Instagram

SOURCES USED (all first-party Meta/Instagram): the Graph API IG User Media reference (developers.facebook.com/documentation/instagram-platform/instagram-graph-api/reference/ig-user/media), the Content Publishing guide, and four Instagram Help Centre articles reached via the www.facebook.com/help/instagram/<id> path. FETCH FAILURES — help.instagram.com is a client-rendered SPA and returned only a "Help Center" shell for every article ID tried, with or without ?locale=. Workaround found: the same articles render server-side at https://www.facebook.com/help/instagram/<same-id>/?locale=en_US, so the Help Centre rows below ARE first-party, just reached via the facebook.com mirror of the identical article ID. Meta Business Help Centre pages (facebook.com/business/help/<id>) resolve their <title> but NOT their body — this is why the safe-zone row is empty. Also 404'd: developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/content-publishing/reels, .../reference/instagram-user/media, developers.facebook.com/docs/instagram-platform/sharing-to-reels, facebook.com/business/ads-guide/video/instagram-reels, creators.instagram.com/grow/reels. WebSearch was unavailable (session budget exhausted at 200 calls), so URL discovery was done by crawling link lists out of pages I could fetch. FOUR DIRECT CONFLICTS BETWEEN OFFICIAL META PAGES — both sides recorded, neither reconciled: 1. Reels duration. Help Centre says "up to 20 minutes"; Graph API says "15 mins maximum". Separately the Help Centre warns "Reels over 3 minutes won't be recommended to new audiences" — so there are effectively three numbers (3 / 15 / 20 min) with different meanings: 3 min = reach ceiling, 15 min = API upload ceiling, 20 min = in-app record/edit ceiling. Build to 3 min if reach matters; never assume 20 min works through the API. 2. Reels aspect ratio. Help Centre: "between 1.91:1 and 9:16". Graph API: "between 0.01:1 and 10:1 but we recommend 9:16". The API bound is a container sanity check, not a usability guarantee — the Help Centre range is what actually renders sensibly. 3. Reels frame rate. Help Centre states a 30 FPS *minimum*; Graph API states a 23-60 FPS *range*. A 24 FPS master passes the API but violates the Help Centre minimum. 4. Feed image aspect ratio. Help Centre: "between 1.91:1 and 3:4". Graph API: "Must be within a 4:5 to 1.91:1 range". 3:4 (0.75) is taller than 4:5 (0.8). LIKELY RECENT CHANGES (inferred from the disagreement pattern, not from a dated changelog — I could not fetch a changelog, so treat as unconfirmed): the taller 3:4 feed crop and the longer Reels duration appear on the consumer Help Centre but not yet on the Graph API reference, which is the normal direction of lag (app ships first, API docs trail). Do not treat the API numbers as evidence the app numbers are wrong, or vice versa. GAPS I DID NOT FILL: - Safe-zone / UI-overlap margins for Reels: article confirmed to exist, body unfetchable. No numbers given. - Max file size for consumer in-app upload: never stated on any Help Centre page I reached. The 300MB figure is the API limit only and should not be quoted as the in-app limit. - Carousel *video* specs: neither page states which spec table carousel videos follow. The API documents Reels and Stories video specs separately and is silent on carousel video. - "Feed video" as a distinct surface: the Graph API accepts only CAROUSEL, REELS and STORIES as media_type, and the Help Centre's "Posting Videos" section lists only "Record a reel on Instagram" — together strong evidence that single feed videos are now reels. I found no page that states this in so many words, so I have recorded the media_type enumeration as the fact rather than the conclusion. SCOPE NOTE: the task brief also mentioned Amazon main-image video duration and A+ module limits, and YouTube Shorts safe zones. Those are different platforms and out of scope for this Instagram-only pass — none of it is covered here.