What is B-roll? B-roll is the supplemental footage you show while the main footage, called A-roll, carries on: close-ups, scenery, hands at work, anything that is not the main shot. In an Instagram reel, B-roll is what you cut to while you talk or a voiceover plays, so the picture keeps changing and shows what you are saying.

The definitions below come from Adobe's explainer and Wikipedia's entry on B-roll. The Instagram details come from Instagram's own pages. All were read on 13 October 2026.

What is B-roll in video editing?

A-roll is the main footage: a person talking to the camera, or the central action. B-roll is everything else. Adobe's explainer describes it as all the footage that is not the main action, and says editors use it to establish a scene, smooth a transition, add meaning, or cover a cut such as a cough or an unwanted frame. Wikipedia adds that B-roll usually plays while the main footage's audio continues, which is why a voice can carry on while the picture changes.

The letters come from film editing, where shots were spliced onto two alternating rolls, A and B, so the joins stayed hidden. Adobe says digital editing removed that problem, but the word stayed. Three kinds are worth knowing by name:

  • Establishing shot: shows where you are, such as the shop front or the street.
  • Insert shot: a close-up of a detail, such as the label, the tool or the texture.
  • Cutaway: a shot of something related, placed over the main footage. Adobe says editors use cutaways to cut between soundbites or shorten a section without a visible jump.

How do you use B-roll for Instagram reels?

Instagram's own pages show two ways, and neither needs a studio.

Talk over your clips. Instagram's tips page, dated 20 June 2024, lists voiceover content as a way to share without being on camera: shoot whatever you like and talk about it off-camera, with music or subtitles to keep it engaging. Instagram's guide to making reels, posted on 28 September 2026, says to tap the microphone icon after filming to record a voiceover over your clips. Here all of the pictures are B-roll. Accounts that never show a face often work this way, and our page on a faceless Instagram account covers more.

Cut away from you. Record yourself talking, then lay shots over the parts where you describe something. Your voice carries on, and the picture shows the thing. Layering needs an editor that can put video over video, which the section below covers.

Three Instagram pages bear on how you film it. The creator FAQ says to make the first 3 seconds engaging so people do not move on, and our reading is that B-roll gives you more than one picture to choose from for that opening. The creators site advises designing for sound off, with text or captions. And the Help Center says reels filmed vertically are among those Instagram recommends. Our page on reel hooks covers the opening line.

What are some B-roll ideas for reels?

Think of B-roll by the job a shot does. These are 21 ideas, three for each job.

  • Show the thing you name: the finished loaf as you say its name. The tool in your hand as you explain it. The screen as you describe the setting.
  • Show where you are: the shop front before you walk in. Your desk, seen from the doorway. The trailhead sign.
  • Show hands at work: hands folding a parcel. A pen moving across a page. A cursor choosing a setting.
  • Show a detail up close: the weave of the fabric. The label on the jar. The grain of the wood.
  • Show the result or the reaction: the first sip. The finished room with the lights on. An unboxing, with the other person's permission.
  • Show the process at a different speed: a time-lapse of the set-up. A sped-up long step. A slow pour. Instagram's reels guide says speed can be set before you record, from 0.5x for slow motion to 3x for fast-forward.
  • Cover a cut: a one-second shot of your hands. The street through the window. The item turning in your hand. Adobe says B-roll can cover a cut, which makes these useful when you trim a pause.

How do you shoot B-roll on a phone?

Shoot it while you are still set up, and work from your script, not from memory.

  1. Mark the script. Read it through and mark every noun and action you could show. Each mark is a shot.
  2. Film each shot longer than feels necessary. Adobe advises recording each shot long enough to fit the pace of the dialogue. Instagram lets you trim each clip, so extra length costs nothing.
  3. Film vertically, as above.
  4. Use the highest resolution you can. Instagram's creator FAQ says to upload the highest resolution possible, and its Help Center lists blurry and low-resolution reels among those it may show less often.
  5. Vary the distance. One wide shot, one medium and one close shot of the same subject give you three choices when you edit.

If you plan a run of linked episodes, film a few shots for each in one sitting. Our page on an Instagram series shows how to connect them.

How do you add B-roll in Instagram's editors?

In the Reels editor, build the reel from clips. Instagram's Help Center says you can record clips or add videos from your camera roll, tap Add clips to add more, Reorder them, and use the trimmers on each clip to change its length. Then record your voiceover with the microphone icon, as the guide above describes. That makes a reel where every clip is B-roll.

To cut away from a talking clip while your voice carries on, use Edits, Instagram's editing app for Android and iPhone. The Edits page in Instagram's Help Center says anything you add appears as its own clip at the bottom of the editing view, and lists an Overlay tool that adds a photo, video or reel over your project. For each layer it offers Split, Speed, Replace, Slip and Volume, the last of which sets whether the layer has sound, so you can silence the B-roll and keep your voice.

Check the cut before you share. Instagram's September 2026 guide says that to change the video of a posted reel, you delete it and upload a new one.

Where can you get B-roll you did not film?

  • Your own camera roll. Footage from the same place or day, or from an earlier take.
  • Another creator's footage, with credit. Instagram's 30 April 2026 post on original content says collabs, Remix and the paid partnership label let you include third-party content while the people involved get credit.
  • A stock library. Adobe lists stock footage as a source of B-roll. Instagram's pages do not mention stock footage by name. Its originality post does say you are responsible for getting any permission you need to use someone else's work, so check that the library's licence covers social posts. Skip clips with a watermark: the Help Center lists reels with logos, borders or watermarks among those Instagram may show less often.

Where this stops working

  • There is no Instagram figure for B-roll. We found no Instagram page that links B-roll to reach, or says how much of a reel it should fill or how long each clip should be, so we quote none. To learn what it does for your own reels, compare reels with and without it using our testing routine.
  • B-roll does not replace a clear opening. Instagram's advice about the first 3 seconds applies whatever is on screen.
  • Stock and AI footage are open questions. Instagram does not name stock footage in the pages we read, and we did not read its rules on AI-generated footage, so we say nothing about it. Check the current rules and the library's licence yourself.
  • Menus differ by app version and device. The editor steps were read in Instagram's Help Center on 13 October 2026.

Once you can name the job a shot does, you can plan it before you film. When your voiceover ends with an offer, give people a keyword to comment, and inDM's comment-to-DM sends it to each of them.

Sources

All read on 13 October 2026: