San Francisco, October 28: Meta-owned Instagram has reportedly started lowering the video quality of unpopular videos. This action could likely affect the work of creators. On the contrary, the most popular Instagram videos would be shown in high quality, drastically benefiting the creators and their viewers and likely getting more reach.

TechCrunch reported that Adam Mosseri said Instagram would show "highest quality" videos to engage the users. However, if the videos are not watched longer, the platform will bring them to lower quality. This action may be seen as punitive by some; however, previously, Mark Zuckerberg's company already highlighted taking this action. How To Use Threads App? Know How To Create Posts or Repost Using Instagram’s Microblogging Platform, Check Its Key Features.

Thread User's Post Highlighting Instagram Reducing Video Quality

 

Post by @lindseygamble_
View on Threads

 

Last year, Meta said that depending on the video's popularity, it would use different encoding configurations to raise or lower the video quality. The report said that a user named "lindseygamble_" on Threads posted a video of Adam Mosseri regarding the quality of popular and unpopular videos. The user posted, "The quality of your video (e.g. Reel, Story, etc.) displays on Instagram may depend on its performance." 

After this post, several netizens explained, questioned, and criticised Meta's action to lower the video quality. While another user, "marklacroix", called this action "truly insane", replying to Mosseri's post. The user said, "Your users should not have to "perform" in order to receive a comparable level of service from you." 

Adam Mosseri replied to "lindseygamble_" that the encoding configurations worked on an aggregate level, not an individual level. He said, "We bias to higher quality (more CPU intensive encoding and more expensive storage for bigger files) for creators who drive more views. It's not a binary theshhold, but rather a sliding scale." OnePlus Introduces Android-Based OxygenOS 15: Check Features and Rollout Timeline for Eligible Devices.

Many other users normalised this practice; like one of them said TikTok could be doing the same. But one said, "So this is the guy that's killing Instagram". With this mixed reaction, it cannot be told whether the action taken by Meta was suitable for the creators who posted engaging content that was allowed high-quality configuration or those who did not know or posted content that was not engaging to meet with lower quality. 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 28, 2024 10:06 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).