WhatsApp getting a video quality upgrade
WhatsApp has started rolling out a feature that allows users of its beta Android app to send higher-quality videos, WABetaInfo reports.
The publication recently reported that an “HD” setting for photos was being rolled out to WhatsApp Android beta testers.
With WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.23.14.10, select users have been given the ability to use a similar setting for sending videos.
WhatsApp’s fairly aggressive media compression helps to send files more quickly while consuming less mobile data.
However, it radically reduces the quality of the media, a point of pain for multimedia creators who want their content to retain its original quality.
Like the HD option for photos, the feature for video sharing strikes a balance between quality and efficiency.
It keeps the resolution of the original video but still applies some compression to keep the file size relatively small.
The setting is currently available in the media editor.
In the example shown by WABetaInfo, a 30-second clip with the existing standard quality option was compressed to 6.3MB and a resolution of 416 x 880. That would work out to a pixel count of 366,080.
The HD quality option was roughly double the size — 12MB — and measured 608 x 1,296, with a total pixel count of 787,968.
While we could not see the differences for ourselves, they should have been relatively noticeable, given the pixel count on the latter was over double that of the first clip.
When a user sends a video with the HD quality option, a watermark will be shown on the video within the conversation.
WABetaInfo expects the feature to roll out to more users over the coming weeks.
The screenshot below from WABetaInfo shows the standard/HD quality switching feature in the beta version of the app.
Now read: WhatsApp shuts down original desktop app
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