How to go live on Instagram (2026 setup + co-broadcasting)
Complete guide to Instagram Live in 2026: account requirements, mobile setup, co-broadcasting up to four people, saving the broadcast, and producing the replay.
Last verified 2026-05-22
Instagram Live is one of the lowest-friction live formats on any platform — no minimum follower count, no age gate above the platform's base 13+, and the LIVE button appears directly in the Stories camera. The trade-off is reach: IG Live does not have the aggressive home-feed push that TikTok LIVE gets, so most successful IG Lives are pre-promoted via Stories and posts.
IG Live supports up to four people in a single stream via Live Rooms (the host plus three co-broadcasters). This format has become the dominant one for Q&As, panel discussions, and creator-collab streams.
After the broadcast, Instagram saves the video for 30 days. You can also save it to your Reels archive or download the MP4 immediately for repurposing.
The steps
Open the Stories camera. From the Instagram home feed, swipe right or tap the + (create) icon and choose Story. Along the bottom carousel you will see Live as one of the camera modes — swipe to it.
Set a title and audience. Tap the title field and write what the stream is about — viewers see this before tapping in. Set the audience (Public, Practice mode for testing, or a Close Friends list). Practice mode is essential for first-time streamers — it lets you test the full flow without anyone watching.
Add co-broadcasters (optional). If you want guests, tap the people icon and invite up to three other accounts. They receive a notification and can join after they tap accept. All four feeds split the screen automatically. Co-broadcasters must follow the host or have their account set up to receive invites; check Instagram's Help Center if the invite is not arriving.
Tap Go Live. Instagram counts down and the stream starts. Comments and reactions appear in real-time. The viewer count is visible at the top. You can pin a comment to keep it on screen, share viewer questions to the broadcast (great for AMAs), and add Stickers or Effects mid-stream.
Engage with viewers. IG Live's biggest reach driver is comment engagement — respond to comments by name, pin questions you are answering, and use the "Add to broadcast" feature to share a viewer's comment as an overlay. Streams with high comment density get pushed to more followers in the moment.
End the broadcast and choose save options. When you tap End, Instagram asks whether to share the broadcast to your Stories (where it appears as a Live replay for 24 hours), to your Reels archive (permanent until you delete), or both. Choose at least one — otherwise the broadcast disappears in 30 days.
Download the MP4 for repurposing. Within 30 days of ending the broadcast, you can download the MP4 from the Live Archive in Settings → Your activity. Most creators do this immediately and drop the file into their content pipeline for clipping into Reels, TikTok shorts, and YouTube Shorts.
Common gotchas
Instagram Live caps at four hours per stream. Streams that hit the cap end automatically.
Music played in the background can trigger copyright detection and either mute the audio or remove the replay. Use Instagram's built-in music library or original audio.
Live Rooms (multi-broadcaster) require all participants to use the latest Instagram app version. Older apps can join as viewers but not as co-hosts.
Practice mode is invisible to your audience but recording quality is the same — use it freely for tech rehearsals.
IG Live does not get the algorithmic push that TikTok LIVE gets. Pre-announce via Stories and posts a few hours before going live to drive viewers.
Saved Reels of a Live broadcast do not get the same algorithmic distribution as a freshly-recorded Reel — most creators clip highlights and post them as separate Reels rather than relying on the saved replay for reach.
Where Kompozy fits
Kompozy does not stream Instagram Live. The Live capture itself is a real-time problem you solve in the Instagram app (or via Live Producer for desktop). What Kompozy does is the second half of the workflow: ingest the saved replay MP4, pull the best 30-60 second segments, generate captions and overlays in Reels and TikTok dimensions, and schedule them across every short-form platform.
Most creators go live, get a few thousand views in the moment, then have a 30-90 minute MP4 sitting in their archive that earns nothing further. Kompozy converts that archive into 5-10 short-form clips per stream automatically, and the Pro tier ($299/mo for 18,000 credits) covers several streams' worth of derivative output per month including HeyGen avatar wraps and ffmpeg-rendered shorts.
Frequently asked questions
Are there follower requirements for Instagram Live?
No — any account that meets Instagram's base 13+ age requirement can go live. This is one of the few major platforms with no follower gate.
How long can IG Live last?
Up to four hours per stream. Streams that hit the cap end automatically.
Can I save my Instagram Live?
Yes — at end-of-broadcast, choose to share to Stories (24-hour replay), Reels archive (permanent), or both. You can also download the MP4 from Settings → Your activity within 30 days.
How many people can co-broadcast?
Up to four total including the host — host plus three guests via Live Rooms.
Can I go live on Instagram from a computer?
Instagram does not natively support desktop live streaming for most accounts. Some Creator accounts get Instagram Live Producer access (browser-based with limited features), and third-party tools like Streamyard can publish to IG Live for some account types.
Does Instagram Live appear in the main feed?
When you go live, your profile picture in the Stories tray gets a "LIVE" ring and the broadcast appears at the top of the Stories tray for your followers. Active IG Lives also surface in Explore for some accounts.
Can viewers see how many people are watching?
Yes — the viewer count is public during the broadcast.