Instagram and TikTok both re-compress every video you upload, and small, high-contrast text like a depth counter is exactly what compression artifacts hit hardest. Export at the wrong settings and your DiveHUD overlay can come out soft or blocky even though it looked sharp in your editor. This assumes you've already generated your depth or time overlay and composited it with Screen blend, so the only thing left to protect is quality on the way out.
Resolution
Export vertical at 1080×1920 (9:16). Both platforms display Reels and TikToks in this ratio, so anything else gets letterboxed or cropped, which can push your overlay off-frame.
Frame rate
Match your export frame rate to your source footage, and don't convert it. Most action cams and phones shoot 30fps or 24fps, while GoPro slow-motion clips are often 60fps or higher. Converting frame rate after the fact, rather than matching your source, is one of the most common causes of stutter in reposted dive clips.
Bitrate / quality
This is the setting that actually protects your overlay's sharpness. If your editor gives you a quality slider or bitrate field:
- Export at the highest bitrate your editor allows for a 1080p file. You can't get detail back once it's compressed away, and the platform will re-compress it again on upload regardless.
- If you have a choice between "High" and "Highest" quality presets, take the highest one. File size isn't a real constraint for a clip of 15 to 90 seconds.
Codec
Export H.264 unless your editor specifically offers H.265/HEVC and you've confirmed the platform handles it well. H.264 is the safest, most universally compressed-correctly option across Instagram and TikTok's upload pipelines.
The one thing that matters most
If you only change one thing: stop exporting at your editor's default "social media" preset and manually push quality and bitrate to maximum. That single change does more for overlay sharpness than any other setting on this page.
