Recently, while working on one of my WordPress sites, I kept getting database errors every time I tried to upload a post. The weird thing was, this only happened on one of my three WordPress sites—all set up the same way through one-click installations. After some investigation, I discovered something interesting: the posts that failed always contained emojis.

🔍 Discovering the Problem

The error would simply say: “Updating failed. Could not update post in the database.” This was particularly frustrating because my other two WordPress sites handled emojis just fine. To figure out what was going on, I started with some basic testing:

• Created a simple post without emojis—it uploaded perfectly.
• Added a few emojis to the same post—the error returned immediately.
• Tried different types of emojis—same database error every time.

🧐 Finding the Root Cause

That’s when I started comparing my sites’ databases. I noticed my working sites used utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci collation, while the problematic site was stuck with utf8mb3_general_ci. This turned out to be the root of the problem. Modern emojis need four bytes of data storage (they’re technically called four-byte Unicode characters), but utf8mb3_general_ci can only handle three bytes.

🛠️ The Solution

The fix was actually pretty straightforward:

1. Logged into phpMyAdmin.
2. Updated the collation for both the database and all its tables to utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci.
3. Ran a database repair through phpMyAdmin.
4. Cleared both WordPress and server caches.

This newer collation supports four-byte characters, which means it can handle modern emojis without breaking. After making these changes, my posts with emojis uploaded perfectly.

💡 Tips for Troubleshooting

If you’re running into similar issues with your WordPress site, here’s what to check:

• Upload a test post without emojis first.
• If it works, check your database collation in phpMyAdmin.
• Look for utf8mb3_general_ci—this is likely your problem.
• Update to utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci.
• Don’t forget to repair your database and clear caches.

🎯 Key Takeaways

This might seem like a small issue, but it’s actually pretty common as WordPress sites get older or if they were set up with older installation tools. The good news is, once you know what to look for, it’s an easy fix that can save you hours of frustration.

Remember to always test your changes gradually and keep a backup of your database before making any modifications. While this fix is straightforward, it’s always better to be safe than sorry when working with database settings.