How to Post a Video on Instagram From Any Device

Images may be the most common type of post on Instagram, but videos posted on the platform receive 21.2% higher engagement than single photos.

If you want to make the most of the social media platform with 1 billion users each month, you need to start using video. Whether it’s in-feed videos or posting to your Instagram Stories or IGTV.

There’s no question that video on Instagram is blowing up right now. Which is why you need to learn how to post a video on Instagram.

We’ll be covering how to upload an Instagram video from the following devices:

1. Smartphone
2. Tablet
3. PC
4. Mac

Starting with how to post videos from your smartphone.

How to post a video to Instagram from a smartphone

The most common way to post a video to your Instagram account is directly from your smartphone.

How to post a video to your Instagram feed from your smartphone

When we refer to your Instagram feed, we’re talking about the regular videos that you’d see when scrolling through the news feed.

Here’s how you can upload a video to your Instagram feed from your smartphone:

1. Launch the Instagram app.
2. Click the + at the middle of the bottom menu.
3. Look for your video in the Library (iPhone) or Gallery (Android).
4. Depending on the aspect ratio of your video, select the crop button to ensure your video is being displayed correctly before posting.
5. Make adjustments to your video like adding a filter, trim the video and choose a cover.
6. Add a caption, hashtags, location, and tag any people in the video.
7. Publish the video.

You can also film a video from the Instagram app and post it directly to your feed.

Tap the + at the bottom of the screen the switch to ‘video’. Tap and hold the circle icon to start recording, lifting your finger to stop. You can tap and hold again to record multiple video clips.

If you're looking for help making your Instagram videos more interesting, check out our Social Media Templates.

How to post a video to IGTV from your smartphone

You can also post a video on Instagram IGTV, which is Instagram’s very own YouTube-like platform for sharing longer videos.

Here’s how you can upload a video to IGTV from your smartphone:

1. Launch the Instagram app.
2. Click the + at the middle of the bottom menu.
3. Select the video that you want to use, then tap Next.
4. Select Long Video to share a video that’s at least 60 seconds long to IGTV.
5. Tap and slide the image at the bottom of the screen to select a cover image or add an image from your Camera Roll (iPhone) or Add from Gallery (Android).
6. Add a title and description.
7. If you’re adding to an IGTV series, then tap ‘Add to Series’. You’ll need to create a name for your series when adding the first video.
8. Select whether you’d like to post a preview to your feed. If so, you have the option to edit the preview.
9. Click post.

For shorter videos...there’s also the options to stick with Instagram Stories.

How to post a video to Instagram Stories from your smartphone

Posting videos to your Instagram Stories is similar to posting to your feed.

Follow these steps:

1. Launch the Instagram app.
2. Click the camera icon in the upper left corner.
3. If you have a prerecorded video, swipe up and choose it from your media library. Switch to your ‘Videos’ folder to find it quickly.
4. Add fun text, stickers, GIFs, polls or other interactive elements to your video.
5. Apply a filter if you want.
6. Once you’re happy with your video, click ‘Send to’. From here to you can select to share to your Story so that everyone can see it, or share to selected friends.

If you don’t have a prerecorded video, you can easily film a new video straight from Instagram Stories.

Make them more fun by using the video-like options that Instagram offers for recording, including:

• Live video
• Boomerang
• Superzoom
• Focus
• Rewind
• Hands-free

Note that each Instagram Story can be up to 15 seconds long. If your video is longer than 15 seconds, it’ll break it into 15-second clips.

Now onto posting videos to Instagram from a tablet.

How to post a video to Instagram from a tablet

If you prefer using a tablet or iPad over a smartphone when uploading content to social media, you’ll be happy to hear that you can still post videos to Instagram from a tablet/iPad.

It’s quite similar to posting from a smartphone.

How to post a video to your Instagram feed from a tablet

Post a video to your Instagram feed from your tablet using the below steps:

1. Launch the Instagram app.
2. Click the + at the middle of the bottom menu.
3. Look for your video in the Library (iPhone) or Gallery (Android).
4. Use the crop button to make sure that your video will display as you want it (square vs. horizontal/ vertical).
5. Make adjustments to your video like adding a filter, trim the video and choose a cover.
6. Add a caption, hashtags, location, and tag any people in the video.
7. Publish the video.

