How to fix Instagram videos not playing issue?

Abhishek Chopra | Published On - May 26, 2023 |

Read time: 4 minutes

Instagram is the 4th most popular social media platform on the web and there are roughly 1.68 billion active users on it. So, it will be surprising if you use Instagram for your daily dose of entertainment. Majority of the users upload their pics or video on it and checkout reels (short videos).

Additionally, it offers a ton of intriguing features, including IGTV for longer video streaming and an IG story that you can later add as a Highlight on your profile. However, occasionally the video you’re trying to view ends abruptly, and you’re forced to abandon your IG browsing. You need to be aware of the cause of this issue in order to prevent it.

We will be sharing common practical techniques that tackle the issue concerning Instagram videos not playing or videos not playing on Instagram. So, invest just a couple of minutes, and you will get more than the expected return at the end of this blog.

Common reasons for videos not getting played on Instagram.

We have archived and listed common factors that make Instagram videos are not playable:

1. Connection of mobile data or Wi-Fi – Low network in both cases makes it hard for the data to get buffered, loaded, and visible to the user.
2. An older or outdated version of the app – – If the user doesn’t update the application when a newer version is available, then this kind of issue tends to arise. An older version’s way of running at the backend differs from the newer one. Whether it is regarding stability issues, improving the overall functionality, or fixing bugs, among others. These issues regularly get resolved with updates and hence can be a problem if the Instagram app isn’t updated. An older app is a major cause for all frozen and hung videos in the account.
3. The power-mode option is turned on – When the power-mode option is turned on, the phone tries to save as much battery life as possible, which can be a factor for videos not getting played on Instagram. Videos consume more battery compared to images; hence this can also be considered as a possible factor.
4. Corrupt data in the app or mobile – If the data, due to some reason, get corrupted that is stored in the app or on the device, the chances of videos not getting played increase.
5. The uploader of the video has removed the video – There can also be a scenario where the individual or the company who uploaded the video has deleted it from their side.

A video, technically speaking, but in layman’s words, is a bunch of images that are seen being displayed in sequential order because of which the viewer sees a video. The issue while a video with a small-time length or having a long interval could be due to several factors. The ones listed below have been filtered and selected that are practical and can be applied by anyone to fix all video streaming issues:

1. A high-speed network connection – While watching a video on Instagram, if the speed of the bandwidth of the specific network is good, issues concerning Instagram video not playing will not occur.
2. Using an updated version of the app – Updating the Instagram application whenever a new update is available, the problem of videos not playing on Instagram stops.
3. Uninstall and reinstall the app – The data or the application might have some corrupted files. The answer to such a situation is to uninstall the application and then reinstall it. One thing to consider is that the user’s credentials will have to be entered again.
4. Disable the power-saving mode – For the time the Instagram application is being used, disabling the power-saving mode will make the system allow the videos to be played.
5. Resetting the phone – Another option, if the above-mentioned approaches don’t work, is to reset the phone. A gentle caution before doing that. It is best to have a backup as everything stored in the system will be erased, and a fresh system will be available for use.
6. Reach out to Instagram – Reaching out and getting connected to the technical team of Instagram is another approach.

From the start, we have considered videos not being able to play on Instagram as the pivotal issue.
General assumptions about such a thing happening and different approaches to tackling them have been highlighted above.

If it so happens that the issue still isn’t resolved at your end and you want to resolve it quickly, then consider using Kernel Video Repair. With this tool, the issue of Instagram videos not playing will get tackled quickly, not wasting much of your time and money. All the corruptions present in the video will be rectified and you can upload it to Instagram to play smoothly.