WhatsApp now lets you send videos in HD

This is great news, though the resolution could still be higher.
 By 
Stan Schroeder
 on 
WhatsApp videos
You can now send both HD photos and HD videos on WhatsApp. Credit: SOPA/Getty Images

Just weeks after adding support for HD photos, Meta's WhatsApp now lets users send videos in HD resolution.

Once you've updated to the latest version of the app, if you try to send a video to someone, you'll see a new "HD" option on top. Tap on it, and you'll be able to choose between sending a "standard quality" video, which is typically 480p resolution, and "HD quality," meaning 720p resolution.

WhatsApp HD Video
Sorry, sending 4K videos is not supported. Credit: Stan Schroeder/WhatsApp

Unfortunately, you cannot send videos in quality higher than that; even if the source video is in full HD (1080p) or 4K (2160p) quality, the best WhatsApp will offer is still 720p resolution.


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While choosing the video quality, WhatsApp will warn you that standard quality videos use "less storage space" and are "faster to send." You'll also see the difference in file size for both options.

As is the case with sending HD photos, you cannot set HD quality to be on by default; you have to choose it manually every time you want to send a higher quality video.

Still, given that most phones these days take HD quality videos by default, it's nice to be able to preserve at least some of that quality while sending them over WhatsApp.

While I personally have both the HD photo and HD video sending options on iOS (with WhatsApp version 23.17.0), the company says that the features will be rolling out "over the coming weeks," so it may take some time until all users see them in their apps.

Topics WhatsApp

Stan Schroeder
Stan Schroeder
Senior Editor

Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.

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