What's the best length for a reel?

Short answer: as long as people keep watching, and not one second longer. The limits have grown a lot, but the length that works is set by your viewers, not by the upload screen.

The limits right now

Why "shorter" usually wins anyway

Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, has named watch time as one of the three most important ranking signals, together with likes per reach and sends per reach. A 15-second video that people watch twice beats a 90-second video they leave at second 20. A longer limit is permission, not advice.

A simple rule of thumb

• One idea, one punchline: 7–20 seconds. Jokes, hot takes, a single tip.
• One idea with proof: 20–45 seconds. A tip plus a quick example, a before/after.
• A story or a list: 45–90 seconds, only if every beat earns the next one.
• Over 90 seconds: works when people came for depth (tutorials, breakdowns). It's the hardest length to hold.

Find your own sweet spot

Averages lie. Your audience has its own taste. Sort your last 30 reels by views and look at their lengths: you'll usually see a band where your best videos sit. Then test it on purpose — the same video cut to 18 seconds and to 35 seconds, posted as Instagram trial reels to people who don't follow you yet. The one that wins tells you more than any guide.

Cutting a video shorter without losing the point

• Start on the most interesting sentence, not the introduction.
• Delete every pause longer than about half a second.
• Cut the second example if the first one already proved it.
• End on the payoff. No "so yeah, that's it."