The Best Premiere Pro Export Settings for Instagram Reels.
Here are the Premiere Pro export settings you want to use for high-quality Instagram Reels.
Also, here are the settings for YouTube, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok if you need those.
Setting up Premiere Pro to export Instagram Reels.
Premiere Pro Settings.
Format: H.264
Preset: Match Source - Adaptive High Bitrate
Basic Video Settings.
Frame Size: 1080x1920
Frame Rate: 30 FPS
Field Order: Progressive
Aspect: Square Pixels (1.0)
Render at Maximum Depth: Yes
Use Maximum Render Quality: Yes
Encoding Settings.
Performance: Software Encoding
Profile: Main
Level: 4.1
Export Color Space: Rec. 709
Bitrate Settings.
Bitrate Encoding: VBR, 2 Pass
Target Bitrate: 20 Mbps
Maximum Bitrate: 24 Mbps
Audio.
Audio Format: ACC
Audio Code: ACC
Sample Rate: 4800 Hz
Channels: Stereo
Bitrate: 320 kbps
Captions.
Export Options: Burn Captions Into Video
If any of these settings are grayed out, all you have to do is toggle the checkbox next to it to activate and edit them. Also, depending on your hardware, you might not be able to select some of these settings, and if that's the case, check out each section below for what to do instead.
Then lastly, there are a lot of settings to consider, and if I didn't mention them, that means they don't apply to the quality of your video export.
Format.
H.264 is the current standard video encoding format associated with high-quality video and moderate compression. Eventually, though, platforms will upgrade to the newer H.265, which allows for even higher quality with less compression.
Preset.
Once you have all of these settings, you can create an Export Preset so you don't have to input them every time you export a reel.
Frame Size.
Instagram shows Reels at 1080x1920 and will scale videos to fit if they're not correctly sized. So it's best just to give it what it wants.
That said, something possibly worth trying is doubling the frame size to 2160x3840 and having it downscaled to 1080x1920 when Instagram encodes it. The only thing that makes me second guess this is the increased file size, possibly causing more problems than it's worth.
Frame Rate.
While we can argue the cinematic qualities of 24 FPS all day long, the native framerate of Instagram, and really all social platforms, is 30 FPS.
That said, you probably captured your footage in 29.97 FPS. So, you want to make sure your sequence setting matches at 29.97 FPS, and then you can export at either 29.97 or 30 FPS.
They're close enough that you won't have any synching issues for the length of a reel.
Render at Maximum Depth & Use Maximum Render Quality.
It's hard to tell the difference when these are left unchecked, but why would you ever do that? Check them and know you're getting whatever extra juice Premiere will give you.
Hardware vs. Software Encoding.
Software Encoding will take a little bit longer to render your video, but it will result in the highest quality output as it can dynamically adapt to your video. Hardware Encoding, on the other hand, is more limited in its capabilities and prone to producing artifacts.
Another benefit of Software Encoding is it also allows you to use VBR 2 Pass for your Bitrate settings if you want to.
Export Color Space.
Exporting your project in Rec. 709 helps ensure your video has consistent and accurate colors as it goes from Premiere Pro to Instagram.
Bitrate Settings.
With Software Encoding, we can use VBR 2 Pass, meaning Premiere Pro will go through the video twice. This way, we can set a Target and Maximum Bitrate.
Now, everyone has an opinion on the best bitrate setting for Instagram reels, and it's a bit of a personal preference. After testing over 100 reels to see what looked best, I found 20 Mbps to be about as high as I'd want for my Target Bitrate.
I then usually set the Maximum Bitrate about 4 Mbps higher, or 24 Mbps.
That said, for shorter videos, around 15-20 seconds, I have been able to bump the Target and Maximum up while making sure the overall file size doesn't get too big. And I've also dropped them down to 8-14 Mbps for longer videos from 60-90 seconds.
File Size.
While File Size isn't a setting itself, I'm paying attention to it the whole time. The trick is getting the highest quality output with the lowest possible file size. And, of all the settings that affect quality, it really comes down to Bitrate determining the File Size.
And, while Instagram doesn't say their Maximum File Size, I aim to keep mine under 150 MBs. Which sometimes means deviating from the Bitrate recommendations above.
Cover Photo.
Whether you export a screenshot or create a graphic for your Reel Cover Photo, I like to export and upload mine at the same size as the video, 1080x1920. This way, the image will likely appear sharper if it's reduced and shown at a smaller size.
Instagram Reel Cover Photo’s are only ever shown in the Grid or Discover page.
That's it for export settings, but before you upload, you still need to do one thing to publish the best quality reels on Instagram.
Instagram Settings.
You only need to do this once, but make sure you go into your Instagram Settings and Privacy, then to Media Quality, and turn on Upload at Highest Quality.
You only have to turn on Upload at Highest Quality inside Instagram once for it to apply to all photo and video uploads.
Instagram Encoding.
Now, the last thing you want to hear, but the last thing you need to know is even after you export your video from Premiere with these exact settings, Instagram still might not show your reel at its highest quality.
This is because Instagram encodes your video file when it's uploaded and then serves different versions depending on a variety of unknown factors. These could be how popular a reel is, what country it's playing in, or how old a video is.
While there's no definitive answer to this, obviously, reels getting more views will be shown in a higher quality than those that don't. The only evidence I have is if you look at a reel posted a while ago, it will likely have a lower quality than one posted today.
What this really means is that while you can follow all of these steps for exporting and uploading high-quality reels, you still need to create content people want to interact with if you want your content to be seen at its highest quality.
