WhatsApp users can now set HD quality as default for photos

WhatsApp last year introduced the option to let users send “HD photos,” keeping their original resolution with lower compression. However, users had to choose the HD option every time they sent a photo to someone – but not anymore. That’s because WhatsApp is rolling out a new option to set the option to send HD photos as the default.

As noted by Matt Navarra, both iOS and Android users can now set HD quality as the default for sending high-resolution media on WhatsApp. The option can be found under the Storage and Data menu in WhatsApp’s settings.

While Standard quality reduces photos taken with an iPhone to 960×1280 pixels, HD quality keeps the image at its original resolution of 3024×4032 pixels. Of course, there’s still some compression even when sending an image with the HD option turned on, but the result is much less aggressive than before.

Also last year, WhatsApp later introduced a similar option, but for videos. When enabled, WhatsApp sends videos in 720p resolution rather than 480p. The resolution is still much lower than 1080p or 4K, but better than SD quality. It’s worth noting that the new setting for choosing the default quality also applies to videos.

More about the app

In order to get access to these features, make sure you have the latest version of WhatsApp installed on your device. WhatsApp is available for free on the App Store. Keep in mind that it may take some time for the new feature to show up on your device.