Tech platform Engadget recently shed light on a pressing question regarding the quality of Instagram videos, revealing insights from Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
In an article, Mosseri explained that the perceived drop in video quality after posting is tied to the platform’s performance optimization strategies. This revelation uncovers the delicate balance Instagram must maintain between delivering high-quality content and ensuring smooth user experiences.
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Responding to a question about old stories looking “blurry” in highlights, Mosseri said, “In general, we want to show the highest-quality video we can. But if something isn’t watched for a long time — because the vast majority of views are in the beginning — we will move to a lower quality video.”
If the video later spikes in popularity again, “then we will re-render the higher quality video,” he said in the response, which was reposted by a Threads user (spotted by The Verge).
Further elaborating in a follow-up reply, though, Mosseri added, “We bias to higher quality (more CPU intensive encoding and more expensive storage for bigger files) for creators who drive more views.” The comment has sparked concern from small creators in the replies who say it puts them at a disadvantage competing with others who have larger platforms.
Meta has previously said it uses “different encoding configurations to process videos based on their popularity” as part of how it manages its computing resources.
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The performance system “works at an aggregate level,” Mosseri said, “not an individual viewer level… It’s not a binary theshhold [sic], but rather a sliding scale.” In response to one user who questioned its fairness for smaller creators, Mosseri said the quality shift “doesn’t seem to matter much” in practice as it “isn’t huge” and viewers appear to care more about video content over quality.
“Quality seems to be much more important to the original creator, who is more likely to delete the video if it looks poor, than to their viewers,” he said. Understandably, not everyone seems convinced.