How to Add a Video to Highlights on Instagram

Your Instagram Highlights act like a movie trailer for your brand, giving new visitors a quick, curated look at who you are and what you do. While static images are great, adding video is how you truly bring your profile to life. This guide will walk you through exactly how to add a video to your Instagram Highlights, whether it's from today's story, one from months ago, or even a video sitting in your camera roll right now.

Why Your Instagram Highlights Need Video

Think of your profile grid as the glossy magazine layout of your brand - perfectly polished and curated. Your Highlights, on the other hand, are the behind-the-scenes documentary. Video lets you do what a simple image can't: demonstrate, explain, and connect on a much deeper level. It’s the difference between showing a picture of a finished cake and sharing a quick time-lapse of you mixing, baking, and decorating it.

Here’s what video adds to your Highlights:

• Dynamic Storytelling: You can show off a product in action, give a mini-tutorial, share a client testimonial, or take your audience on a tour of your workspace. It’s storytelling with movement and sound.
• Authenticity and Personality: A short video clip of you or your team sharing news, answering a question, or just being human builds a genuine connection that static posts often struggle to achieve.
• Higher Engagement: We are naturally drawn to motion. A video clip, even without sound, is more likely to grab and hold a viewer’s attention than a collection of images.
• Efficient Information Delivery: Need to explain a complex topic or answer a frequently asked question? A 30-second speaking-to-camera video is often clearer and faster than a lengthy text-based image.

Method 1: Adding a Video from Your Active Story

This is the most direct way to get a video into your Highlights. If you’ve posted a video to your Instagram Story within the last 24 hours, you can add it to a Highlight in just a couple of taps before it disappears.

Follow these simple steps:

1. View Your Own Story: Tap on your profile picture at the top left of your Instagram feed to watch your active Story.
2. Find the Highlight Button: While watching the video segment you want to save, look at the bottom right of the screen. You'll see an icon that looks like a heart inside a circle with the word "Highlight" beneath it. Tap it.
3. Choose a Highlight: A menu will pop up, showing your existing Highlights. You can tap on one to add your video to it.
4. Create a New Highlight: If the video doesn't fit into your existing categories, tap the "New" option with the plus (+) icon. You'll be prompted to give your new Highlight a name.
5. Name and Add: Give your new Highlight a title (e.g., "Tutorials," "BTS," or "Q&A") and then tap "Add." That's it! The video is now saved to your profile for as long as you want it there.

Method 2: Adding a Video from Your Story Archive

What if you want to add a video you posted to your Story last week or even a year ago? No problem. As long as you have the Story Archive feature enabled, Instagram automatically saves all your Stories for you. You can pull from this private library anytime.

First, Check That Your Story Archive is Turned On

For most accounts, this is enabled by default, but it's always good to double-check. Don't worry, checking it won't affect any of your past content.

• Go to your Instagram profile and tap the three horizontal lines (the "hamburger menu") in the top right corner.
• Select "Archive" from the menu.
• On the Archive screen, tap the three dots in the top right corner and select "Settings."
• Make sure the "Save Story to Archive" option is toggled on. If it is, you're all set.

Adding from the Archive to a Highlight

Once you've confirmed your archive is working, you can add any past video Story to a new or existing Highlight right from your profile grid.

1. Go to Your Profile: Navigate to your main Instagram profile page.
2. Create a New Highlight: Tap the "+" circle labeled "New" directly under your bio. This will immediately open your Story Archive.
3. Select Your Video(s): Your archive will appear, with your most recent stories at the top. Scroll through to find the video (or videos) you want to include. A small circle will appear in the corner of each thumbnail. Tap the circle on each one you want to add.
4. Tap "Next": Once you’ve selected your videos, tap "Next" in the top right corner.
5. Edit the Cover and Name: On the next screen, you can give your Highlight a name and change its cover photo. By default, Instagram uses a thumbnail from one of the videos. Tap "Edit Cover" to select a different frame from one of your chosen videos or upload a custom image from your camera roll.
6. Tap "Add": When you’re happy with the name and cover, tap "Add" (iPhone) or "Done" (Android). The new Highlight will appear on your profile.

To add a video from your archive to an existing Highlight, press and hold on that Highlight, select "Edit Highlight," go to the "Stories" tab, and select the video from your archive.

The “Secret” Method: Adding a Video Directly From Your Camera Roll

Here’s one of the most common questions: "Can I add a video from my camera roll directly to my Highlights without posting it to my story first?"

The short answer is no. Instagram Highlights are designed to be a curated collection of things you've previously shared on your public Story. There’s no direct "upload" button from your camera roll to a Highlight.

But there’s a simple and effective workaround that gets you the same result:

1. Post the Video to Your Story: Upload the video from your camera roll to your Instagram Story just like you normally would.
2. Immediately Add it to a Highlight: As soon as it's live on your Story, follow the steps from Method 1 above. Tap the "Highlight" icon at the bottom of the screen, add it to a new or existing highlight, and you’re done.
3. (Optional) Delete the Story: If you don't want the video to live on your active Story for the full 24 hours, you can delete it immediately after adding it to a Highlight. The video will still remain in the Highlight on your profile grid. To do this, view the story, tap the three dots ("More") in the bottom corner, and select "Delete."

A Pro-Tip for Keeping it Low-Key

Don't want your entire follower base to see the video pop up in their Story feed? You can post it to your "Close Friends" list instead. Add the video to your Story, select "Close Friends," and then immediately follow the steps to add it to a public Highlight on your profile. The Highlight will be visible to everyone who visits your profile, but only your close friends will have seen it in their top-of-feed Stories.

Best Practices for Creating Awesome Video Highlights

Knowing how to add a video is just the first step. Here's how to do it well and build Highlights that effectively represent your brand.

Design Branded Cover Photos

Your Highlights are a massive part of the first impression someone gets from your profile. Instead of using random video-frame thumbnails as covers, create a simple, consistent set of branded cover photos. Use your brand colors, icons, and fonts to create a clean, professional look right under your bio.

Keep Videos Short and To the Point

While Instagram Stories can now be up to 60 seconds long, viewers tapping through Highlights have very little patience. Shorter clips - between 5 and 15 seconds - tend to perform best. Edit your videos to get straight to the point and deliver value quickly.

Organize Your Highlights Strategically

Think like a new visitor. What would they want or need to know? Create clear, intuitive categories that guide people to the information they're looking for. Common and effective categories include:

• About Me/Us: Introduce yourself or your team.
• Services/Products: Showcase exactly what you offer.
• FAQ: Answer your most commonly asked questions in short video clips.
• Reviews: Share video testimonials from happy clients.
• BTS (Behind the Scenes): Show off your process and build authenticity.

Use Interactive Elements When Possible

Make your Highlight videos more than just a passive viewing experience. When initially posting the video to your Story, use interactive stickers like Polls, Quizzes, and Question boxes. Even once saved to a Highlight, these old sticker results remain visible, adding a layer of social proof and engagement that builds community.

Final Thoughts

Adding videos to your Instagram Highlights is a straightforward process that completely elevates what your profile can communicate. Whether you're pulling from today's live story or a gem from your archive, using video allows you to tell richer, more compelling brand stories that convert curious visitors into dedicated followers.

Organizing your content ideas for Stories and Reels, ensuring they align with your Highlight categories, can easily become a tangled mess of notes and spreadsheets. We built Postbase to solve this by providing a clean, visual calendar from which you can plan, schedule, and see all your video-first content in one place. By making a plan ahead of time, your Story content - and therefore, your Highlights - can stop being an afterthought and become a powerful, cohesive part of your overall brand strategy.