It has been an amazing weekend; you are about to share the entire experience on the internet when you get a pop-up message, “There was a problem rendering your video on Instagram.”
Why? How? What does this message even mean? These are questions that begin to pop into your head as you press retry only for the pop-up message to appear once again.
It has been 11 years since the launch of the popular image sharing site Instagram. Following its debut into the world wide web, there have been several updates and versions to enable seamless user experiences.
But like most things man-made, there can be errors and problems. Foreseeing these companies, such as Instagram, have developers working tirelessly to fix any problems which may arise.
With that being said, there are certain issues that users can sort out right from the comfort of their living room. One such issue is how to fix your upload when the error message ‘there was a problem rendering your video” pops on the screen.
What Then Is Rendering?
It is quite understandable for individuals to not know the inner working or processes behind their everyday use of an application.
When not faced with an issue, most human beings are not moved to find a solution. Until one is faced with a problem head-on, only then will the need for a solution be made apparent.
Therefore, one must actually understand what it means to render a video. Rendering is described as an operation whereby a computer system works on processing and refining all the data from a source material that is needed to produce an image. The images that are viewed on internet sites are made possible due to the process of rendering.
An important note must always be made when faced with an issue is that the source of the problem is properly identified.
It is common knowledge that before a problem can be fixed, one must first understand clearly what exactly the issue it. That has been accomplished by understanding what rendering means.
Other questions might come to mind as well in the course of understanding the problem, such as knowing it’s importance.
So why is rendering so important? Well to have a crisp and smooth output, free of pixelation or stuttering, then the video needs to be rendered.
Video rendering mostly takes place on editing software, and due to the heavy burden of processing, it is said to be hardware intensive. Hence the reason why uploading videos usually takes a longer time.
Why Isn’t My Video Rendering on Instagram?
There are quite a few reasons why this message pops up when a video is being uploaded on Instagram. A few of these reasons are clearly stated below:
• Your Internet Connection speed: To have a seamless internet experience most individuals use an internet speed of about 12mbps. Instagram uses 1mbps internet speed, so in a situation where the internet speed is slow or less than the recommended value, there may be errors when uploading a video.
This is actually the most common reason why there might be a problem rendering your video on Instagram. In addition to slow internet speed, there is also the situation whereby the internet connection keeps changing, either due to changing Wi-Fi hotspots or fluctuating mobile data connection.
• Video size is larger than allowable size: The maximum file size that Instagram allows to be uploaded is 15 MB. The videos must be a maximum of 60 seconds as anything more will be cut off, or simply result in an error. Also, the maximum allowable video width is 1080 pixels wide.
• The application was closed before the video rendering was completed: Several applications cancel uploads when the application is closed. Although no terribly common with Instagram, it might still be a reason to take into consideration.
• The device being used isn’t compatible: In most cases concerning Android devices, this problem is linked with Google’s Android operating system.
To fix this error message, it is important to clear the Google Play Store cache and then the data. After that, the google play store application can be restarted, and the Instagram app re-downloaded.
In some other cases, this error message appears when the operating system of the phone (be it Android or iPhone), is not updated to meet the current version of the Instagram application.
• Instagram has deemed the video inappropriate for their platform: This means that the content of the video violates the terms of Instagram. According to the terms and conditions of Instagram, they are permitted to remove and/or disallow the uploading of a video that is deemed inappropriate.
Most of the time, if a video has been blocked, it isn’t likely that Instagram would send a specific notification of it. The upload will simply fail and the reason why could range from using trademarked audio files to display of explicit images.
• The format of the video is not supported: Instagram supports MP4 formatted videos. With an aspect ratio of 9:16 for vertical videos or an aspect ratio of 16:9 for horizontal videos. Video clips ought to have a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS and a minimum screen resolution of 720 pixels.
• Your Instagram account is blocked, banned, or disabled: When your account is blocked, banned or disabled, this means that you will be unable to post videos. On most occasions, Instagram will send an email notification to this effect, but some major reasons why any of these might occur to your account include:
- Mass unfollowing and following. This is because your account becomes flagged as a spam account.
- Posting very often and for long periods, also indicates activities of a spam account.
- Posting copyrighted content is liable to get blocked
- Posting content that violates Instagram terms, is why terms and conditions should always be read.
- When an account is reported multiple times.
- After looking through these reasons, if a video possesses any of these problems then it is okay to go on with figuring out how to fix it.
How to Fix the Problem Rendering Your Video on Instagram.
