WhatsApp finally lets you send higher resolution photos

Vlad, 17 August 2023

One of the main downsides of sending photos through WhatsApp is the processing that goes on, lowering their size, resolution, and quality significantly (and very visibly). This, however, is finally going to be a thing of the past. At least the low-resolution aspect, that is. Way overdue, but finally, here are "HD photos".

WhatsApp finally lets you send higher quality photos

In WhatsApp speak, "HD" in this case means the full resolution of the image. You also have the default "Standard" quality option for less storage and quicker transfer, which will halve the resolution. Pixel amount is one thing, compression is another - and WhatsApp has stayed mum on the latter, not revealing how much it will apply even to those "HD" photos. Still, at least they will now be higher-resolution, which will still make them look better.

There's a new HD icon, and when you press it, you'll be able to select between the aforementioned two quality presets. All of the images will still be end-to-end encrypted, HD or not.

WhatsApp finally lets you send higher quality photos

The new feature is rolling out to all users worldwide currently, but the rollout is expected to take a few weeks to reach everyone. Support for "HD" videos will follow soon after.

Source 1 | Source 2


Reader comments

  • Anonymous
  • 06 Sep 2023
  • 3pE

Thanks for your answer! 👍

A 2.25 MB selfie of 8MP (3264x2448) was sent as 417 KB file. (5.39 times less) Talking of my main camera of 12 Megapixels (4032x3024):- A 5.68MB photo became 1.43MB. (3.97 times less) A 6.89MB photo became 1.87MB. (3.68 times less) A littl...

  • Anonymous
  • 03 Sep 2023
  • 3pE

Can you comment on file size too, how much smaller than normal phone camera jpg's are the files after sending over whatsapp?

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