IGTV gets support for landscape videos

In yet another attempt to keep its long-video supporting IGTV feature afloat, Facebook-owned photo-messaging app Instagram has added support for videos shot in landscape mode. "We`ve heard from creators who want to upload landscape videos for IGTV. Similarly, we`ve heard from viewers who come across landscape videos in IGTV but want to watch them in a more natural way. That`s why we`re announcing support for landscape videos in addition to vertical," the company wrote in a blog-post on Thursday. 

According to Instagram, the step was required to make IGTV more free of a platform for creators to express themselves however they want.  "Landscape has its strengths, especially when it comes to formats like dance and sports which are high motion and often feature a handful of people in frame," the post said. Launched in 2018, the long-form video hub IGTV that lives inside both a homescreen button in Instagram as well as a standalone app, has failed to gather the expected response. 

Recently, the Instagram copied TikTok and Snapchat in terms of their use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and interface design on IGTV.  Earlier in February, the app added previews of IGTV videos as part of the main feeds on the home page.