October 15, 2025, 11:33 am | Read time: 3 minutes
Sending photos and videos via WhatsApp is convenient–but it has the tricky side effect of the app taking up more and more storage space on your smartphone. And that’s not all: Since the introduction of HD quality, larger files can also drain your data volume faster. Now, WhatsApp is addressing this with a new saving feature, giving users more control over how photos and videos are received.
Set Download Quality Yourself
Until now, the sender’s settings determined the quality in which media arrived at the recipient. If a photo or video was sent in HD quality, it arrived that way at the recipient–without any influence from them.
That’s over now. From now on, users can decide in what quality media should arrive. Regardless of whether the sender selected HD quality, the recipient can now download the content in standard or HD quality.
The messenger had been testing the feature in beta for iOS and Android since June. It is now available to all users.
How to Activate the New Storage-Saving Feature in WhatsApp
In the WhatsApp settings, under “Storage and Data,” there’s a new option called “Auto Download Quality.” Users can choose between “Standard Quality” and “HD Quality.” While standard quality downloads smaller, more compressed files faster and takes up less storage, HD quality files contain more details and have a higher resolution.
If storage runs low, an external SSD can help:
How quickly HD files accumulate and take up significant storage can be seen through the storage management in WhatsApp.
This WhatsApp Setting Should Definitely Be Enabled!
Disable Automatic Downloads on WhatsApp Urgently
How the Feature Works in the Background
As WABetaInfo explains, WhatsApp automatically creates two versions when uploading photos and videos in HD quality–one in standard and one in HD quality. This is for a simple reason: All messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, so the messenger cannot compress the content on its own servers. Therefore, the sender’s device must handle this task and upload two versions, which are then sent through the service.
The recipient’s app automatically downloads the version that matches the chosen setting. Those who have activated standard quality will initially receive the smaller version. However, there’s a hidden trick to also get the HD version afterward. Just click on the “HD” icon at the bottom left of a photo or video.
File Sizes Now Directly Visible in Chats
For the first time, WhatsApp now also shows the file size of photos and videos directly in the chat. If the sender sends content in HD quality, tapping the “HD” icon reveals the respective size in megabytes and the image dimensions. This way, users can easily compare how much storage or data each version uses after sending or receiving.
Extremely Practical
“Photos and videos in WhatsApp are becoming more of a problem for me too. The files now take up almost 8.5 gigabytes of storage on my iPhone. I’m seriously considering setting standard quality for downloads as the default. Usually, I want to send content in higher quality to others, not necessarily receive it.
Now WhatsApp just needs to give us the option to set download quality for individual chats. Especially for group chats, where numerous photos and videos are shared daily, the storage saver is a real lifesaver.”