WhatsApp is a popular messaging app used by over 2 billion people worldwide to communicate and share media with friends, family and coworkers. One of the great features of WhatsApp is the ability to send and receive videos. However, one common complaint is that WhatsApp compresses videos when sending, which can reduce video quality.
In this article, we’ll explain why WhatsApp compresses videos, the impact compression has on video quality, and most importantly, how to stop WhatsApp from compressing videos when sending so you can maintain maximum video quality.
Why Does WhatsApp Compress Videos?
WhatsApp compresses videos sent through the app to reduce file size and make transferring videos quicker and more data efficient.
Here are the key reasons why WhatsApp compresses videos:
– Reduce file size – Uncompressed videos can be very large in file size. By compressing videos, WhatsApp can dramatically shrink the file size, making videos faster to send and taking up less data.
– Quicker transfer speeds – Smaller video file sizes also mean faster transfer speeds. Compressed videos will send quicker than uncompressed original files.
– Manage data usage – Video compression helps manage cellular and WiFi data consumption as smaller files use less data when sending or receiving. This is important for users with limited data plans.
– Support older phones – Very large, uncompressed video files may have issues sending or receiving on older phones with less storage and slower processors. Compression allows more devices to support video sharing.
So in summary, WhatsApp uses video compression as an optimization to provide a better user experience, especially for those on limited data plans or with older phones. But this comes at the cost of reduced video quality.
How Does Video Compression Impact Quality?
The video compression methods used by WhatsApp dramatically reduce video file size, but this also degrades the visual quality. Here are some of the ways compression can impact video quality:
– Reduction in resolution – Resolution is decreased to reduce file size, resulting in a less crisp, sharp image.
– Lower frame rate – Frames per second are lowered, potentially resulting in choppier motion.
– Compression artifacts – Pixelation, color banding and other visual artifacts from aggressive compression algorithms.
– Loss of detail – Fine details can be smeared or blurred through compression.
– Reduced color depth – The color palette can be limited, resulting in color banding and reduced color accuracy.
– Increased noise – Image noise, grain and speckling may be more prominent.
So while the original video may have been captured in 1080p or 4K resolution, compression can downgrade the resolution significantly, sometimes as low as 360p on WhatsApp. The level of compression and impact to quality depends on the video length, frame rate and original file size. But typically expect noticeably lower quality than the original source video.
What Are WhatsApp’s Video Compression Settings?
When you send a video through WhatsApp, the app will compress and downsample the video to a file size and resolution that depends on the length of the video. Here are WhatsApp’s video compression settings:
For videos under 16MB:
– Resolution: 480p
– Bitrate: Up to 12mbps
– File size: No compression
For videos over 16MB:
– Resolution: From 480p to as low as 160p
– Bitrate: 100kbps to 250kbps
– Maximum file size: 16MB
As you can see, once videos exceed 16MB in their original file size, WhatsApp will aggressively compress them down to tiny file sizes of just 16MB. Resolution can be reduced down to as low as 160p for longer videos. This results in significant quality loss.
But for smaller video files under 16MB, WhatsApp will maintain 480p resolution while reducing bitrate, resulting in minor quality loss.
So if you want to maintain quality when sharing videos over WhatsApp, the key is keeping the original video file size under 16MB before sending.
Should I Care About WhatsApp Compression?
Whether or not WhatsApp’s compression matters depends on your priorities and the purpose of sharing the videos:
Reasons you may want to disable compression:
– You want to showcase videos in the highest quality possible
– You want to show fine details in your videos
– You are sharing professionally produced content
– You are sending videos for review where quality matters
Reasons compression may not matter:
– You just want to share casual everyday videos
– Your priority is being able to send videos fast for viewing on phones
– You want to minimize data usage when transferring videos
– The viewer is only interested in the general content, not quality
So if you have videos where quality is important, such as content you created professionally or want to showcase in the best light, then WhatsApp’s compression will degrade the visuals. In that case, it’s worth exploring ways to disable compression which we’ll cover next.
But if you just want to send casual videos to friends where perfect quality doesn’t matter, then the compression may be acceptable to benefit from the faster sending and smaller file sizes.
How to Stop WhatsApp from Compressing Videos
Luckily, there are some workarounds to prevent WhatsApp from compressing your videos when you want to maintain the highest quality and original resolution. Here are the main options:
1. Use WhatsApp Business
WhatsApp Business accounts do not compress videos and photos. So creating a WhatsApp Business profile and sending your videos from there will prevent compression.
The downside is you’ll have to ask your recipients to save your Business contact instead of your personal number. But videos sent from Business accounts stay original quality.
2. Use a Third-Party Service
There are apps and services that can facilitate sending uncompressed videos up to 2GB in size. Options like WeTransfer, Dropbox, Google Drive or Evernote will host your video for sharing and bypass WhatsApp compression.
