In the past, if you wanted to send someone a large file attachment, the only viable method was email. But these days, messaging platforms have become so fast and advanced that you can easily use them to transfer files to your contacts. But these platforms naturally have file size limitations, so what do you do when you need to send large files on WhatsApp? It’s time to get creative, of course.
Read more: How to use WhatsApp — a step-by-step beginner’s guide
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The best way to send large files on WhatsApp is to use cloud storage links. On Android, the best method is Google Drive, and on iPhone, you can either use Google Drive or iCloud. But really, any cloud storage service is good enough. Once uploaded, copy and paste the download links into WhatsApp.
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Before going into more drawn-out time-consuming options, it’s always worth looking at the obvious first.
Images are the easiest thing to send — you can compress them with a zip program and reduce the picture quality slightly to drop the file size even more. WhatsApp has a built-in function where you can specify that it should send images at a lower quality.
On Android and iPhone, go to Settings >Storage and Data >Media Upload Quality. The option is at the bottom of the page.
Now select the quality of the media to be uploaded. Data Saver will likely give you the biggest savings.
Once you’ve got the file size down as far as it’ll go, the best file sending option on WhatsApp for Android is Google Drive, and either iCloud or Google Drive for the iPhone.
If you have a big video, a folder of files, or any other large attachment, the best bet is to upload it to Google Drive first, assuming you have the necessary space.
If not, you will need to upgrade your storage limit or clean out first.
First, go into Google Files (which should be already installed on your device), and locate the file you want to send. In this case, it’s a video.
Long-press on the file, and a menu will pop up. Select Back up to Google Drive. You’ll be asked to confirm the Drive account and the destination folder. Then tap to send the file.
When you receive a notification that the file has been successfully uploaded to Google Drive, head over to the Drive app and locate the file. Tap the three vertical dots next to it for sharing options.
You need to make sure the person to whom you’re sending the file has the necessary file access permissions. Tap on Manage people and links.
Under Link settings, ensure the link is set to Anyone with the link. If not, or you want to change it for tighter control, tap Change to amend the link settings.
Once it’s the way you want it, tap the chain icon to the right of Link settings to copy the download link to your clipboard.
Now paste the link into the WhatsApp window and send.
You can also use the above Google Drive method on an iPhone, but you may also prefer to use iCloud since it’s baked into iOS. Plus, the iCloud method is much easier and faster.
Go to the location of the file (in this case, the same video in my Camera Roll) and select it. Now tap the sharing menu and choose Copy iCloud Link.
This creates a temporary unique download link to the video on iCloud. Wait ten seconds or so for the link to be generated. When the Preparing iCloud Link box disappears, the link is copied and ready to be pasted.
In this case, we want to send the link by WhatsApp, so head over to the app and paste the link into the message box. The download link is valid for one month.
If you send the file to someone with an iPhone, it will open in their default iOS app (the camera roll for images and videos, for instance).
Android recipients will be redirected to iCloud.com, where they can download or view the file online.
If iCloud or Google Drive are not possible for some reason to send your files on WhatsApp, other possibilities include —
You can then paste the resulting links from any of these methods into a WhatsApp message to your contact.
Read more: WhatsApp not working? Here are some fixes you can try
If you want to upload the file to WhatsApp and send it through their servers, the size needs to be under 100MB. Videos cannot be more than three minutes in length. Anything larger than that, you will need to use one of the suggested workarounds above.
News
Telegram just recently released an update, which allows you to send files up to 2GB. WhatsApp, on the other hand, only lets you share up to 100MB files. So, if a user wants to send a very large file or a video, they have to be dependent on Dropbox or WeTransfer. Earlier Telegram used to offer support for up to 1.5GB files, and increasing the size will be great a news for many users. Also Read - Mark Zuckerberg announces digital avatars for WhatsApp users: How to create one
But, what if you are not a Telegram user and don’t want to download the app for this reason. If you are a WhatsApp user and sometimes feel like the messaging app should have offered file sharing limit more than 100MB, then here’s what you can do.
There is a cloud storage solution like Google Drive. It lets you upload files up to 50GB in size for free of cost. Google even offers you 100GB space for Rs 130 per month, which is a great offer as you will not find a storage device to save 20GB for less than Rs 150. Also Read - WhatsApp might release 21 new emojis in the future update: Report
So, you can use Google Drive to share big files on the messaging app. Currently, WhatsApp lets you send videos with 16MB limit in size and regular files up to 100MB. You cannot send any file or video for more than the mentioned size. The only way to send large files on WhatsApp is by uploading them on Google Drive and then sharing on the messaging app. There are a few simple steps, which you need to follow. Also Read - WhatsApp banned more than 23 lakh accounts in India in Oct for violating rules
Step 1: Open Google Drive, tap on the “+” icon, which is located on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Step 2: Tap on Upload File and select it. Once the file is uploaded, you will see the file on the top of the app.
