The short version. A 360 photo is just a JPG with an unusual shape: exactly twice as wide as it is tall, and at least 2048 pixels wide. Produce that file and you upload it like any other photo — there is no 360 button and nothing to enable. If it does not come out as a 360, the file is wrong, not the software. Jump straight to troubleshooting.
What the file has to be
Every 360 viewer on the web, in every inspection platform, expects the same thing: an equirectangular JPG. That is a single flat image in which the full sphere — ceiling, floor, all four walls — has been unwrapped onto a rectangle. The unwrap only works at one specific shape.
| Requirement | Value | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Projection | Equirectangular | Dual-fisheye and “natural” exports are a different geometry entirely and will never spin. |
| Aspect ratio | Exactly 2:1 (twice as wide as tall) | This is how the file is identified as a sphere. InspectorData allows a tolerance of ±0.06 on the ratio. |
| Minimum width | 2048 pixels | Below this there is not enough detail to zoom into a corner of a room. |
| Format | JPG | HEIC/HEIF from an iPhone is commonly rejected. A raw .insp file is not an image at all. |
Sizes that are known-good, straight off the camera with no editing: 11008×5504, 11904×5952, 6720×3360, 4096×2048. Notice the pattern — the second number is always exactly half the first. That is the only test you ever need to run on a file.
The corollary is useful too: an ordinary camera photo is never an exact 2:1 frame, so a normal photo is never mistaken for a panorama. Nothing gets misidentified in either direction.
The six steps
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Shoot the room on a monopod or tripod
Put the camera near the middle of the room at about chest height and trigger it from the phone app or a timer so you are not standing in the shot. One press captures everything. Attics, crawlspaces and mechanical rooms are where a single sphere genuinely replaces six flat photos.
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Export as Equirectangular — Insta360 only
This is the step that breaks reports. Insta360 cameras (X3, X4, X5, ONE RS) do not save a normal JPG. They write a proprietary
.inspfile containing two unstitched fisheye halves. You must open the shot in the Insta360 phone app or Insta360 Studio on desktop, choose Export, and explicitly select the Equirectangular projection. Then leave it alone — do not crop it, do not straighten it, do not run it through a photo editor.Ricoh Theta owners skip this step. The Theta X and Z1 stitch inside the camera and hand you a finished equirectangular JPG. Copy it off the camera and you are done. If you want the shortest possible workflow, that is the reason to own one.
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Confirm the dimensions before you upload
Right-click the file and check its pixel dimensions (Windows: Properties → Details. Mac: Get Info. Phone: the photo’s info panel). Width should be almost exactly double the height. Ten seconds here saves you re-uploading a whole report’s worth of photos later.
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Upload it exactly like a normal photo
In InspectorData, attach it to the section or finding the same way you attach any other image. There is no 360 button and no setting to switch on. Detection is automatic and based on the shape of the file.
Not every platform works this way. Spectora requires you to first turn on Allow 360 Photos under Settings → Report Tools, and expects images at least 2000 px wide at 2:1 (support.spectora.com). If you are on another platform and a valid file still will not spin, check for a switch like that one before blaming the export.
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Look for the 360° VIEW badge
The thumbnail gets a 360° VIEW badge as soon as the file is recognised. That badge is your confirmation, and it is binary: if it is there, your client will be able to drag the photo. If it is not there, the file is not a valid equirectangular 2:1 image and nothing else you change will help.
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Deliver the report
In the web report your client clicks the photo and drags to look around, on desktop or phone. In the PDF the same photo appears flat with a 360 label — see the note on PDFs below.
Troubleshooting: symptom → cause → fix
Nearly every 360 problem in an inspection report is one of six things, and five of them are the exported file. Find your symptom.
| Symptom | Actual cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No 360° VIEW badge appeared after upload | The file is not 2:1. Usually a dual-fisheye export, a crop, or a straighten applied in a photo editor. | Check the pixel dimensions. If width is not roughly double the height, re-export from the Insta360 app choosing Equirectangular and upload that file untouched. |
| Photo looks stretched, warped or smeared — bent walls, a bathtub across the whole frame | It is a real equirectangular file, but it is being displayed flat instead of in the viewer. That warped look is what an unwrapped sphere looks like as a flat picture. | Confirm the badge. If the badge is missing, the ratio is off — re-export. If the badge is present, you are looking at the PDF or a thumbnail; open the web report. |
| It opens flat and will not drag | Either the PDF (which can never spin), or the badge was never there in the first place. | Open the web version of the report, not the PDF. If the web version is also flat, go back to the export. |
| File is too big — 25–30MB and you expect it to fail | Not a problem. 360 panoramas normally run 4–25MB. | Upload it as-is. InspectorData compresses in the browser before upload, capping at 6000 px wide, so ~30MB becomes roughly 3MB. Resolution drops a little; the field of view is untouched and it is still a full sphere. Do not shrink or crop it yourself — a manual crop is what breaks the 2:1 ratio. |
| HEIC file rejected | iPhone’s default HEIC/HEIF format is commonly rejected by inspection platforms. | iPhone: Settings → Camera → Formats → “Most Compatible” to shoot JPG from now on. Re-save existing HEIC files as JPG before uploading. (Note that a phone photo is not a sphere anyway — see the next row.) |
| Looks perfect in the Insta360 app, flat in the report | The camera app renders the sphere from its own proprietary .insp data, so it looks right there even when the exported file is not equirectangular. The report can only use the file you uploaded. |
Ignore how it looks in the app. Judge the export by its pixel dimensions on disk, then re-export as Equirectangular if it is not 2:1. |
| Shot with phone panorama mode, will not spin | Phone panorama modes produce a curved strip, not a sphere. This is not fixable in software. | Use a dedicated 360 camera: Insta360 X3/X4/X5 or Ricoh Theta X/Z1. Nothing else produces a true equirectangular sphere. |
| Renamed the .insp to .jpg and it did not work | The .insp still contains two unstitched fisheye images. Renaming changes the extension, not the contents. |
Export properly through the Insta360 app or Insta360 Studio and choose Equirectangular. There is no generic converter shortcut. |
The one-line diagnostic. Open the file’s properties and read the two numbers. If the first is not almost exactly double the second, nothing else matters — re-export. If it is 2:1 and at least 2048 px wide and the badge still does not appear, the file is probably not a JPG (check for .heic or .insp hiding behind the icon).
