Previously, you could only post 15 second pieces. 

The extended length reflects Instagram's increasing emphasis on video and makes it a much more competitive platform to video juggernaut YouTube. 

Last month, the app started favoring the number of views a video gets, instead of its number of likes. It also started allowing advertisers to upload 60 second clips in February to help it suck advertising dollars from TV.

The photo-sharing social network recently said that the time its users spend watching video has increased by more than 40% in the last six months.