People often use "Instagram video" as a catch-all term, but Instagram actually has several distinct content formats, and they don't behave the same way when it comes to downloading.
Reels
Short vertical videos, usually under 90 seconds, built for full-screen browsing. This is the main format most downloader tools, including ReelSave, are built around. If a Reel is posted to a public account, its video data is publicly accessible.
Video Posts
These are regular feed uploads that happen to be video instead of a photo. They display in the normal square or portrait feed layout rather than the Reels player, but they're just as retrievable as Reels when the account is public.
Stories
Stories are temporary by design — they disappear after 24 hours unless the poster manually saves one to a Highlight. Instagram treats Stories as a more restricted content type than Reels or feed posts, and most legitimate downloader tools, including ReelSave, don't support pulling Stories at all. That's intentional, not a limitation to work around.
Why the Distinction Matters
If a tool claims to reliably download "any Instagram content," that's worth being skeptical of. A downloader that only works with what Instagram already makes publicly viewable — and says so plainly — is behaving the way it should.
For the full glossary with side-by-side definitions, see the format glossary on the homepage.