Sunday, January 04, 2015
Using OpenShot with Instagram - Guide for Loading Pre-Recorded Video to Instagram
While uploading still pictures to Instagram from your DSLR is a straightforward process, doing the same with video clips is entirely another matter.
Video has a whole raft of parameters associated with it, and Instagram is rather picky on what it will accept. In fact it has to be precisely formatted for Instagram use.
This is a quick guide to explain how to use the OpenShot video editor to achieve reliable uploads.
You can download and install OpenShot here. You can also find a wealth of tutorials and how to videos. My focus here is just on using OpenShot for Instagram.
First thing is to open your video clip in OpenShot and then trim the length to be 15 seconds or less. I also add a Fade of Fast In and Fast Out - so views smoothly.
Then you are ready to Export your video. Before selecting the Export menu option however the first step is to go to "Edit / Preferences" and select the "Profiles" tab, then "Manage" and click the "+" to Add a new Profile.
Here is a screen shot of what you need to complete there:
Notice the format is 640 x 640, 1 : 1 aspect ratio. Don't worry if your original video is not in that format, OpenShot will handle all the export formatting for you.
Next "Save" the new template, and proceed to the "File / Export" option.
Now you need to pick these options for the Video and Audio formatting:
Every single setting is crucial. The only one I have found is flexible is the number of audio channels. 2 appears to work, although Instagram themselves recommend just 1 channel.
Complete the settings; save your video clip. Then you need to transfer the clip to your mobile device so you can use the Instagram App to publish it. The clips are less than 10Mb is size so I simply email it to my mobile device email account, download it there, and then open Instagram.
Then once there, click the Camera button to take a picture, switch to video mode, and then click the GRID BOX of dots to the right. This will allow you to browse and select your downloaded video. Then proceed as normal to publish to Instagram.
Video has a whole raft of parameters associated with it, and Instagram is rather picky on what it will accept. In fact it has to be precisely formatted for Instagram use.
This is a quick guide to explain how to use the OpenShot video editor to achieve reliable uploads.
You can download and install OpenShot here. You can also find a wealth of tutorials and how to videos. My focus here is just on using OpenShot for Instagram.
First thing is to open your video clip in OpenShot and then trim the length to be 15 seconds or less. I also add a Fade of Fast In and Fast Out - so views smoothly.
Then you are ready to Export your video. Before selecting the Export menu option however the first step is to go to "Edit / Preferences" and select the "Profiles" tab, then "Manage" and click the "+" to Add a new Profile.
Here is a screen shot of what you need to complete there:
Notice the format is 640 x 640, 1 : 1 aspect ratio. Don't worry if your original video is not in that format, OpenShot will handle all the export formatting for you.
Next "Save" the new template, and proceed to the "File / Export" option.
Now you need to pick these options for the Video and Audio formatting:
Every single setting is crucial. The only one I have found is flexible is the number of audio channels. 2 appears to work, although Instagram themselves recommend just 1 channel.
Complete the settings; save your video clip. Then you need to transfer the clip to your mobile device so you can use the Instagram App to publish it. The clips are less than 10Mb is size so I simply email it to my mobile device email account, download it there, and then open Instagram.
Then once there, click the Camera button to take a picture, switch to video mode, and then click the GRID BOX of dots to the right. This will allow you to browse and select your downloaded video. Then proceed as normal to publish to Instagram.