Why it does not spin in the PDF
A PDF cannot run code. Spinning a panorama requires a live viewer redrawing the image as you drag, and there is nowhere in a PDF for that to happen. This is true of every vendor, without exception — if a platform tells you their PDF spins a sphere, they are mistaken.
In InspectorData the web report carries the interactive viewer, and the PDF shows the same photo flat with a 360 label so nothing is lost, it simply does not move. In practice this matters less than it sounds: clients open the web link, lenders and agents get the PDF.
How compression actually works here
360 files are large by nature. InspectorData compresses the image in the browser before it uploads, capping the width at 6000 pixels. A ~30MB file off an X4 lands at roughly 3MB.
The important part: this changes resolution only. It does not crop, it does not change the projection, and it does not touch the field of view. A compressed 360 is still a complete sphere — you can still look straight up at the ceiling and straight down at the floor. That is also why you should never pre-shrink a file yourself: hand-editing is where the exact 2:1 ratio gets lost.
Put a sphere in your next report
360° photo support is included on every InspectorData plan at no additional cost, with nothing to enable. Start a free trial and upload one today.
Start Your Free Trial See All FeaturesFrequently asked questions
What size do 360 photos need to be for an inspection report?
The image must be equirectangular, meaning exactly twice as wide as it is tall (a 2:1 aspect ratio), and at least 2048 pixels wide. InspectorData allows a tolerance of plus or minus 0.06 on that ratio, so a file that is very slightly off will still be accepted, but a cropped image will not. Typical valid sizes straight off a 360 camera are 11008×5504, 11904×5952, 6720×3360 and 4096×2048.
Why is my 360 photo not showing as a 360?
Almost always the export projection or a crop. Insta360 cameras save a proprietary .insp file, and when you export you must explicitly choose Equirectangular. A dual-fisheye export, or any crop or straightening, breaks the exact 2:1 ratio and no inspection platform will recognise the file as a sphere. Check the pixel dimensions of the file you actually uploaded: if the width is not almost exactly double the height, re-export it.
How do I convert an .insp file to a JPG?
You do not convert it with a generic image tool. Open the shot in the Insta360 phone app or the Insta360 Studio desktop app, choose Export, and select the Equirectangular projection. The app stitches the two fisheye halves into a single 2:1 JPG. Renaming a .insp file to .jpg does not work, because the file still contains unstitched dual-fisheye data.
Why is there no 360 badge on my uploaded photo?
The 360° VIEW badge appears only when the uploaded image is a valid equirectangular JPG at a 2:1 aspect ratio and at least 2048 pixels wide. If the badge is missing, the file itself is the problem, not a setting. Re-export from your camera app choosing Equirectangular, upload the untouched export, and the badge appears with no further action.
Can I use my iPhone panorama mode for a 360 photo?
No. Phone panorama modes produce a curved strip, not a true equirectangular sphere, so they will not open in a 360 viewer on any platform. You need a dedicated 360 camera such as an Insta360 X3, X4 or X5, or a Ricoh Theta X or Z1.
My photo is HEIC and it was rejected. What do I do?
HEIC and HEIF files from an iPhone are commonly rejected by inspection platforms. Shoot JPG instead: on the iPhone go to Settings, then Camera, then Formats, and choose Most Compatible. Existing HEIC files can be re-saved as JPG before upload.
My 360 file is 30MB. Is it too big to upload?
No. 360 panoramas commonly run 4 to 25MB and InspectorData compresses the image in the browser before upload, capping it at 6000 pixels wide. A roughly 30MB camera file becomes about 3MB while remaining a full sphere. Resolution drops slightly; the field of view is untouched, so the photo still spins in every direction.
It looks fine in the Insta360 app but flat in the report. Why?
The camera app renders the sphere from its own proprietary data, so it will always look correct there even when the exported file is not equirectangular. The report can only work with the file you uploaded. Judge the export by its pixel dimensions, not by how it looks inside the camera app.
Do 360 photos spin inside the PDF?
No, and no vendor can make them. A PDF cannot run the code required to spin a panorama. The web version of your report shows the interactive viewer; the PDF shows the same photo flat with a 360 label. This is a limitation of the PDF format itself.
Do I have to turn 360 photos on first?
In InspectorData, no. There is no 360 button and no setting to enable; a valid equirectangular file is detected automatically on upload. Other platforms differ. Spectora, for example, requires you to manually enable Allow 360 Photos under Settings and then Report Tools, and requires images at least 2000 pixels wide at a 2:1 ratio.
Related reading
- 360° photos are now live in InspectorData inspection reports — what the feature does, with a live panorama you can drag.
- The best 360 camera for home inspections — Insta360 vs Ricoh Theta, and why the export step decides it.
- Best home inspection software in 2026