WhatsApp size limits and how to beat them
WhatsApp re-compresses almost everything you send. Photos are scaled down to roughly 1600 pixels on the long edge and re-encoded around 70 percent JPG quality. Videos are re-encoded too, which is why a crisp clip arrives looking soft. Documents, however, travel untouched up to 2 GB.
The document trick
That last fact is the whole game. If you attach a photo or video as a document, using the paperclip and choosing Document instead of Gallery, WhatsApp sends the file byte for byte. The recipient gets the original quality. The only cost is that it shows as a file attachment rather than an inline preview.
Making files small before they go
- Photos to share casually: let WhatsApp compress them, it is fine for chat.
- Photos that must stay sharp, like documents or prints: compress them yourself to a sane size first, then send as a document. An 80 percent quality JPG at 2000 pixels wide is a fraction of the original and still crisp.
- Videos: re-encode to MP4 at 720p yourself, then send as a document. You control the quality instead of WhatsApp choosing for you.
- GIFs: WhatsApp converts them to video internally anyway, so sending a small MP4 gives the same looping result with better quality.
Status and profile media
Status videos are capped at 30 seconds per segment and compressed hard. Trim and pick your best half minute rather than letting WhatsApp cut arbitrarily. Profile photos become small squares, so crop to a square yourself to control the framing.
Everything you compress here stays on your device, which matters when the file is a scan of a contract rather than a meme.