Reels eats the most vertical space, and captions pay for it
Instagram puts the username, the caption and the controls along the bottom of a Reel and a row at the top. Meta unified the Stories and Reels safe areas in March 2026 and the unified figure is the strictest of any platform here — the bottom 670 pixels of a 1080x1920 frame, which is 35% of its height, plus the top 270. A caption line that sits comfortably on YouTube Shorts can be half-covered on Reels. The practical answer is to keep text in the middle third rather than near the bottom, which is where subtitles instinctively go; the free safe-zone checker on this site draws Instagram’s covered area over a frame of yours so you can see it rather than guess.
Connecting Instagram goes through a Facebook Page
This catches people out and it is Meta’s design, not ours. Publishing to Instagram through any API requires a Professional account — Creator or Business — linked to a Facebook Page, and you connect through Meta rather than through Instagram directly. A personal Instagram account cannot be posted to by any third-party tool. If a connection fails, that is the first thing to check.
Reels rewards clips that were made for Reels
Instagram down-ranks visibly recycled content, and a 16:9 video letterboxed into a vertical frame is the most visible kind. A clip that is actually cropped to 9:16 with the speaker held in frame reads as native, which is most of the reason to crop properly rather than pad. DeenClipped uses face detection for that crop rather than taking the middle of the frame, because on a lecture recording the middle of the frame is often an empty lectern.
The rights question, said plainly
A clip from your own YouTube video is yours to post anywhere. A clip from somebody else’s talk is theirs, and cross-posting it to your Instagram is republishing their work under your name. Ask. Where a speaker has published guidance about clipping, follow it — and credit them on the clip itself, because a Reel travels a long way from wherever you posted it.
What arrives, and what does not
Vertical 1080x1920, captions burned in and timed to the word, five templates, a nasheed mixed under the speech unless you switch it off. Every clip waits for your approval. What you will not get is Instagram’s numbers: Meta does not send view or reach data back here, so there are no audience figures in this product and none are invented.
Questions
How do I turn a YouTube video into an Instagram Reel?
Paste the URL, mark the stretch worth clipping, and DeenClipped transcribes it, finds complete moments, crops to 9:16 with face detection and burns in captions. Approve the clip and it publishes to your connected Instagram account.
Why can I not connect my Instagram account?
Instagram publishing through any third-party tool requires a Professional account — Creator or Business — linked to a Facebook Page, and the connection is made through Meta. Personal accounts cannot be posted to by API. Converting to a Creator account is free and takes a minute in Instagram’s settings.
Where should captions sit for Reels?
The middle third, and higher than feels natural. Since Meta unified Stories and Reels in March 2026, Instagram covers the bottom 670 pixels of a 1080x1920 frame — 35% of its height — and the top 270, more than TikTok or Shorts, so a caption anywhere near the bottom is hidden. The safe-zone checker on this site shows the exact area over your own frame.
Does Instagram penalise reposted video?
It down-ranks content that is visibly recycled, which in practice means letterboxed 16:9 footage and other platforms’ watermarks. A clip genuinely cropped to vertical with its own burned-in captions does not read that way.
Basic includes the whole workflow.
Import a source, generate clips, review every one and publish to your own connected channels. Upgrade when you need more.