Facebook Messenger Gets High-Res 4K Photo Sharing Support

Facebook just made it possible for users to share higher resolution photos using Messenger, a welcomed feature considering how often users are on WiFi and LTE. Up until now, images shared through Messenger were fairly low-resolution — not so low that they were unusable, but low enough to have a noticeable loss of quality. That changes with 4K image support.

According to Facebook, Messenger users can now send each other images that range up to a 4K quality, which tops out at a resolution of 4096 x 4096. Most phones don't offer a quality level that exceeds that resolution, meaning most people will be able to send the images as they exist straight from their phone's camera. The change is the result of user feedback.

Says the company, Facebook Messenger is used to send more than 17 billion images every single month. Being able to swap these high-res images directly is especially important as people gravitate away from the main Facebook product; low-res Messenger exchanges meant having to use a third-party option like Drive or Dropbox. Messenger remains more convenient than both of those options.

If you have an older (read: low-resolution) smartphone, you're probably not going to notice the quality change. Anyone using a higher-end phone, though, particularly one with a 4K display will definitely notice the boost in resolution. If you're not seeing the change, make sure you're running the latest version of Messenger and then try again.

There's nothing else that needs to be done when sending a photo — it'll automatically send the high-res version when you share the image with someone. The support is available on both iPhone and Android to users in the US, UK, Canada, France, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. Everyone else will get it "in the coming weeks."

SOURCE: Facebook Messenger