Why Won’t My Video Upload to Instagram?

You have shot your best Instagram video, and your excitement is shooting through the roof.

Now, you only need to upload it to the platform and set the internet abuzz.

But your enthusiasm meets a dead end when you try to upload the video and Instagram throws an error.

You blame it on your Internet connectivity.

Well, this can very well be a possibility.

However, the other equally blamable but often ignored reason is that your video may be in the wrong file format.

Nonetheless, in either of the situations, you may run out of patience as your frustration level keeps rising.

But fret not because you can correct the video format if it is wrong.

In this article, you will learn how to detect the cause of the video uploading error and how to fix the issue.

Why does your video refuse to be uploaded to Instagram?

You are unable to upload your video to Instagram because you are either having an internet problem or your video is in the wrong file format.

So let us see what happens when you try to upload a video in the wrong file format.

First, if the file format of your video is incorrect, it will take longer than usual to load.

Second, it will be followed by an error message.

But the message comes packed with a promise from Instagram.

Which is whenever the connection improves, the platform will once again try to upload your video.

This, however, can get quite frustrating.

In such a scenario, your video will have another copy saved in the camera roll.

This is because when you fail to upload your video, Instagram saves the video once more.

This creates a duplicate of your original video in the camera roll.

How to fix the issue in the event of your video not uploading to Instagram?

How do you resolve the issue when your video fails to upload to Instagram?

Trust us; the resolution is not complicated at all.

To fix the issue, what you need to do is change your video's format.

The existing format will be h.264.

Convert it to h.265.

So to upload your video to Instagram, you only need to change its file format.

Using a convertor, convert the video's format to h.265 from h.264.

The normal format of a video is h.264.

However, to upload a video to Instagram, you must convert it to h.265.

First, try to do a Google search by typing out keywords in the search box, like "change video to h.265 formats.

Or "convert normal video format to h.265" in the search box.

The search results will display multiple online converters, which are free to use.

You may select any video converter you see on the first page of the Google search results.

You can either drag and drop your video into the converter or select the file.

After the conversion is done, you can download the file and rename it.

Afterward, you can save the file to your preferred location.

You can now close the converter as your video is ready for upload on Instagram.

You normally convert the videos on your laptop or desktop and not your mobile phone.

Change your video to h.265 format on your desktop or laptop on Google, with the help of a free online converter, and then move it to your mobile phone.

In that case, first, transfer the videos from your mobile phone to your laptop or desktop.

You can do that using any of the following methods:

• In the case of an iPhone, you can airdrop the video.
• Otherwise, you may either mail it to yourself or send yourself a message.

Once you have successfully converted the video, you may move it back to your mobile phone.

From your phone, now go to Instagram and pull out the video that you could not upload in the previous instance.

You may upload the newly converted video on Instagram now.

Although it may take some time to upload, this is normal.

You can upload the video successfully as it is in the h.265 format now, which is Instagram-appropriate.

Why is your video taking a long time to upload to Instagram?

If your video takes an indefinite amount of time to get uploaded, this could be because of your poor internet connection.

There is, however, a way to find this out.

So, to know about your internet speed, you may download a speed testing app either on Google Play Store or on the App store.

For upload speeds between 25 Mbps - 100 Mbps, the upload time will be much longer.

But for speeds above 100 Mbps, the upload time will be much lesser.

Why does Instagram raise a flag for very short videos?

What is the length of time Instagram allows you to shoot a video?

Much like the previous error message we talked about in the earlier part of the article, another one you may frequently come across is your "video is too short."

Instagram does not allow you to upload videos less than three seconds in length.

In case you do not have enough content to meet the minimum video requirement length on Instagram, you can edit your video in slow motion.

Are you still having a tough time uploading your video on Instagram?

If you are still unable to post your video on Instagram, you have to probably change your network or use a different mobile phone.

So even after converting your video into the right format, if it still fails to upload, you need to do the following:

• Check your internet speed. If you find your upload speed to be less than 25 Mbps, you will know why your video is not uploading. For that is too low a speed.
• In that case, talk to your internet operator and try switching to 4G if you have Wi-Fi. Or, if you already have 4G, then try switching to Wi-Fi.
• If nothing works, then you may try a different device for uploading your video.
• If your original device has gotten old, Instagram may refuse to allow videos to be uploaded through that due to Instagram's continuous updates.

Final Thoughts

If you fail to upload your video on Instagram, that could either be due to a slow internet connection or your video may be in the wrong file format.

Although poor internet speed can occur anytime, the most common factor for your video refusing to get uploaded on Instagram is the file format.

While the normal file format of a video is h.264.

Instagram only entertains the h.265 formats.

So to upload a video on Instagram, first transfer the video from your mobile phone to your laptop or desktop.

Then search for an online converter on which you can change the video from its original format to h.265.

Once the video has successfully converted into the appropriate format, download the file and rename it.

Since you would want to upload the video from the Instagram mobile app, move the video back to your phone and then upload it.

As mentioned, if it still fails to upload, you only have your internet speed to blame.