Snaps, memes, live photos, GIFs: our camera rolls are flooded with 1-2 second video clips. But to post a video on Instagram, YouTube, or other websites, you might need to make your video longer to meet a platform’s minimum length requirement. On Instagram, for example, videos must be at least 3 seconds long, so very short clips don’t cut it.

In this article, I’ll describe four techniques for extending the length of your video. You can loop the video, slow it down, add a scene before or after, or boomerang the video. I recommend using Kapwing - a free online video editor – to help with these tasks.

Loop

Replay the video multiple times in a row to multiply the length. For example, a 2 second clip looped 4x creates an 8 second video. You replay the action of the clip rather than altering it.

To loop: This video looper lets you loop your clip for free. Just upload the video and choose the number of times that you want to loop it to download the longer video.

Slow down video speed

Slowing down a video clip makes every second last longer, literally. For example, you can transform a 3 second video into a 6 second video with a 50% slomo effect.

To slow down: Use this free video speed changer to slow down the video to half or .75 speed.

Add an intro or outro

Add a scene before or after the video. This intro can be something relevant to the video clip, like a fast photo slideshow, or just a black frame. You can upload the intro/outro scenes and the video clip to merge them together online.

To append an intro or outro: Use a free video maker like Kapwing to add a scene before or after the original video clip.

Boomerang the video

Instagram built the Boomerang app to play short clips forwards then in reverse. You can use the Boomerang app to add the memorable effect or you can manually append your clip to a reversed version of itself to make a boomerang from an existing clip.

To Boomerang: Use this free stop motion effect tool and make sure to check the "Play in Reverse" box before clicking "Create"

Thanks for reading! I hope this article helps you make the length of your video longer to make it funnier and more compatible with popular destinations.