Yesterday, Instagram shared on their blog that they have now reached one billion worldwide users. In the same announcement, Instagram debuted their new app, IGTV.

What is IGTV?

IGTV is for watching long-form, vertical video from Instagram creators, media companies, entertainers, and more. On the app, you can login to your Instagram account and immediately start watching videos from people you follow. You can also explore the Popular tab for trending videos and the Continue Watching tab to pick up on videos you’ve previously started.

IGTV launched with a number of influential people including popular Twitch streamer Ninja, Youtuber and actress Lele Pons, comedian and actor King Bach, video creator LaurDIY, and many others.

“It’s mobile first, it’s simple and it’s high quality”

This is how Kevin Systrom, CEO and cofounder of Instagram, describes the new IGTV app.

You can access IGTV directly in the Instagram app by clicking the icon seen in the photo below. Or in the dedicated IGTV app for iOS and Android devices.

Each video can be up to an hour long

Unlike Instagram, videos on IGTV are not limited to one minute. You can upload videos that are up to a full hour long providing for some exciting new opportunities for mobile video. Videos also must be 15 seconds or longer on IGTV keeping the short-form content on Instagram itself.

IGTV has a search feature allowing you to find videos from anyone, but you can also easily start watching videos from people you follow right away when you open the app by viewing the For You and Following tabs. Videos will auto play and you can quickly swipe through like you’re flipping through channels.

Download the IGTV App

Instagram stated that ‘IGTV will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on Android and iOS’. You can download the app at the following links:

• IGTV for iOS

• IGTV for Android

You can learn how to use IGTV and get a better understanding of the app in the Instagram Help Center.

Video Upload Requirements for IGTV

In the Instagram Help Center you can find the video upload requirements for IGTV.

As of right now anyone with an Instagram account can create a channel on IGTV and start uploading videos, but only ‘larger accounts and verified accounts’ can upload videos up to 60 minutes long. These videos must also be uploaded from a computer.

Videos must be in .mp4 file format and should be in vertical format with an aspect ratio of between 4:5 and 9:16. The max file size for videos that are 10 minutes or less is 650MB. The max file size for videos up to 60 minutes is 5.4GB.

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