Guide
Instagram Reels: How to Make, Size and Schedule One
Instagram Reels are short vertical videos that play full screen in the Reels tab, on your profile and in your followers' feeds. This guide covers how to make one, the size to export, how long it can run, when to upload and how to line up a week of them ahead of time.
What a Reel is
A Reel plays with sound, one after another, so people find them through the Reels tab, through search and on the profiles they follow. Instagram video reels can use music, text and clips from your camera roll.
Most people just say Reels. A Business or Creator account can schedule them through a tool like Dripost, and any account can post one by hand in the app.
How to make an Instagram reel
Open Instagram, tap the plus button and choose Reel. Record clips one at a time or pick videos from your phone, trim each one, then add text, music or a voiceover.
Plan the first second. Viewers decide quickly, so open on the most interesting frame, not a title card, and put the point in the first line of on-screen text.
Keep what matters in the middle of every frame. The caption covers the bottom, the buttons cover the right edge, and your profile grid crops the cover.
Write the caption last, with the main line first: a caption folds after about 125 characters behind “more”.
Instagram reel size and format
Export vertical, 9:16, at 1080 by 1920 pixels. Instagram's published specifications allow ratios from 1.91:1 to 9:16, a minimum of 720 pixels and 30 frames per second, and a file posted through the API must stay under 300 MB.
A video that is not 9:16 still posts, but it gets borders or a crop. If you shoot horizontally, crop in your editor so you choose what is cut.
The cover is a separate picture. Pick a frame with the subject in the centre; our guide to Reel covers shows how the grid crops it.
How long can Reels on Instagram be?
Through Instagram's API, the route scheduling tools use, a Reel runs from 3 seconds to 15 minutes. The limit in the app's camera can differ and has changed more than once, so check the app before you plan a long one.
Length is not the goal. A Reel should run as long as it holds attention, and many creators start at 15 to 30 seconds. Our guide to Reel length has the detail.
Best time to upload reels on Instagram
There is no single best time. The best time is when your own followers are online, and Instagram's Insights show it under Total followers, then Most active times.
With no history yet, try an evening after work or school and compare your own numbers after a few weeks. The guides to the best time to post on Instagram and for Reels list the studies we cite.
Reel views: what helps them increase
No setting or hashtag makes views increase on its own, and nobody outside Instagram can promise it. You control the video: a strong first second, one clear point, text that works with the sound off, and a topic your followers care about.
Check Insights after a few days. The Reels that held viewers longest tell you more about what to make next than any list of tricks.
Schedule your Reel with Dripost
Add the video to Dripost once, write the caption, pick the time, and Dripost posts it as a Reel. It shows how Instagram will draw it first and tells you when it is live. One upload can also go to YouTube Shorts and Facebook.
Scheduling saves the evening rush: film on the weekend, schedule the week, and let each one go out when your followers are online. The guide to scheduling Reels has the steps.
Sources
Questions
What is the longest a Reel can be?
Through Instagram's API a Reel can be 3 seconds to 15 minutes, up to 300 MB. The app's own limit when you record can differ and has changed more than once, so check the app. Shorter videos usually hold viewers better.
What is the best size for a Reel?
1080 by 1920 pixels in 9:16, at 30 frames per second or more. Keep faces and text in the middle of the frame so the caption, the buttons and the grid crop do not hide them.
Can I schedule a Reel?
Yes, from a Business or Creator account. Dripost posts it at the time you pick, with the caption and cover you chose, and shows you the live link once it is up.
Do Reels get more reach than photos?
Instagram does not publish a comparison, and results differ by account. Post both, then read your own Insights to see which your followers watch.
How do Reel views on Instagram increase?
Mostly through the first second and the topic. Open with the result or a clear question, stay on one subject, and post steadily; Insights then shows which Reels reached people who do not follow you.
Post it with Dripost
- Instagram post previewSee your post or Reel as Instagram will show it, then send it to a client to approve with no login.
- Post a video on InstagramUpload once and Dripost posts it as a Reel, then shows you the live link.
- Instagram from Claude or ChatGPTLet your AI assistant draft and schedule Instagram posts. You approve before anything goes out.