How to Upload HEIC Photos to Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn

You take photos on an iPhone, try to upload to Instagram or LinkedIn, and the upload fails, or worse, succeeds but the image looks wrong. The cause is usually that you've handed the platform a HEIC file. Here's the per-platform fix.

What HEIC is

HEIC is Apple's default photo format on every iPhone since 2017. It's about half the size of JPEG at the same quality, so iCloud storage lasts longer. The trade-off: outside Apple's ecosystem, support is patchy.

For a deeper background: Why iPhone Photos Are HEIC and How to Convert Them.

Per-platform support in 2026

Instagram

• iOS app: accepts HEIC, auto-converts.
• Android app: accepts HEIC since 2023.
• Web upload: rejects HEIC. Convert to JPEG first.

Twitter / X

• All clients: officially "JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF only." HEIC may upload but display as broken.
• Workaround: convert to JPEG before posting.

LinkedIn

• Mobile apps: HEIC mostly works but quality is degraded.
• Web: rejects HEIC.

Facebook

• Mobile apps: HEIC works.
• Web: HEIC works on chrome / edge / firefox, rejected on some older browsers.

TikTok

• HEIC photos work in the mobile app. Web uploader rejects HEIC.

The reliable solution

Stop relying on platform conversion and convert to JPEG yourself. It's faster, you control quality, and the photo looks identical on every platform.

OmegaPix's HEIC to JPG converter runs in your browser:

1. Open it on your phone or laptop browser.
2. Drop a HEIC file (or a batch, AirDrop a whole folder).
3. Quality 90 is default, indistinguishable from source.
4. Download the JPG and upload to your platform.

Files never upload to a server. Conversion happens in your browser via WASM.

A note on photo dimensions

iPhone photos are huge: typically 4032×3024 pixels and 2-4 MB. Social platforms downscale and re-compress on their end, sometimes badly. To control the final result:

• Instagram square: 1080×1080
• Instagram story/reel: 1080×1920
• LinkedIn post: 1200×627 or square
• Twitter post: 1200×675 or square
• Facebook post: 1200×630

Resize before uploading using Social Media Image Resizer. The platform will still re-compress, but you've controlled the dimensions.

Why convert locally instead of letting the platform do it

1. You control quality. The platform's automatic conversion is usually quality 60-70 with aggressive compression. Yours can be quality 90.
2. Faster upload. A JPEG at q90 is smaller than the original HEIC, so the upload is faster.
3. Predictable look. Platform pipelines change without notice. Controlling the source removes a variable.

Workflow recommendation

1. AirDrop HEIC files from phone to laptop.
2. Convert with HEIC to JPG, quality 90.
3. Resize to platform target with Social Media Image Resizer.
4. Upload to platform.

Or do everything on the phone via Safari. OmegaPix works in mobile browsers too.

Related

• Why iPhone Photos Are HEIC and How to Convert Them
• HEIC vs JPEG: Apple's Format vs the Universal Standard