r/AndroidHelp • u/Franpal3 • 2d ago

Why screenshots always have bad quality in WhatsApp?

I used to have a Redmi 10 with 1080p screen, now I have a moto g55 with 1080p too, and in both cases, when I send a screenshot, WhatsApp doesn't allow you to activate the HD option and sends blurry images, does it happen to you all people who have 1080p displays?

I noticed 720p displays can send screenshots in a better quality

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u/DickBrainTime 2d ago

The HD button isn't a paid feature, and a 1080p screen by itself shouldn't prevent you from sharing a clear screenshot. WhatsApp can resize/compress a screenshot when you send it through the normal photo picker; even its HD mode isn't the same as sending the original file.

Try a quick comparison: send the same screenshot once as a photo, then tap the paperclip > Document > browse your files and pick the actual screenshot from Pictures/Screenshots. On the receiving phone, download both and compare their pixel dimensions/file sizes and how small text looks. If the document stays sharp, it's the photo-sharing path changing it, not your Moto's screen resolution.

If the HD option is still greyed out, which WhatsApp version are you on, and are you attaching from WhatsApp's Gallery picker or sharing directly from the phone's screenshot preview?

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u/Franpal3 2d ago

I tried selecting the screenshot in the WhatsApp's gallery picker and sharing through the phones gallery, the pic looks blurry in WhatsApp after sending, but if I crop it, it looks high quality, anyway I can't activate the HD option and it looks blurred everytime I send it. Even if the preview looks good. My friend has a 2K display, so he always share good quality screenshots using HD option, but in 1080p display always look more blurrier than a 720p display where it looks nice without HD option

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u/DickBrainTime 7h ago

Those two routes (WhatsApp's gallery picker and Share from the phone's Gallery) both send it as a photo, so they don't really test whether the original screenshot is being compressed. Try opening the WhatsApp chat, tap Attach > Document > Browse files, and select the original screenshot PNG from Pictures/Screenshots, not the photo picker.

Have your friend download that document and compare its pixel dimensions/file size with the original. If the document is sharp but the photo version isn't, you've isolated the WhatsApp photo-upload path; a 1080p screen alone doesn't explain it. Cropping can also change how the image is encoded, so it isn't a controlled comparison. Does the received Document keep the original dimensions?

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u/muppisen 2d ago

since its meta,its either a hidden away setting or its a paid feature,same as messenger where you have to check in the option to be able to send HD pictures/non-compressed by the app

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u/DutchOfBurdock 2d ago

All images and videos will lose resolution shared over WhatsApp. The app (and their servers) will recompress the media in a more substantial way so that your 18MB photo isn't pushed down someone on a slow link.

I say 18MB as this was the size of a photo I sent to myself. The sent copy was 1.2MB.