• Switch your network connection on and off: As earlier stated, the issue may stem from a slow internet connection or speed. This issue can be resolved as easily as by switching off the mobile data connection on the mobile device.
If a Wi-Fi router is being used, then the router can be switched off as well. After about 10-15 seconds, the mobile data or Wi-Fi router can then be switched on again.
This allows the network connection to be refreshed. But in a scenario where the mobile data or Wi-Fi signal is weak then the problem may be either of two things:
- The network from the cell towers are the weak ones and there is likely nothing you can do but wait it out.
- Your location causes the signal to be weak. i.e. the network is barely supported in your region. So, to be on the safe side, it is advised to switch to a network fully supported in your region/location.
• Log out of the application and log back in: This might work because when on the application, an error might have occurred that made the application processing freeze.
To reset that issue, it’s important to log out and log back in. The error might be resolved this way. To log out of the Instagram application, the following process should be followed:
- Open the already logged in Instagram account
- Tap on the profile picture on the bottom right of the home page to go to your profile
- Click on the three-lined icon on the top right
- Tap on the Settings option
- Scroll down and tap log out
- Confirm the logout
- On the now login page. Enter both the username and password and try the posting again.
- Restart your phone: This process is to reboot your device. Rebooting your device causes all the background applications to be reset. It also restores the settings and data on your phone. Try restarting the phone, this is because it is a default basic troubleshooting step for technology.
- To carry this out the power button of the mobile phone should be pressed down until the screen blacks out. After which, the power button is then pressed once again to restart the device. To restart an iPhone, the volume down button and the power button are pressed simultaneously until the device blacks out and then the apple logo appears again. When this is completed, the Instagram application can now be opened again and the upload of the video retried.
- Clear the caches of your Instagram application: The use of any application leads to the accumulation of caches. Caches are a designated storage location that gathers transitory data to help websites, search engines, and applications to load faster. Whether it’s a computer, a laptop or a phone, an internet browser or an application, you’ll find a variety of caches. Caches make it easy to locate data quickly, and that in turn assists devices to run faster. Instagram is not an exception to this process, as the Instagram application also creates some caches in devices. On occasion, these caches can interrupt the application’s processes. Therefore, Instagram caches can and should be deleted, as this might be the reason behind the problem of videos not rendering on Instagram. To clear the Instagram cache the following process can be followed.
- Proceed to Settings> Apps> Instagram> Clear Caches. Tap on the delete caches options and try to upload the video once more.
- Please note that in the case of an iPhone, the only option would be to delete the application and reinstall it again. This is because there is no Clear Cache option for iPhone devices.
Clearing of caches does not log out or delete the app, the only issue that may arise is the amount of time it will take to load images that had been cached previously.
- Delete and Re-install the Instagram application: It is possible that the current version of the application that is being run might contain bugs or issues that are causing the glitches. To correct this, the application can be deleted and then re-installed. For Android devices, proceed to Settings> Apps> Instagram> Uninstall the application. For iPhone devices, long press on the application on the home page of the device, click on the remove app option. Following the process of uninstalling, proceed to either the Google Play Store or the app store to download and re-install the latest version of Instagram on the device. With this done, the video can be reinstalled and the video uploaded without issue.
- Convert the video format: Instagram has specific guidelines for the specifications that videos must possess before upload. For instance, videos should be between 3-60 seconds long before uploading can commence. Below are common format features that Instagram videos should possess:
- Video Format: MP4/H.264 codec
- Resolution: Minimum width of 720 pixels and a Maximum width of 1080 pixels
- Preferred Frame Rate: 29.96 frames per second
- Bit Rate: 3,500 kbps video bitrate
- Audio codec: AAC audio codec at 44.1 kHz MOV
- Duration: 3 – 60 seconds
Once the video doesn’t meet these standards, there is a need to convert it to one suitable for Instagram. To make this happen, external editing applications are usually preferred.
These applications trim and compress video durations and sizes into ones that will have no issue during uploading.
Applications such as inshot or canva are usually used to get these done, an additional benefit lies with the added light and sound effects that can be added to improve the output of the video.
In conclusion, there are various reasons that might cause a problem rendering your video on Instagram. The good thing is that in the 21st century, and answers are just a click away.
If it is a video upload on either your Instagram story or feed, with any luck, these fixes will be enough for you to post your videos on Instagram without fear that those memories will disappear. It is goodbye to your video not rendering and hello to likes and comments on your amazing content