The limitation is the recipient then needs to download the video from the third-party service instead of directly in WhatsApp. But the quality will remain unchanged.
3. Break Video into Parts
Remember WhatsApp only compresses videos over 16MB. So you can split your video into segments under 16MB using video editing software and send each part individually without compression.
The recipient would need to download each part and then merge them back together. It’s more work but will maintain quality.
4. Lower Bitrate Before Sending
Using video editing software, lower the bitrate of your video to reduce file size under 16MB before sending through WhatsApp. Resolution can be maintained while visibly shrinking the file.
This approach minimizes quality loss compared to WhatsApp’s brutal compression. But you’ll need video editing knowledge to carefully reduce the bitrate and optimize the video for under 16MB.
5. Send a Link to the Video
Instead of sending the actual video file through WhatsApp, you can upload the video privately on YouTube or another host and send a link to the recipient. They can then view the uncompressed original quality version through your link.
The limitation here is the extra steps for the recipient to follow the link and stream the video instead of having it directly in WhatsApp. But the quality will be preserved.
6. Use WhatsApp Web
Interestingly, videos sent through the WhatsApp Web browser interface do not get compressed. So using WhatsApp Web on your computer allows you to send original quality uncompressed video files through WhatsApp.
The only catch is of course the recipient would need to be viewing WhatsApp Web as well to download the uncompressed video. But it works as a quality preserving option between two WhatsApp Web users.
Best Practices for Sending High Quality Videos
To summarize, here are some best practices for preserving video quality when sending through WhatsApp:
– Use WhatsApp Business if possible to avoid compression entirely.
– Split larger videos into segments under 16MB before sending.
– Lower the bitrate of videos above 16MB to shrink file size before sending.
– Use a third-party service like Google Drive to send uncompressed videos up to 2GB.
– Send a YouTube link to the original quality version rather than the file.
– Only send through WhatsApp Web to another WhatsApp Web user.
– For highest quality, avoid sending over WhatsApp and use file sharing services without compression.
Can You Adjust WhatsApp’s Video Compression Settings?
Unfortunately, WhatsApp’s compression settings are not adjustable within the app’s settings. The video resolution, bitrate and maximum file sizes are hardcoded defaults by WhatsApp.
There is no setting to toggle compression on or off, nor adjust the resolution or bitrate settings for video transfers.
The only way to alter the compression settings is by pre-processing your videos with video editing software before sending through WhatsApp as explained in the previous sections above.
Does WhatsApp Compress Photos?
Fortunately, while WhatsApp compresses videos, photos sent through WhatsApp Messenger are not compressed.
WhatsApp preserves full resolution on photos up to 12MP resolution. As long as your photo is 12MP or lower resolution, it will transfer in original quality when sending through WhatsApp.
Higher resolution photos over 12MP will be downscaled to 12MP, but no compression or optimization is applied. So photo quality should remain high.
The one exception is WhatsApp Status photos which do undergo compression. But otherwise photos in chats and the gallery will remain original quality.
So while WhatsApp’s video compression causes quality concerns, you do not need to worry about photos being compressed or degraded in quality when sharing through the app thankfully.
Does WhatsApp Have a Minimum Video Resolution?
While WhatsApp compresses larger videos above 16MB down to as low as 160p resolution, there technically is no minimum video resolution enforced.
Even very small resolution video files will send through WhatsApp without upscaling. For example, you can send a very small 64×64 resolution video and WhatsApp will retain the tiny dimension without resizing.
Of course, such small resolution video would appear extremely pixelated, blurry and distorted when expanded to a phone screen. So there is no minimum, but very low resolutions below 480p will look quite bad.
Generally 480p is considered the minimum resolution for decent looking video, so WhatsApp won’t scale up lower resolution files but the quality would be unusable at resolutions below 480p realistically.
Can You Send Original Quality Videos through WhatsApp?
While WhatsApp will always compress videos over 16MB, smaller video files can transfer in original quality without compression:
– Videos below 16MB will send in 480p resolution without optimization.
– Videos below 3MB can send in original resolution up to 720p HD.
So for short video clips only a few megabytes in size, it is possible to send them through WhatsApp in untouched original quality. The key is keeping them under 3MB for HD or under 16MB for 480p.
For longer videos, compression and quality loss will be unavoidable. So shorter video clips have the best chance of maintaining full untouched quality when sending through WhatsApp.
Conclusion
WhatsApp’s compression and downscaling of videos over 16MB can significantly impact quality, especially for longer videos. There are workarounds such as using WhatsApp Business, third-party services, editing software tricks and WhatsApp Web to maintain quality.
But the simplest option is keeping video clips shorter than 16MB before sending through WhatsApp mobile app. For the highest quality and uncompressed videos, avoid WhatsApp and use other file sharing services without restrictions. But with the proper workflow, WhatsApp can still be used to send decent quality small video files in original form without compromise.