Headshot Tips

Why Your Headshot Won't Upload (And How to Fix It in Under a Minute)

You just got your professional headshots back and you're excited to update your LinkedIn, submit them to a company directory, or attach one to your resume - and then the upload just... fails. No error message that makes sense, or a vague "unsupported file type" warning.

This happens more often than you'd think, and it's almost never something you did wrong. Here are the most common causes, and the quick fix for each.

1. Your Photo Is In HEIC Format (The iPhone Problem)

If your photographer sent your final images straight from an iPhone, or you took a quick behind-the-scenes shot yourself, there's a good chance the file is saved as HEIC instead of JPG. HEIC is Apple's default photo format - great for saving space, but a lot of websites, portals, and older software simply don't recognize it.

• How to tell: the filename ends in .heic (you may need to check "file info" or enable file extensions to see it).
• The fix: convert it from HEIC to JPG. On a Mac, you can open it in Preview and use File → Export to save it as JPG. On Windows, right-click the file and use "Open with Photos" then save/export as JPG. Or, on either Mac or Windows, if you'd rather skip all that, a site like crestconvert.com will just do it for you in a few seconds, no installs needed.

2. The File Is Too Large

Professional headshots, especially straight from a photographer, are often shot at very high resolution - sometimes 15-30MB per image. Most upload portals (LinkedIn, job applications, company intranets) cap file size, often somewhere between 5-10MB.

• How to tell: right-click the file (or check "Get Info" on Mac) and look at the file size. If it's in the double digits of MB, that's likely your issue.
• The fix: compress the image before uploading. A good compressor will shrink the file size significantly with almost no visible quality loss for web use.

3. The Dimensions Are Wrong For Where You're Uploading

Some platforms don't just care about file size - they enforce minimum or maximum pixel dimensions. LinkedIn, for example, recommends a square image, ideally 400x400 pixels or larger, but some resume templates or ID-style portals want a specific portrait aspect ratio instead.

• The fix: resize (and if needed, crop) your headshot to match the platform's specs before uploading. If you're not sure what size a specific platform wants, it's usually listed in their help/support docs - a quick search for "[platform name] photo size requirements" will get you the exact numbers.

4. The File Format Itself Isn't Supported

Less common, but it happens: some portals only accept JPG or PNG, and reject anything else - including formats like TIFF, WebP, or RAW files straight from a camera.

• The fix: convert to JPG or PNG, whichever the platform specifies. Both are universally supported everywhere.

Quick Reference