Are Horizontal Videos on Instagram Bad?By Hannah

Are Horizontal Videos on Instagram Bad?

If you've searched ‘how to grow on Instagram’, you've probably landed on the same advice a hundred times: post vertical, post short, post often, use trending audios and jump on trends.

Which is why our recent advice to a creator might surprise you.

They asked us if vertical videos were the best option for a new content series on Instagram.

For context, the creator is about to skateboard 500 miles for charity and is documenting the whole thing as he goes. He's also got a background in film, with a natural eye for something more documentary in style than short-form, low-fi and TikTok-esque. So we talked through whether horizontal video on Instagram is actually the mistake everyone assumes it is.

Here’s why we think horizontal videos on Instagram can be a huge flex.

Reason 1: Being different is how you grow on Instagram right now

Trends get copied fast. Scroll for five minutes and you'll see the same transitions, same audio, same vertical crop. It’s boring. We’re not saying vertical video is wrong. But sameness has become a real barrier to growth.

That's exactly why something different, like a horizontal, cinematic video, makes people stop scrolling. The creator in question has a more documentary style, so leaning into the horizontal format lets him stay true to his taste and stand out from a feed full of near-identical content. If your content already has a distinct look or story to tell, fighting that to force it into a trending format can do more harm than good.

Reason 2: Horizontal video is already making a comeback

Content formats move in cycles, just like fashion. Some brands and creators are deliberately shooting in cinematic, horizontal formats again, as a signal of quality and intentionality.

The platforms seem to be backing this shift too. YouTube's monetisation model rewards videos watched for over 8 minutes with extra ad slots, meaning Shorts might be how people discover a channel, but it's often horizontal, long-form content that actually earns for creators. Instagram is testing something similar: its TV app (currently Samsung-only in the US) is trialling a dedicated ‘home’ section for horizontal video. Horizontal might not be what fills your phone screen today, but it looks like where content is heading next.

Reason 3: Shooting horizontal now saves you the headache later

If there's ever a chance your content will end up as a long-form video, on YouTube, on a website, in a case study, shooting horizontally from the start makes that far easier. This creator will be posting regular updates throughout his trip, but there's a good chance he'll also want to turn the full journey into a long-form YouTube video once he's done.

Shoot everything in 16:9 and that future edit is simple. Shoot vertical and you're stuck cropping, reshooting, or compromising the footage to make it fit.

So, should you post horizontal videos on Instagram?

Not always but it's not the mistake it's made out to be either. If your content is naturally trend-led, fast-paced and built for the scroll, vertical still makes sense.

But if you've got a story to tell, a distinct style, or footage you'll want to repurpose beyond Instagram, horizontal is worth serious consideration.

Growing on Instagram in 2026 is about originality. The goal should be about becoming known for something unique. That could be a certain style, a series or a niche topic.

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