Instagram Confirms Video Quality Drops if Views are Low

California: Have you ever caught your Instagram videos looking fuzzy? It’s probably not your internet after all. The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, just revealed that its video quality depends on its viewership.

Recently, in an “Ask Me Anything,” Mosseri explained that Instagram adjusts the quality of a video based on its views. “If a video doesn’t get many views at first, we’ll degrade its quality over time,” Mosseri explained in a screen-recorded response. “But if it gets more views later, we’ll re-render it in high quality.”

The issue sparked debates over Threads and got noticed among the news platforms, from which “The Verge” picked the issue on the topic. Though Mosseri has argued about showing “the highest-quality content,” this creates an inequality field for several users against Instagram. Lesser-followers creators find difficulties competing to be on their video while its quality does not count, the lower it is the fewer viewers have engagement views with the creators’ page.

Apart from view count, Mosseri said internet speed also determines video quality. “When a user has a slower connection, we’ll serve a lower quality video to ensure quick loading,” he said. “It’s a pretty dynamic system.”

This comes in response to a user asking why Stories look blurry when they appear in highlights. An explanation has garnered mixed reactions online. According to one user on Threads, “Now I know why my old videos look like I’m filming with my microwave.”

Mosseri has further clarified that the shift in quality “isn’t huge” and it is more content that shapes audience engagement rather than the video quality. However, most of the creators are a bit worried about this factor, especially those who, to build their audience base, rely on high-quality videos. “It’s discouraging for newer video creators who rely on quality to attract followers,” one user added.

The debate is on, but it’s crystal clear that the quality algorithm on Instagram balances between a new creator and established influencers.

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