By repurposing one type of video encoding to help generate another type, we reduced the compute resources we spend on less-watched video encodings by 94 percent. Instagram creates multiple encoded versions of uploaded videos, each with different characteristics. But in our never-ending quest to prioritize efficiency, we uncovered a way to handle this increasing demand and scale our infrastructure by doing more with the machines we already have. In early 2021, we ran projections that showed that within 12 months we would not have enough capacity to provide video uploads for everyone. Instagram’s growing user base of more than 2 billion monthly active users requires us to get the best possible performance from our fleet of servers. This is especially beneficial for people in countries that have slower internet connections.

This frees up resources so more people can watch advanced encodings, which provide clearer video that plays more smoothly.

With this method in place, Meta’s video infrastructure can continue to scale without needing to add more machines.

In our constant quest to prioritize efficiency, Instagram’s engineers have developed a way to process new videos that reduces the cost to produce basic video encodings by 94 percent.

Instagram to mp4