Step 3: You now need to tap on the three-dotted button and select ‘Copy the link.’ This way the file will be copied to your smartphone’s clipboard. Now, Open WhatsApp, paste the link, and press the share button.
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Content:
WhatsApp won't let you send if your video exceeds the minimum limit of 16MB or attachments are under 100MB.
Even the video exceeds the minimum limit as you know whatsapp allows you to edit in real time and send it in parts. Although it is a secondary way, if the video is over 16MB, you can send it using WhatsApp's Document option, but you can't cross the 100MB mark, and you'll need the Google Drive app or WhatsTools app for that.
To send a large video or file larger than 100MB to WhatsApp, you can use Google Drive to download the file first and then send the link. Alternatively, you can use the WhatsTools app to upload videos there and send the link to WhatsApp users.
WhatsTools is recommended for sending large files to WhatsApp users when your disk is full or has a file upload limit.
In this article, I will introduce various ways to send large files, including compressed files, large videos and large mp3 files, to any WhatsApp users from your mobile phone.
There are some conflicts in understanding the file size limit in WhatsApp. WhatsApp restricts sending a file of a certain size in different ways. Let's talk about it:
This article will now explain how to send WhatsApp files that are GB or more than 100 MB from iOS and Android devices.
Sending files larger than 16MB is not as important as sending files larger than 100MB. WhatsApp's Documents option will allow you to send any type of file that is larger than 16MB but not larger than 100MB, even if it's video or audio files.
To send an audio file larger than 16 MB to WhatsApp,
The recommended file size for WhatsApp messenger is 100 MB.
To exceed the size limit, you need to follow these steps:
if you are on your Google Drive that has free space left, just upload it and send the link.
To send a large WhatsApp file via Google Drive:
For iPhone:
For iPhone users, you'll need the assistance of an iCloud drive, although the drive must have free space to download the file.
There is another alternative way to send large files that are too big to be sent via WhatsApp. This method is done with a third party app: WhatsTools File Sharing Tools. You just need to use this tool to download the file and send the link to view and download accordingly. The most amazing feature of using this application is its tracking, that is, the ability to track file views and downloads.
To send files larger than 100 MB using WhatsTools in WhatsApp,
That's all you need to do to send large videos or documents to WhatsApp if the app won't let you.
If you want to send any video using compression, size reduction, or send via the document function, you don't have to do this hard work.
Video compression will degrade video quality. To upload a video to WhatsApp, follow these steps:
Note: If the video is less than 100MB, you can send it directly to any chat, otherwise you will have to use Cloud Drive help such as Google Drive or iCloud.
Totals:
If you want to send large video or audio files on WhatsApp and if they are less than 16MB, you can send them directly as documents, but in case it is more than 100MB, just use cloud drive or WhatsTools app and the steps are already are given. in this article above.
When it comes to sending a video file recorded on your Android phone via WhatsApp, it becomes a headache. You should be aware that WhatsApp has a 16MB file size limit for videos, music, and images. However, there is still a solution for this. This guide will tell you how to send large video files on WhatsApp (iPhone and Android) and how to send large WhatsApp audio files and images
The media file is too large When recording video or audio, we don't really care about the size, since external storage is not a big problem for most smartphones.
And recording HD video on Android or iPhone at the highest possible settings will mean that even a 30-second video will be between 15 and 20MB in size.
To transfer or share these files, you can upload your files to any cloud service you prefer and copy the download link. One of the well-known cloud services is Dropbox, which can be downloaded on Android, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, PC and other devices. You can use free cloud services and their apps to share and manage files.
If you haven't installed Dropbox, please download Dropbox for your Android/iPhone from the link below or from Google Play/App Store.
Then do the following:
If you can't send a big video on WhatsApp, it's time to use Google Drive. Google Drive is a cloud-based server that can save any type of file, such as large video files, audio files, and more.
With it, you can easily send large video and audio files. Below are the steps:
You may know that WhatsApp can't send file larger than 16MB, if you don't want to use the methods we provided above, you can try video converters.
Since there are many online converters that can help reduce video size, you can simply search on Google or try these sites we have listed below:
Sometimes when you get a new iPhone or Android device, you may need to transfer your WhatsApp data from the old device to the new one. However, this is not easy when you have two devices with different systems, which we will talk about below.
iCareFone Transfer - Transfer, Backup & Restore iOS WhatsApp is a great file management tool, you can easily manage your iOS files.