You can also film a video from the Instagram app on your tablet and post it directly to your feed.

How to post a video to IGTV from a tablet

Much like from your smartphone, here’s how you can upload a video to IGTV from your tablet:

1. Launch the Instagram app.
2. Click the + at the middle of the bottom menu.
3. Select the video that you want to use, then tap Next.
4. Select Long Video to share a video that’s at least 60 seconds long to IGTV.
5. Tap and slide the image at the bottom of the screen to select a cover image or add an image from your Camera Roll (iPhone) or Add from Gallery (Android).
6. Add a title and description.
7. If you’re adding to an IGTV series, then tap ‘Add to Series’. You’ll need to create a name for your series when adding the first video.
8. Select whether you’d like to post a preview to your feed. If so, you have the option to edit the preview.
9. Click post.

How to post a video to Instagram Stories from a tablet

Posting a video to Instagram Stories from a tablet/iPad follows the same process as from your smartphone.

Here’s how:

1. Launch the Instagram app.
2. Click the camera icon in the upper left corner.
3. If you have a prerecorded video, swipe up and choose it from your media library. Switch to your ‘Videos’ folder to find it quicker.
4. Add fun text, stickers, GIFs, polls or other interactive elements to your video.
5. Apply a filter if you want.
6. Once you’re happy with your video, click ‘Send to’. From here to you can select to share to your Story so that everyone can see it, or share to selected friends.

You can also easily record a video straight from Instagram Stories while using your tablet.

Now onto posting videos to Instagram from a computer.

How to post a video to Instagram from a PC

While you can scroll through Instagram and watch videos from your PC, you can’t upload videos directly to the app from a PC.

To upload a video directly from your computer to Instagram, you will need a third-party application, like Gamblr or BlueStacks App Player.

Or...

You play around with a few settings on your browser and trick Instagram into thinking you’re on a mobile device.

We’ll tell you how.

How to post a video to your Instagram feed from your PC

To post a video to Instagram from your PC, you’re going to need to install Google Chrome.

Once you’ve got Chrome, follow the below steps:

1. Go to Instagram.com.
   
   
2. Go to the settings of your browser by clicking on the three dots on the right side. From there click on ‘More tools’ then ‘Developer’s tools’.
   
   

3. The developer window will pop up, as below:

4. Click the mobile button, see below:

5. Refresh the page and you’ll see that it instantly looks like the mobile interface. You are now able to post your videos to Instagram in the same way as you would from your smartphone (explained above).

How to post a video to IGTV from your PC

Unlike posting videos to your feed, you can upload a video to your IGTV from your PC. Making it so much easier to post videos that you edit from your PC.

Here’s how to do it:

• From your PC, open your web browser and go to Instagram.com.
• Go to your profile and click IGTV.
• Click Upload.
• Click and choose a video, or drag and drop a video file.
• Add a title and description. You can also choose to share a preview of your video to your Instagram feed or share your video to a linked Facebook Page.
• Click Post.

How to post a video to Instagram Stories from a PC

If you want to add videos to your Instagram Stories from your PC you’ll need to follow the same steps above for changing the view in your browser’s developer tools.

Once you’re in mobile view, you’ll be able to upload videos to your stories the same way as you would on your smartphone (explained above).

And for the Mac users...

How to post a video to Instagram from a Mac

Like your PC, you can’t post in-feed or Story videos directly onto Instagram from a Mac.

Luckily, there are also a few tricks to getting around this. Like using third-party applications like Gramblr, Flume or Uplet.

Or going into the developer tools...

How to post a video to your Instagram feed from a Mac

To post on Instagram from a Mac, you can follow the same directions as above if you use Google Chrome.

