Share Photos Without Losing Quality
The photo you send is almost never the photo that arrives. Messaging apps re-compress on the way through, and the copy at the other end is a fraction of the size and visibly softer. Sending a link instead means the file is handed over whole.
Share photos now — no sign-up →How it works
- Upload the originals — Straight from the camera roll or the folder — no need to export a smaller version first. Up to 100 MB per file.
- Send the link, not the file — Paste it into the same chat or email you would have attached the photo to. The message carries a URL, so nothing in the chain re-encodes anything.
- They download the original — What they get is the file you uploaded — same dimensions, same compression, same detail.
- It expires — Between 24 hours and 30 days, after which the files are deleted.
What the apps are actually doing
WhatsApp re-encodes images hard by default, and a 4 MB phone photo commonly arrives as a few hundred kilobytes. iMessage compresses when it falls back to SMS/MMS or when "Low Quality Image Mode" is on. Gmail and Outlook do not re-compress attachments, but they cap total message size at around 25 MB, which is where people start exporting smaller copies by hand.
None of this is a bug — they are optimising for delivery over cellular networks. It is just the wrong trade when the photo is the point: a picture of a damaged car for an insurer, a print-quality shot for a client, a document someone has to read.
Why a link does not have the same problem
Uploading stores the bytes you sent. The one thing removed is the EXIF metadata block — the GPS coordinates and camera details — and that is done at the container level: the compressed image data is copied across untouched rather than re-encoded. The photo is the same photo, minus the part that says where you were.
One exception, stated plainly: HEIC files from an iPhone are decoded to JPEG on upload, because no browser can display HEIC. That is a re-encode, done at 92% quality, which is visually lossless but not literally identical. Everything else — JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, video — is passed through as it arrived.
Video, where it matters most
Compression hits video harder than stills, and messaging apps are more aggressive with it. A short clip shared as a link keeps its resolution and bitrate; the same clip through a chat app can lose half its detail.
The limit is 100 MB per file, which covers a minute or two of phone video at full quality but not a long recording. For anything larger you need a service built for big transfers.
Common questions
- Is the photo re-compressed when I upload it?
- No. For JPEG and PNG the image data is copied through untouched — only the metadata block is removed. HEIC is the exception: it is converted to JPEG at 92% quality so browsers can display it.
- Why does WhatsApp make my photos blurry?
- It re-encodes images to keep messages small over mobile networks. Sending a link instead means the file itself never passes through that step.
- Does the recipient get the full-size file?
- Yes. The download is the file you uploaded, at its original dimensions and compression.
- What is the largest file I can send?
- 100 MB per file, and up to 50 files per link. That covers full-resolution photos and short video clips.
- Does it work for RAW files?
- RAW files are not accepted as image uploads, but you can send one inside a ZIP, which is passed through untouched as a document.