In what could be a significant development for its users, WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature that could greatly improve the quality of shared media. While the platform did offer last year the functionality for sharing photos and later on videos in high definition, the selection was still required to be made by the user with every upload. This is what irritated many who prefer the clarity and details that HD has to offer in comparison with standard definition.
Now, following reports highlighted by Android Police, it is testing a feature for setting HD quality as default for every kind of media upload in the latest beta version. This update would smoothen it by making sure that one does not have to memorize to toggle HD mode every time one sends a photo or video.
How It Works
This new feature can be found under the “Storage and data” option in WhatsApp’s “Settings” menu. One can get that option to change to either SD or HD under “Media upload quality.” When the user selects HD, photos and videos transmitted over WhatsApp will have high-definition clarity and more finely detailed descriptions, increasing the clarity of the content.
While it might sound very attractive to many, blurring out the prospect of a default HD quality, WhatsApp is quite clear when it comes to the potential drawbacks. In cases where a user chooses to upload in HD, the file size could increase, thereby slowing down the upload speed. Additionally, the data used in sending HD Media through mobile networks may increase manifold as compared to their SD uploads. WhatsApp recognizes that HD photos and videos can be up to six times bigger than the SD alternative and bring with them an increased data cost for mobile users whose plans do not include unlimited data.
Worth noting is that this feature applies only to media uploads and does not extend to status updates within the app. Right now, being in beta means the HD default option is still being tested by a small slice of users. No word on a full rollout to all WhatsApp users, but its appearance in beta suggests a full release isn’t too far off.
 video uploads as the default in the latest beta version of the app.){kind=link}