Or you can use Mac’s default browser Safari using these steps:

1. Go to Instagram.com on your Safari browser.
2. Go to the ‘Preferences’ menu of Safari. Click ‘Advanced’.
3. In this menu, check the box next to ‘Show Develop menu’ in the menu bar.

4. The Develop menu will appear. You now need to click ‘User Agent’ and then select the mobile interface that you’d like to see (eg. the latest iPhone iOS).

5. Once the page refreshes, it will look like how it normally looks on your smartphone. You can now upload videos as you would on your smartphone (explained above).

It’s a bit easier with uploading to IGTV.

How to post a video to IGTV from a Mac

Unlike posting videos to your feed, you can upload a video to your IGTV from your Mac.

Here’s how:

• From your Mac, open your web browser and go to Instagram.com.
• Go to your profile and click IGTV.
• Click Upload.
• Click and choose a video, or drag and drop a video file.
• Add a title and description. You can also choose to share a preview of your video to Instagram feed and your profile or share your video to a Facebook Page.
• Click Post.

Uploading to Instagram Stories on the other hand...

How to post a video to Instagram Stories from a Mac

Follow the same steps listed above for going into the developer settings on either Google Chrome or Safari.

Once you’re in mobile view, you’ll be able to upload videos to your Stories in the same way as you could on your smartphone (explained above).

Instagram video specifications

Before diving into posting your videos to Instagram, make sure to know what the required video specs are. They’re different for in-feed, IGTV and Instagram Story videos.

In-feed video specifications

In your Instagram feed you can share videos up to 60 seconds in length in a variety of formats and sizes, including the following:

• File Size: 4GB max
• File Type: .MP4 and .MOV are recommended though most types are supported
• Minimum video width: 500 pixels
• Square video ratio: 1:1, recommended size 600 x 600 pixels
• Horizontal video ratio: 1.9:1, recommended size 600 x 315 pixels
• In-feed vertical video ratio: 4:5, recommended size 600 x 750 pixels
• Frame rate: 30fps or below
• Length: 1-minute maximum

IGTV video specifications

IGTV videos are a different aspect ratio than feed videos, so the specs are a bit different:

• File Size: 650MB max for videos that are less than 10 minutes; 3.6GB max for videos up to 60 minutes.
• File Type: .MP4 and .MOV are recommended
• Required video dimensions: 1080 x 1920 pixels (or 9:16 aspect ratio). The minimum resolution is 720 px.
• Frame rate: 30fps or below
• Length: Between 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Larger accounts and verified accounts can upload videos up to 60 minutes long.

Instagram Stories video specifications

Instagram Stories are a different aspect ratio than feed videos, so the specs are also a bit different:

• Recommended size: 1080 x 1920 pixels
• Minimum size: 600 x 1067 pixels
• File Type: .MP4 and .MOV are recommended
• Length: Instagram Stories have a maximum length of 15 seconds each

How to post a video on Instagram if you made it with a 3rd party app

If you went a bit further and created a video using The World’s Best Instagram Video Maker, you’ll first have to transfer the video to your smartphone or tablet.

To do that you can either use a file-sharing program, like Google Drive or Dropbox, or simply transfer the file from your computer to your mobile device using a chord.

Once the video is on your phone, use the above-mentioned steps to post it to Instagram.

Tips for increasing your Instagram video engagement

Uploading videos onto Instagram is a great way to boost your engagement. To boost it even more, make sure to follow the below tips:

• Create a custom cover within your video. Remember that you can’t upload a custom thumbnail image when uploading your video. So it’s best to create one within your video that you can use as the cover image.
• Apply filters to your video and try to keep a consistent look and feel with all of your content.
• Keep your videos short, sweet and punchy. Your audience isn’t interested in listening to you ramble on.
• Use graphics and GIFs to make your videos more exciting.

Over to you

Instagram videos really are powerful tools for getting your message across and increasing your engagement on the platform. Whether it’s sharing videos to your feed, on your Stories or IGTV.

Uploading videos to Instagram can be done in a few quick steps when you know what you’re doing. Just like how creating impactful videos are easily done with The World’s Best Online Video Maker.

Time to create and share awesome videos on Instagram!