WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that allows users to set HD quality as the default for sending photos and videos in chats. This update is available to both iOS and Android users. To enable high-resolution media uploads, users can navigate to the ‘Storage and Data’ section in WhatsApp’s settings and select ‘HD quality’ as the media upload quality.
In the past, selecting HD quality for each photo or video sent was a manual process. Now, this setting can be preset, simplifying media sharing. WhatsApp initially introduced the ability to send HD photos last year and later expanded this option to include videos, enhancing their resolution from 480p to 720p. However, HD quality is not available for profile pictures and status updates.
HD quality means that images are shared at their original resolution of 3024×4032 pixels, whereas Standard quality compresses iPhone photos to 960×1280 pixels. Although compression occurs when sharing over WhatsApp, the HD setting maintains a higher quality than Standard. Users should be mindful of their data usage and storage, as higher resolution files consume more data and storage space and may take longer to upload on slower internet connections. The maximum file size for video sharing over WhatsApp is 64MB.
To access this feature, users must either install the latest version of WhatsApp or update their existing app. However, the feature may not be immediately available and could take some time to appear on users’ devices.
