WhatsApp Enables HD Image Delivery Features With Higher Quality

JAKJARTA - Meta Platform Inc., the company behind WhatsApp, announced that it is activating a feature that allows users to send images with higher quality or "HD" through the messaging platform.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced via the Meta broadcast channel on Instagram that, "Share photos on WhatsApp has just increased. Now you can send in HD format."

This feature will be available globally in the coming weeks, so users with this feature can send images with higher quality and resolution (possibly still compressed from the original) from Android devices, iOS, or the web.

Recipients on various platforms will see a small icon that indicates the image has HD quality. According to Meta, support for HD videos will come in the near future.

Once the user gets this new feature, they will see the "HD" icon when adding the image to the message conversation.

An example of using this feature has been shown in screenshots shared by WABetaInfo in beta. The publication notes that this feature was first introduced to beta users in version 23.11.0.76 for iOS and version 2.23.12.13 for Android.

In an example shown by WABetaInfo, the "photo quality" menu appears after clicking the HD icon. Users are given two resolution options: standard quality (1600 x 1052) and HD quality (4096 x 2692).

Meta hasn't provided specific details about how much image compression is overall and how the results compare to image delivery via Apple's iMessage or other competitor platforms. These higher-quality images will also remain subject to WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption standards.

On a slow connection, the receiver will be able to choose whether to stick to standard quality versions or improve to HD quality. In addition, standard quality shipments will remain the default option for the sender, which will reduce the possibility of the need to clean the phone's storage space after receiving too many images in the group chat.