Reels

Reels are Instagram's vertical short-form format. Clips play in a dedicated feed and get pushed to people who do not follow the account. That is the trade TikTok made first and the reason Instagram built the format at all.

Creators posting Shorts treat Reels as a second home for the same file. That mostly works. Instagram has said it shows reuploads carrying another app's watermark less prominently, so render one clean file and post that version everywhere rather than recycling the TikTok export with a logo bouncing around in the corner.