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Instagram's recent shift in video quality management has sparked discussions, particularly concerning how it treats videos with fewer views. In a live session, the platform's chief shared insights into why they are now emphasizing videos that attract a wider audience across Stories, Reels, and long-form content. This strategy is designed to allocate encoding resources more efficiently by focusing on content that garners significant engagement.

On a forum, a user raised a question about why older Stories archived as Highlights often look inferior in quality compared to newer uploads. The head of Instagram responded, explaining that their algorithms evaluate the engagement of older Reels and Stories, degrading quality over time if they see little interaction, in order to save processing power for more popular videos.

This policy affects smaller creators in particular, as their older Reels and Highlights might degrade in clarity as viewer engagement decreases. Instagram's chief mentioned that the quality reduction usually starts when a video's viewership plateaus, which could be within days to weeks.

The policy has led to concerns about transparency, with users wondering about the specific viewership thresholds required for maintaining high-quality playback. The head responded that these adjustments are made generally, not on a per-video basis, prioritizing content that secures substantial viewership for better-quality encoding.

The debate also touched on how these changes impact smaller creators competing with larger ones. The head of Instagram stated that user engagement depends more on content quality than resolution. He assured that the downgrade in quality is minimal, unlikely to deter viewers, and stressed that the intrinsic value of the content is crucial for engaging and retaining viewers.