Facebook Messenger just made sharing photos way better
Facebook just made Messenger a much better place to share photos.
The messaging app will now support photo-sharing at 4k resolutions, meaning high resolution photos sent within the app will look much sharper than before.
With the change, photos up to 4096 x 4096 pixels will appear in full fidelity or, according to Facebook, "the highest quality many smartphones support." Previously, Messenger compressed very high resolution photos, causing the image quality to degrade.
The change is rolling out to Messenger now, though you may have to look closely at your smartphone screen to notice it. Here's an example, provided by Messenger, of the difference 4k resolution makes.
Though the difference may be difficult to discern on a smartphone display, open that photo on a laptop and you'll easily be able to pick out the difference in sharpness.
For users, the change means that Messenger is suddenly a much better platform to swap photos with your friends, since you no longer have to sacrifice resolution.
Messenger users are already exchanging 17 billion photos a month, according to the company, so it's certainly a change that will affect a lot of people.
Topics Facebook Social Media
Karissa was Mashable's Senior Tech Reporter, and is based in San Francisco. She covers social media platforms, Silicon Valley, and the many ways technology is changing our lives. Her work has also appeared in Wired, Macworld, Popular Mechanics, and The Wirecutter. In her free time, she enjoys snowboarding and watching too many cat videos on Instagram. Follow her on Twitter @karissabe.
