Up your Instagram game in Premiere Pro with these tips.
In this tutorial, we’re going to take a closer look at how to properly work with Adobe Premiere Pro footage destined for Instagram. However, if you’re interested in more editing tips and tricks, be sure to check out our guide on using the new Adobe fonts in Premiere Pro and creating comic-style speech bubbles in After Effects. (As well as these 5 most helpful tutorials on the editing flow in Premiere Pro.)
I suggest you bookmark this page as you will want to refer back to this information frequently. Let’s start.
The platforms
When publishing to Instagram, you have a number of options in terms of platforms. This includes the main feed, Stories and the newly released Instagram TV. Each platform has its own technical specifications that often confuse editors. One of the main points of confusion is the number of possible aspect ratios you can use when exporting for Instagram. These include landscape 16:9 for horizontal video, 4:5 and 9:16 for vertical video, and 1:1 for square. Here’s a closer look at each platform’s aspect ratio and video length requirements.
16:9 (horizontal)
1:1 (square)
4:5 (vertical)
9:16 (vertical)
Instagram TV (IGTV)
15 seconds to 10 minutes long (up to 60 minutes for larger accounts)
4:5 (vertical)
9:16 (vertical)
Create sequence presets
If you regularly publish to Instagram, it makes sense to create Instagram-friendly sequences for those platforms in Adobe Premiere Pro. To use these sequences over and over again, you can save them as sequence presets. First go to File > New > Sequence. In the New Sequence dialog box, click the Settings tab. Here you can enter the custom specifications that correspond to the desired platform. Since I’m working with 1920 x 1080 source material, the resolutions listed below work best for each aspect ratio:
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1:1 – 1080×1080
4:5 – 864×1080
9:16 – 900×1600
Once I’m happy with the specs, I click the save preset button and can then add a name and description. I have to repeat this process for each aspect ratio. I can now find the presets in the Custom folder under the Sequence Presets tab.
Use export presets
Creating custom sequence presets and using them to edit specifically for Instagram can take a lot of extra time. It’s a luxury many editors just don’t have. If you fall under this category, don’t worry. You can format everything in the export settings and then create presets to automate your exports. First I go to File > Export > Media to open the Export Settings dialog box. I create presets for each aspect ratio using the following settings.
Format – H.264
Width/Height – As with the sequence presets, adjust the resolution to the desired aspect ratio.
Frame rate – 30 fps
Field Order – Progressive
Aspect – Square pixels
Bitrate Encoding – VBR 1 – Pass
Target Bitrate – 8 Mbps (Adjust this to change quality versus file size.)
Note that these specs aren’t the only thing that works on Instagram. Think of them more as guidelines. For example, H.264 isn’t the only format that works on Instagram, but it’s the one they prefer. Also, you can make adjustments to Bitrate Encoding and Target Bitrate to change the size and quality of your files. If your file doesn’t look good on Instagram (or just doesn’t work), play with these settings. Also note the length requirements I mentioned in the first section for each platform.
Position video with overlays
One of the disadvantages of using custom export presets is that you can’t position your content as perfectly as you can with sequence presets. To get around this I use color mattes to create custom overlays. First I go to File > New > Color Matte. I pick a nice light color and then type in a custom width and height that matches one of the Instagram platforms. I will go with 900 x 1600 for Instagram Stories.
Once created I can put the color matte on top of my sequence and then lower the opacity to make it transparent. I need to be sure to right click and choose scale image size. Now I can quickly position the video content underneath, which in turn helps me save time by not creating custom Instagram-friendly sequences. I am giving away overlays and guides on my site which you can get by subscribing to my newsletter here.
