Android users on WhatsApp have always had the option to send uncompressed videos and images through the document attachment option to reserve quality, but this feature has been surprisingly lacking on the iPhone side. This limitation has been finally addressed by WhatsApp.
The latest iOS update for WhatsApp introduces a feature allowing users to send images and videos in their original, uncompressed quality. This new option differs from the previously added HD quality feature, which minimally compresses files to maintain better quality.
To utilize this feature, users must select the ‘send Documents’ option, where they’ll find the ability to send photos or videos alongside other files in their native quality. However, WhatsApp imposes a 2 GB size limit on files sent without compression, meaning you can’t get carried away sending lengthy 4K or 8K footage through WhatsApp without getting it compressed.
This functionality, having undergone extensive testing, was officially released to all users this week. It’s a much-anticipated update, especially considering rival platforms like Telegram have offered this feature for several years. Currently, this update is exclusive to iOS users, since Android users were already able to send files through the document attachment option to avoid compression.
Some reports from earlier this year claimed that WhatsApp is planning to add a lossless media-sending option through the gallery as well, but we are yet to see such an update on the beta platform. Updates that usually make it to the stable version of WhatsApp typically appear on the app’s beta version first.