How to Post a TikTok on Instagram Without Copyright

Posting your awesome TikTok to Instagram Reels seems like a great move until a copyright flag takes it down, or the algorithm buries it for having a watermark. You're not alone in facing this frustration. This guide will walk you through exactly how to share your TikTok content on Instagram safely, covering everything from music rights to formatting, so you can maximize your reach without the headaches.

Why Does Copyright Matter When Reposting Your TikToks?

When your repurposed video gets flagged, muted, or removed, it usually comes down to one big problem: the music. Even if you made the video, you almost never own the rights to the audio track you used. It might seem like just a popular sound clip, but there's a complex web of licensing agreements at play behind the scenes that can trip you up.

The Problem With Licensed Music

TikTok has large-scale licensing agreements with major record labels that allow its creators to use millions of popular songs in their content. However, these agreements are exclusive to TikTok. The permission to use a trending song doesn’t travel with your video file when you download it.

Instagram has its own set of licensing deals with music publishers. Its powerful content scanning system, similar to YouTube's Content ID, can instantly detect commercial music that isn't covered by its own licenses. When you upload a video that contains audio licensed for TikTok, Instagram's system sees it as unlicensed media and automatically takes action to remove or mute it to protect itself from copyright infringement liability. So, even though you have permission on one platform, you don’t have it on the other.

What About "Original Audio"?

If you're using your own voice or a completely unique sound you created, you generally won't have copyright issues with the audio itself - you're the copyright holder. The bigger issue in this case becomes the visible TikTok watermark, which other platforms, specifically Instagram, tend to penalize. Their algorithms are designed to promote native content, and a competitor's logo is a clear signal that the content was made for another app, potentially limiting its reach on Reels.

The Professional Workflow: Edit Separately, Post Natively

The single best way to avoid copyright issues and make the algorithms happy is to change the way you produce your content. Instead of creating your final video inside of TikTok or Instagram, you should create a "master" version in an outside app. This clean, watermark-free video can then be uploaded to and customized for each platform.

It sounds more complicated than it is. Here’s a simple, step-by-step process that professionals use:

Step 1: Record Your Raw Video Clips

Shoot your footage using your phone's native camera app. This gives you the highest quality clips to work with and ensures you're not locked into any single platform's ecosystem from the start. Treat these raw clips as your building blocks.

Step 2: Edit Your Video in a Third-Party App

Use a mobile video editor to assemble your content. Apps like CapCut, InShot, or even Adobe Premiere Rush are perfect for this. In this step, you should:

• Trim your clips and arrange them in the correct order.
• Add any text overlays or captions you want to appear in the video itself.
• Apply color corrections or filters.
• Add transitions between clips.

The goal is to export a finished video file that has everything except the music. At this stage, your video is completely agnostic and ready for any platform. Think of it as your "clean master export."

Step 3: Upload the Clean Video to TikTok and Add Music

Now, open TikTok. Instead of recording, upload the clean video file you just created. From there, use TikTok's native tools for the finishing touches:

• Add Audio: Choose a trending song or sound directly from TikTok's licensed audio library. Now, the music you use is fully permitted for that platform.
• Final Touches: Add any TikTok-specific stickers, polls, or special effects that are popular on the app.
• Post: Write your caption with TikTok-relevant hashtags and post it.

Step 4: Upload the *Same* Clean Video to Instagram Reels

Next, open Instagram and head to Reels. Just like you did with TikTok, upload that same "clean master export" you made in the editing app. And just like before, use the native tools to finish editing:

• Add Audio: Find a licensed song inside Instagram's music library. Often, you can find the very same trending track you used on TikTok, but by sourcing it from Instagram, you’re using *their* licensed version, not TikTok's. This keeps you 100% compliant.
• Customize for Reels: Adjust the positioning of any text to make sure it isn't covered by the Instagram UI. Add Reels-specific stickers or interactive elements if you wish.
• Post: Update the caption and hashtags to be relevant for your Instagram audience and hit publish.

