Instagram says it’s lowering the quality of less popular videos

Instagram said it is lowering the quality of older and less popular videos, leaving higher quality for more popular content.

Adam Mosseri, head of the Meta-owned social media platform, said on Sunday: “We’re leaning toward higher quality… for creators who get more views.”

He said Instagram reduces the quality of videos that haven’t been viewed for a long time because most views happen soon after posting, but the quality will improve if the video becomes more popular.

But the discovery has some creators concerned that it could impact the reach and visibility of their videos.

“I think it’s just wrong to regulate a person’s video quality based on their performance,” one person wrote.

They said this is an example of why some people are “tired” of Instagram.

“The very nature of it has become solely based on performance, metrics, views and engagement—so much so that I can’t even control whether the quality of my video is maintained due to Instagram bias,” they said.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra told the BBC that the move “appears to be somewhat at odds with previous Instagram messages or efforts to encourage new creators.”

“How can creators succeed if their content is punished for being unpopular,” he said.

And he said this could create a cycle in which more established creators reap the rewards of higher viewer engagement compared to those trying to attract their own followers.

Cost vs quality

Videos that are higher resolution or contain a lot of visual resources, such as edits, images, or other clips, may require more processing power to encode.

They are usually larger in size than lower resolution videos, which means they require more storage space on servers.

And one man said in response to Mr. Mosseri’s message they understood the benefits of potentially reducing storage costs, but it did not outweigh the negative consequences.

“From a creator’s perspective, spending time creating high-quality content only to have it downgraded to low resolution sucks,” they said.

Instagram in May announced changes to its content recommendation system, especially videos, to “give all creators a more equal chance of success.”

However, Mr Navarra said he agreed with Mr Mosseri’s statement – when answering to users’ concerns about the impact on smaller creators – that people will always value video content over its quality.

He said creators should focus on how they can create engaging content that their audience will enjoy, rather than worry too much about the possibility of its quality being degraded by Instagram.

Mr Mosseri clarified to users on Sunday that Instagram does not make decisions to reduce or improve the quality of individual videos, but rather does so in an “aggregated” way and on a “sliding scale”. adding that he believed the difference in quality is “small.”

“The goal is to show people the highest quality content we can,” he said in his first video response.

The BBC has asked Instagram for more information.

The social media platform’s attempts to make video more central to the app experience have previously drawn backlash from some users and creators.

In 2022 it is inverted plans to move even further away from its traditional photo format or so-called “grid” towards TikTok’s format focused on short video content after it was criticized by creators and celebrities including Kylie Jenner..