WhatsApp is known to heavily compress images when sending. For this reason, people tend to use other platforms to transfer full-size images, especially for images taken with high-resolution cameras or images with a lot of detail. Some people send images as documents if they know a workaround.
But with a new update, the messaging platform has officially fixed this shortcoming. The latest version of WhatsApp offers a new option to send photos in ‘HD’ resolution and promises HD video support soon.
To access this feature, you must first update WhatsApp to the latest version. Then follow the steps below.
1. Open WhatsApp and select the chat where you want to send the HD image. Tap the attachment icon (paperclip) and select the image you want to send.
2. At the top of the photo sharing screen, you’ll see a new “HD” button alongside other photo editing tools like rotate and crop. Tap the HD button to access photo quality options.
3. Standard quality is selected by default. This means that WhatsApp compresses your photos to make them smaller in file size and easier to send and receive.
4. If you want to send the photo in HD quality, tap HD quality instead. This preserves the original resolution and quality of the photo.
5. Hit send.
In the meantime, if you received an HD photo, you’ll see an HD label in the bottom left corner of the photo to indicate that. If you’re on a low-bandwidth connection and want to save data, you can choose the quality of individual photos.