WhatsApp changes the sending of images. A new menu has appeared in the application.
Last August, WhatsApp introduced a feature highly requested by many users. Instead of sending reduced and heavily compressed images and videos, it allowed the sending of high-resolution media. However, users had to manually choose the resolution for each file, which was not very convenient. WhatsApp seems to have realized this and will allow you to set a default resolution for all images and videos.
The new beta version of WhatsApp for Android 2.24.7.17 introduces a new function to manage the quality of sending media. This feature was designed to give users more control over their sharing. A new “Media Upload Quality” option has appeared in the Storage & Data menu, where users can choose whether they want to continue sending all media in standard compressed quality or HD quality.
However, WhatsApp warns that sending HD media will be slower and that such media can be up to six times larger than compressed standard quality. The option on the media sharing screen will therefore be retained, so you can send certain files in a different quality than the default if necessary.
The Media Upload Quality Management feature is available to select beta testers who install the latest WhatsApp beta update for Android from the Google Play Store. In the coming days, once WhatsApp fine-tunes the feature, it is expected to be rolled out to other users. Its availability date on iPhone is unclear at this stage.
However, it would have been more practical to offer more adjustment possibilities to users. For example, the ability to separately adjust the quality of images and videos. Which would have made it possible to send photos in HD quality and compress large videos.
Finally, it is important to note that even the HD quality setting does not allow media to be directly shared in their original quality, including EXIF data from photos. If you want to keep them, you should not share them as photos and videos, but send them via WhatsApp as documents.