This "shoot once, post twice natively" approach is the gold standard. It guarantees you will never face a music copyright strike, it avoids penalized watermarks, and it tailors your content to each platform, giving it the best possible chance to perform well everywhere.

Already Posted on TikTok? How to Repost It to Instagram

Sometimes you’ve already created a masterpiece inside of TikTok and don't have the original, clean files. It happens. While it's not the ideal situation, you still have options for getting it onto Instagram. You'll just need to handle two main obstacles: the watermark and the audio.

Step 1: Download the Video Without the Watermark

First, you need a version of your video without the TikTok watermark. Instagram has publicly stated its recommendation algorithm de-prioritizes visibly recycled content. While your video won't get removed for a watermark, its chances of being shown to new users on the Explore page or Reels tab will likely be reduced.

You can use a variety of free online services for this. Simply search for a "TikTok downloader without watermark" and you will find several websites and apps where you can paste your TikTok link to download a clean MP4 file.

Just a friendly warning: you should only ever do this for content that you created. Removing another creator's watermark and passing their work off as your own is a serious infringement and against the terms of service on both platforms.

Step 2: Solve the Audio Problem

Once you have the watermark-free video, you still have the embedded sound. Just because the watermark is gone doesn't mean the potential music licensing issue is, too. Here are a couple of ways to handle it.

Solution A: The 'Rip and Replace' Method (Safest)

This is the most reliable way to avoid a copyright strike. It's especially effective if the video doesn't rely on being perfectly synced to a specific sound.

1. Upload your watermark-free video to Instagram Reels.
2. Before sharing, tap the "Audio" or music note icon in the editor.
3. Go to "Controls" and slide the "Original audio" toggle all the way to 0. This mutes the downloaded TikTok sound.
4. Now, go back and add a new track from Instagram's native music library.

Your video is now using 100% licensed audio from Instagram, solving the copyright problem entirely. The obvious downside is that if your video was part of a lip-syncing trend or an intricately edited dance challenge, replacing the original audio might make it completely nonsensical.

Solution B: Check if the Audio Exists on Instagram First

If your TikTok absolutely needs its original audio, a little bit of homework can save you a headache. Before downloading anything, look at the sound on TikTok. Then, open Instagram Reels and search in the music sticker for that exact same artist and song title.

If you find an official version in Instagram's library, you know you have a safe replacement track waiting for you. You can confidently use the 'Rip and Replace' method knowing you can swap in the correct song. If you can't find it, posting the video with its original downloaded sound carries a significant risk of being muted or taken down.

Quick Tips for Winning on Both Platforms

To really maximize your efforts, keep a few best practices in mind when you’re repurposing your short-form video content.

• Always use native audio. We've said it a few times, but it's the single most important rule. Source your music from the library of the platform where you're posting.
• Mind the user interface. The locations for captions, buttons, and usernames are different on TikTok and Instagram. When adding text overlays, keep them near the center of the screen to avoid being covered up by UI elements on either app.
• Adapt your captions and hashtags. The caption style that works on TikTok might feel out of place on Instagram. Adjust your descriptions, calls to action, and hashtags to fit the audience and conventions of each platform. Community norms are different everywhere.
• Post at the right time for each audience. Your followers on TikTok might be most active at a different time than your Instagram audience. You can schedule your posts for peak engagement times on each platform separately to get the best results.

Final Thoughts

The safest and most effective strategy for sharing your content across platforms is to produce a clean, "master" version in an outside editor and then add native text and licensed music within each app. This simple workflow shift keeps you 100% copyright compliant and helps you create content that each platform's algorithm is eager to promote.

Managing this multi-step process for every video across every platform can get complicated and feel repetitive over time. That's why at Postbase, we built our platform from the ground up for modern, video-first workflows. It lets you upload a clean video file once, then customize captions and schedule it for TikTok, Reels, YouTube Shorts, and more, all from a single place. Planning our entire content strategy in one visual calendar makes it simple to stay consistent, and our reliability means our accounts stay connected and posts go live when they're supposed to - things we found frustratingly difficult with older, legacy tools.