Montage videos are a popular format on TikTok and Reels. They're great for capturing anything from the highlights of your recent trip to the glow up journey of your small business. The best video montages are a combination of photos and video clips, synced to a trending sound, like the Time Passing trend on TikTok.

Instead of trying to track down photos and video clips from your phone, the cloud, and various other places you may have stored them, one quick way to put together a montage is with Instagram Stories. This is particularly convenient if you use Stories to document special events but don't always save those Stories to your phone.

It's also a great way to repurpose content you've already created into a new format without much extra work.

There are two main methods for making a video montage with Instagram Stories:

1. Use the Instagram feature "Convert to Reel"
2. Download Stories from your Stories Archive

Let's get into it.

Make a video montage with Instagram's Convert to Reel feature

Convert to Reel is a new feature that Instagram has rolled out to some users and it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. This feature lets you turn a Stories Highlight into a Reel.

Here's how:

Step 1: Choose the Highlight you want to convert into a Reel.

The great thing about turning a Highlight into a Reel is that you've already curated the photos and videos included in the Highlight to tell a specific story. Pick the Highlight that best aligns with the type of video montage you're trying to make.

For example, as a small business owner, you might have a behind the scenes Highlight. That will make a great Reel.

Don't have a Highlight for the video montage you want to create yet? Or maybe you feel like you need to add a few more videos and photos to an existing Highlight for it to be montage-worthy? You can add Stories from your Stories Archive to a new or existing Highlight to curate the perfect montage.

Step 2: Click "Convert to Reel" in the Highlight menu

Once you've chosen the Highlight you want to feature, tap to open it. Select the three dot menu in the bottom right corner of the screen. If you have access to Convert to Reel, it will show up as an option in this menu. Click on it and let Instagram do its thing.

Step 3: Add music and edit your montage Reel

Convert to Reel will automatically sync the videos and photos from your Highlight to music. Select the song you'd like to use from the available library or upload a sound from your device.

Finally, click continue and head to the main Reels editor to add any other desired edits to your montage like text, stickers, or voiceover. At this time, you can also rearrange and edit the length of each clip in the Reel to get the desired effect.

Step 4: Publish on Instagram (and other channels)

If you're happy with your video montage Reel, add your caption, thumbnail, and any hashtags then publish it to your feed.

If you'd like to share this Reel on other channels, like TikTok or YouTube Shorts, make sure you save it to your device from the editing screen.

Just keep in mind that if you're using audio from Instagram, that won't be saved with the file. You can either add trending audio back into the video natively on TikTok or you can use a video editing software online to add any audio you want.

Now, not everyone has access to the Convert to Reel feature yet. Here's how to make a video montage from IG Stories without Convert to Reel.

Make a Montage Video from your Instagram Stories Archive

The general principal here is the same as making a montage using Convert to Reel. It's just a little more DIY. Instead of turning one Highlight into a Reel, you'll be downloading multiple photos and videos from your Stories Archive.

Here's how:

Step 1: Open your Instagram Stories Archive

You'll find the Stories Archive in the hamburger menu in the top right hand corner of your profile. There are three separate views to use to organize your search: the All Stories View, the Calendar View, and the Map View.

Depending on what you're looking for, you might find one more helpful than the other. If you know you want to make a montage about a specific event, you might use the Calendar View to quickly find the date. If you want to make a montage about a vacation you took, though, the Map View might be more helpful.

Step 2: Select and download the photos and videos for your montage

Scroll through the Stories Archive View that you selected and find the photos and videos you want. Click on the Story to view it, then click on the three dot "More" menu in the bottom right of your screen.

Select the option to "Save photo" or "Save video" to download the Story to your device. Rinse and repeat for all the photos and videos you want to add to your montage.

Step 3: Upload your photos and videos into a video editor

For this example, we'll be using Kapwing, which is an online video editor perfect for repurposing videos and photos for social media.

Drag and drop your files into the Kapwing Studio.

You'll want to set your canvas to 9:16, which is the aspect ratio for most of the platforms where you'll be sharing your video montage, like TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts.

From here, add your clips and photos in whatever order you like. Don't worry about the duration; we'll edit that next to sync up with the audio.

Step 4: Add trending audio to your video montage and sync your clips

Even if you'll be uploading your montage to TikTok or Reels and want to use a trending audio on the app, we still recommend adding the audio into Kapwing. It'll be a lot easier to sync your photos and videos if the audio is in the project while you're editing.

Open the audio menu from the lefthand sidebar and import the trending sound by copy-pasting the URL.

Now you can set the duration for each photo to sync with the sound by using the Custom Duration option in the right hand side menu. You can also use the Timeline to edit duration. Just select the end of a clip and drag to the desired length.

Hack: We know some trending audios are trickier than others when it comes to getting the timing right. Try a template to get your clips to sync perfectly with the audio.

Step 5: Export and share your video montage online

Once everything's all synced up, hit Export Project then Download File.

And that's it! Your Instagram Stories video montage is ready to go. You can share it on Instagram Reels, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, or anywhere really.

Whether you have access to Convert to Reel or not, it's simple to create a video montage using your Instagram Stories. If you make your montage using Kapwing, tag us @KapwingApp on IG or @Kapwing on TikTok.

In the meantime, check out our Resources Library for more creator news, tips, and tricks. You can also visit our template library for inspiration and plug-and-play content creation.