The popularity of a video on Instagram can affect its quality: according to Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram and Threads, the platform displays videos with higher views, while less popular videos are displayed in lower quality. Writes TechCrunch.
Mosseri said Instagram always tries to show videos in the best possible quality, but if something has low views for a long time, it will be demoted.
Meta wrote last year that it uses different encoding configurations for different videos depending on their popularity. However, it has not yet been concretely stated that low viewership brings with it poor quality.
Following reactions to the statement, Mosseri explained that decisions are made on an aggregate level rather than an individual level, and simply better quality, i.e. programming with higher CPU requirements and more expensive storage space, is awarded to posters that achieve more views. “It's not a binary process, it's a scale,” he said.
Many users have criticized this approach as creating a system that favors already popular creators over smaller creators — popular creators can publish at the highest quality, boosting their popularity, while smaller creators can't break through. Mosseri says the concern is real, but he also added that it doesn't seem to matter much in practice, because the change in quality isn't that great and whether people engage with the videos depends more on the content than the quality of the video.
