HD photos are coming to WhatsApp, and videos will be next

WhatsApp, one of the most popular messaging and voice/video applications in the world, announced that it’s rolling out the option to send photos in HD quality. And according to Meta, videos will receive the same treatment later down the line.

According to the announcement made through Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s broadcast channel on Instagram, “Sharing photos on WhatsApp just got an upgrade. Now you can send in HD.” The new feature will be rolled out worldwide over the next several weeks, with the option to send HD photos on Android, iOS, or the desktop version. Recipients will know it’s HD by the icon highlighted at the top of the screen.

Photos from WABetaInfo (seen above) back when this feature was still in beta show how the formatting will look after it officially rolls out. When tapping the HD icon, two resolution options will appear: standard quality (1600 x 1052) and HD quality (4096 x 2692). And the HD images will still have the end-to-end encryption that WhatsApp is known for.

Recipients can choose between keeping standard quality photos or upgrading to HD quality, which is a relief for those on slower connections. And for those worried about storage space issues that could arise from too many HD photos sent, standard quality will remain the default for senders.

WhatsApp’s HD upgrade is late but still great 

It’s almost shocking that with all the WhatsApp quality of life changes and updates  over the years, the option to send photos and eventually videos in HD is only coming to users now. Sending high-quality photos seems to be such a no-brainer in terms of enhancements, but it’s better late than never.

And this isn’t the first time that a company looked over such an obvious and oft-requested feature either. Back in April 2023, Discord announced that it would be raising the upload limit from 8MB to 25MB, which was in response to images and file sizes becoming larger over time.

And unlike many other applications, WhatsApp is a completely free-to-use service with zero paywalls for any of its features. So any updates it receives will be available to its over two billion user base. Features like transferring chat logs, sending video messages, allowing the app to edit and add new contacts, and more. 

So hopefully we’ll be seeing more of these kinds of upgrades to sent content, keeping WhatsApp current with the quickly moving times.

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