Instagram Emphasizes High Engagement in Video Quality Allocation

Instagram's recent policy on video quality has sparked discussions, particularly around its management of less viewed content. In a live session, the platform's chief shared insights into this new strategy, which emphasizes prioritizing videos that attract wider attention across Stories, Reels, and extended formats. The aim is to allocate encoding resources more efficiently by focusing on content that garners significant engagement.

In an online forum, a user raised a question about the noticeable decrease in quality for older Stories archived as Highlights compared to newer uploads. The Instagram chief responded by explaining that the platform's algorithms evaluate the engagement levels of older Reels and Stories, reducing their quality over time if they see limited interaction. This strategy helps reserve processing capabilities for videos that continue to draw viewers.

This approach tends to affect smaller creators more, as their older content, including Reels and Highlights, may degrade in sharpness if engagement drops. Instagram's leader noted that the decline in quality typically starts when a video's viewership levels off, which could be anywhere from several days to a few weeks after posting.

The policy has prompted concerns about transparency, with users inquiring about the specific viewer thresholds required to keep videos at high quality. Addressing this, the head of Instagram stated that these adjustments are made generally across the platform, focusing on content that secures substantial views and thus merits better encoding.

The debate also touched on how this policy impacts smaller creators in competition with larger ones. The head of Instagram contended that user engagement depends more on the quality of content rather than its resolution, assuring that the reduction in quality is minor enough not to deter viewers. He emphasized that the intrinsic value of the content is crucial for maintaining viewer interest.