How to Resize a Video for Instagram (Feed, Story, IGTV, Reels, Ads)

Launch the downloaded file and follow the instructions to install the Instagram video converter. Double-click the desktop icon to launch the converter.

To add a video, open the import menu by clicking Add Media, choose Add Video, and browse your system’s folders to find the video you want to work with. Remember that you can convert a GIF to a video for Instagram as well. To do this, click Add Media, choose Add Image, and browse for the animation file on your hard drive. Alternatively, you can simply drag and drop your media file directly to the program interface.

Below you’ll find the instructions on how to make a video for your Instagram feed. If you want to make a Story or an IGTV video, skip to the next guide.

To make your video square with an aspect ratio of 1:1, you need to crop it. Click the Edit button, located to the right of the video you’re working on, to open the editing tools.

Go to the Crop tab and in the preset list, choose 1:1. Change the size of the area selector by dragging its edges and move the frame to the desired place on the preview. Make sure that the width of the selected area is equal to its height (for example, 720 × 720). When you’re done, click Apply and Save and Close.

If you want to publish your video as a Story or IGTV video, you will need to change the ratio to 9:16. There are two ways of doing this, depending on how you want your video to look.

When you try to upload a 16:9 video as a Story or IGTV video, Instagram crops it by default but only to the center of the video, so you won’t be able to move the focus to any elements on the left or the right side of the video. In this case, you can crop it manually. To do this, click the Edit button.

Go to the Crop tab and choose the 16:9 preset. Move the area selector to the position you want to crop, then click Apply and Save and Close.

If you don’t want to crop your video because you want your friends to see the full view, you need to rotate the video. When you rotate a 16:9 video, it changes the aspect ratio to 9:16, but now you will have to flip your phone to the landscape mode to watch it. In the Edit window, go to the Crop tab and choose Rotate clockwise. Click Apply and Save and Close to go to the next step.

Instagram is a mobile app, which means it works better with the video formats used in smartphones and tablets. So if your video is saved in MOV, AVI, or MKV, you’ll need to convert it to a more accessible format like MP4. To do this, go to the Video tab, choose the MP4 group of presets and select the MP4 H.264 - Original Size preset. If your original file was in Full HD or even 4K quality, it shouldn’t be a problem as Instagram works well with such files. However, the app does compress all files by default, so there’s unfortunately no way to upload your video without losing quality.

When all the editing is done and the format has been chosen, specify the export settings by clicking the Save to button. Now click the Convert button to save the final result. When the conversion is complete, the folder containing your file will open automatically. Now all that’s left to do is to transfer your video to your device and upload it directly to your Instagram account.