 5 seconds;
  2. If you add printable text to a photo, you can increase its duration by the time that the animation continues;
  3. By adding music to a photo in a story, you can adjust the size up to a second, i.e. while the melody is playing, but no more than 15 seconds.
How many seconds a photo is shown in Instagram stories

How to increase the length of the video and bypass the restriction

As it was written earlier, the duration of Instagram stories cannot be more than 15 seconds for one fragment and no more than one minute for the entire video. There are several ways to get around this limitation.

Make several stories from one big video

In order to be able to upload a video to the story for more than one minute, you need to upload the finished video file in parts.

In other words, the video file must be divided into parts equal to one minute.

To do this, you need:

  1. Determine how many minutes the video lasts;
  2. Choose a video editor for cutting video;
  3. Edit the video so that it can be uploaded to Instagram;
  4. Upload one-minute video fragments to stories, starting from the first one;
  5. Complete the story with the remaining parts.

Using this method, when uploading a story to Instagram, you can ignore the duration of the video.

Add a video to IGTV

If the content that needs to be uploaded to the story is quite voluminous and it will take a lot of time to cut it, then it would be appropriate to add the video to IGTV.

In order to upload a video up to one hour long to IGTV, you need to go to the mobile version of Instagram or use another method to open the social network on your computer.

The algorithm of actions for adding videos to IGTV and publishing stories with a link:

  1. Open your profile on a computer;
  2. Upload video to Instagram;
  3. Wait for video processing;
  4. On a smartphone, go to the section with IGTV;
  5. Find the desired video and copy the url to IGTV;
Add a video to IGTV
  1. Create a teaser story with a call to watch the video in full;
  2. Use a sticker to add a link to IGTV in stories.
Add a link to IGTV in stories

When viewing a story, users will click on a sticker with a link and get acquainted with the full version of the video content.

How long the story is shown

The posting period of the story is 24 hours from the moment of its publication on Instagram.

Learn more