What is Reels Remix?

Instagram’s Help Center article “Remix a video on Instagram” says Remix lets anyone create a reel that includes someone else’s video or photo, and that they can also download the video or photo as part of their remix. In the app you tap the share icon on the reel or post, choose Remix and record your reel. By default the original is the background of your reel, and Layout lets you change where it appears. Remixing photos is not available to everyone, and remixing a feed video turns your remix into a reel.

A remix shows your username and “Remix with” the original creator’s username at the bottom, and anyone can tap that to watch the original and make their own. You can remix your own reel, but not a video that is already a remix or one whose creator doesn’t allow remixes. With the original video playing you can mix the audio and add voiceovers, stickers and text. With your clip after the original, you can’t change the original’s audio, and effects apply only to your own clip.

In a news post dated 21 July 2022, Meta announced more ways to remix. They are listed below, so you can see what the feature was designed to do.

• Remix for photos: public photos could be remixed into a Reel, rolled out in the weeks after the announcement.
• More layouts: green screen, horizontal split-screen, vertical split-screen, or a picture-in-picture reaction view.
• Add your clip: your video plays after the original one, instead of at the same time, which suits commentary.

The 2022 announcement describes features that were being rolled out then. It does not say which accounts can be remixed or whether a creator can switch it off, but Instagram’s Help Center does: on a private account no one can remix your content by default, and on a public account anyone on Instagram can. Look in the Reel’s menu in your app for a Remix option, and if you cannot find one, you cannot remix that Reel.

Instagram’s Help Center says remix creators can download your content as part of their remix, and that you’ll get a notification if a public account remixes your content. If you do not want remixes, open your menu, tap Sharing and reuse and switch remixing off for Posts or Reels, or turn it off for one post from its Options menu. Remember that the audio, music and any people in the clip can raise their own rights questions.

A remix puts your brand next to a clip people already know. A shop can answer a customer’s question video, a coach can react to a common myth, and a baker can finish a recipe someone else started. Instagram shows “Remix with” and the original creator’s username on the remix itself, and crediting them in your caption as well is polite and helps viewers find the source.

Tip: Treat a remix as a conversation: respond to what the clip actually says, add one clear point of your own, and ask for a comment. If people comment a keyword, an automatic reply on that Reel is possible from a professional account.