Learn how to share WhatsApp photos and videos in their original resolution instead of compressed, lower-quality versions with fewer detail.
By default, WhatsApp on iOS and Android compresses and downscales media attachments to optimize bandwidth usage, send the file quickly, and take up less space. But don’t worry, you can send photos and videos on WhatsApp in a higher quality or even in the original resolutions, and we show you how.
Send WhatsApp photos and videos in the original quality
- Open a conversation inside WhatsApp on your iPhone and tap the plus button (+), followed by Document > Choose photo or video.
- Pick a photo or video to send without compression as a regular file attachment, like JPG. Keep in mind that WhatsApp will send your RAW photographs as DMG files instead of converting them to the JPG or HEIC image format.
Send high definition (HD) media on WhatsApp
- Open a WhatsApp chat on your phone, hit the plus button, and select Photos.
- Select an image and a video you want to send.
- Turn on the HD icon in the top-right corner of the media picker, then hit the arrow button in the bottom-right corner to send the media file in high definition.
The recipient sees an “HD” label on the attached media. This is a better-quality setting than the default, but the image is still downscaled compared to the original. If the HD icon is grayed out or hidden, the media attachment is smaller in size.
Sharing HD media over the cellular network may cause WhatsApp to show a prompt asking if you’d like to continue without Wi-Fi; hit “Continue” if you’d like to share the media via your carrier’s cellular network anyway.
The difference between standard and HD quality
Here’s how WhatsApp Help describes these two quality settings:
- Standard quality: Standard quality photos use less data and are sent faster than HD quality photos.
- HD quality: HD quality photos are clearer than standard quality photos but use more data and take longer to send.
I’ve tested what those settings mean regarding resolution and file size and determined that the Standard setting downscales images to 960×1280 or 1600×1200 pixels, giving you small file sizes and fast uploads at the expense of quality.
The HD option ensures that 12-megapixel shots taken on an iPhone are sent in the original 4032×3024 resolution.
As for those 48-megapixel photos (6048×8064) you took in the Apple ProRAW format, WhatsApp’s HD option will downscales them to 19 megapixels at 3840×5120 pixels. I also tested sending a 63-megapixel panoramic image (16346×3886) shot on my iPhone; the HD option has resized it down proportionally to 5120 pixels wide.
I was curious about the exact threshold that triggers downscaling, so I sent a 6048×6048 image with the HD option. The result? WhatsApp downscaled it to 5120×5120 pixels, which seems to be the maximum supported resolution for the high-quality option. To be clear, the HD option still applies compression and reduces resolution to save bandwidth as much as possible and keep file size down.
Sending full resolution media on WhatsApp
- Use Apple Files: Add the photo to video to the iOS Files app and then send it as a document via WhatsApp to retain original the original resolution and compression quality.
- Send as ZIP: Create a ZIP file of all the photos and videos you want to send and then send that ZIP file as an attachment on WhatsApp.
- Share a shared link: Instead of sharing the actual file, you can simply send a link to your image oniCloud Drive, Google Drive, or iCloud Photos.
- Change the file extension name: Lastly, you can change the file extension of a picture or video from “.jpg” or “.mp4” to “.pdf,” which will trick WhatsApp into thinking the file is a document, and thus it won’t compress or resize it. The recipient will need to change back the extension to view the media.
Also, check out: How to transfer all your WhatsApp chats and media from old iPhone to new iPhone or Android phone