WhatsApp Now Lets You Send Photos and Video in Original Quality

WhatsApp is rolling out a new option that lets users on iPhone share photos and video over the messaging platform in their original quality.

Whatsapp Feature
As spotted by WABetaInfo, the official changelog included with WhatsApp's 23.24.73 update on the App Store says that users can now "easily send original quality media as a file."

The update follows a recent feature addition that lets WhatsApp users send media in high resolution or "HD quality." While that was an improvement that addressed the service's low quality media sharing limitation, it still involves compression.

whatsapp share media files
WhatsApp's latest feature avoids compression altogether by allowing photos and video to be shared as files, thereby preserving their original quality. WhatsApp's changelog adds that the new option is rolling out "over the coming weeks," so some users may not immediately see it on their device.

  1. Open an existing chat in WhatsApp or start a new one.
  2. Tap the + icon, left of the text input field.
  3. Tap Document ➝ Choose Photo or Video.
  4. Choose the media that you want to send, then confirm by tapping the blue arrow. Note the 2GB limit on the files that can be sent using the feature.

whatsapp

When the files are sent, previews of the media are not shown in the chat window, but the recipient can tap the files to view them. WhatsApp has also been testing the same feature for Android, although there isn't any further information about when it will become available.

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Top Rated Comments

Kylo83 Avatar
27 months ago
Yeah it’s been there for ages doing that it’s not new, not sure why they now put it in the release notes
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Populus Avatar
27 months ago
I wonder when we’ll be finally able to use usernames instead of our phone number… I don’t like to share my number with anyone I want to text with.

I know the feature is planned, but it seems it’s taking longer than expected.

I’d gladly use Telegram but here in my country few people use it.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
one more Avatar
27 months ago
This could already be done for a while, by choosing to send a Document > File and then attaching an original uncompressed photo or video.

How is this different?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
infinitedreams Avatar
27 months ago

Yeah it’s been there for ages doing that it’s not new, not sure why they now put it in the release notes
They've been too busy fixing a slowdown bug in the last 5 updates.



Attachment Image
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Seanm87 Avatar
27 months ago
Why don't they, I don't know, just share the original image like how it is on iMessage?
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TechRemarker Avatar
27 months ago

Kind of a weird implementation. It's not obvious to choose "Documents" on an intuitive level. It should just be an option upon selecting photos/video.

Also, I really hope that someday they move the "typing" indicator to a more natural spot like other messenger apps. Meaning, at the bottom of the chat. The eye is already naturally down there.
Agreed. Though when sharing the normal photo method it strips all meta data using the document method includes meta data so they probably don’t want that the default. Would love it to work the normal way but just an option per contact on whether to include the meta data.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)