In short
A photo straight from a phone is often several megabytes. To send it faster or store it in less space, it gets compressed. There are two basic kinds (Wikipedia: Image compression):
- Lossless: The file gets smaller but every bit of image data is kept. PNG is a common example.
- Lossy: Some data is thrown away for good, ideally in a way you barely notice. The best-known example is JPEG, introduced in 1992 and now the most widely used image format. Compress too hard and you get visible compression artefacts: fine detail turns mushy and smooth areas look blotchy.
Often the image is also scaled down, which lowers its resolution. Google Photos, for example, resizes photos larger than 16 megapixels to 16 megapixels in its "Storage saver" mode (Google Photos Help).
Photo: Vitaly Gariev / Unsplash
Example
After a 30th birthday party, everyone drops their pictures into the WhatsApp group. On a phone screen they look fine. Weeks later, the host orders a photo book and the group shots suddenly look soft and fuzzy. The reason: WhatsApp sends photos in "Standard quality" by default, meaning resized and compressed. An HD option arrived in 2023, but even HD photos are still compressed (PetaPixel). Since 2024 you can make HD the default under "Storage and data" in the settings (9to5Mac).
What to watch out for
- Collect originals for prints and photo books: Once a photo has been lossy-compressed, the lost detail can't be brought back. Ask guests for the original files, not forwarded chat images.
- Don't forward again and again: Every new lossy save can cost a little more detail.
- Check your settings: Messaging apps and cloud backups often let you choose, for example "HD" instead of "Standard", or "Original quality" instead of "Storage saver".
- Compression isn't the enemy: It makes sense for previews and quick sharing. What matters is that the original is kept somewhere.
With Filmriss
According to the FAQ, Filmriss gives you your photos in the original, not resized and not recompressed. The gallery shows quick previews, while downloads deliver the original files (Features). For how that differs from a group chat, see the WhatsApp group comparison, and for more tips read How to collect photos from guests.
