Does anyone else have severe low quality videos/Live Photo when sending with iMessage? The video on my iPhone X is crystal clear but when ever I send it, it gets obliterated to super low quality. This occurred throughout iOS 14 beta and persists in the final. I did a factory reset, set up as new, with no luck..
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iOS 14 Low Quality iMessage Videos
- Thread starter upandown
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Someone sent me a short video recently via their iPhone to mine using iMessages. It was low quality, I blamed my beta ios14 at the time lol. Still persist.
I've seen this happen in the past if a non-iOS device was a recipient, or one of the recipients. I think SMS scales videos and photos down.
Is it possible this is happening for you?
Is it possible this is happening for you?
There is a low resolution image setting for iMessage. Maybe the sender has that turned on and it applies to videos? I’m not sure, just a thought.
Hi,
I have exactly the same issue, have you been able to solve that ?
[automerge]1600682452[/automerge]
I spoke with Apple support and I should hear back from them today to see what they think or will do. I have not been able to resolve it. I looked back and it started during ios13 but it seems to have been getting worse and worse. I find it completely unacceptable as some videos are so blocky it looks like 1999. It happens on WiFi as well so I think it’s Apple. It seems like they for some reason have cranked up the compression even though there is no strain on the system , covid or not. I would love for the media to pick this up because it’s affecting everyone.
I spoke with Apple and unfortunately I don’t have anything new to share. They took more data and samples and will get back to me this week. The tech did say he saw my videos and admitted they look to be overly compressed. I’ll update when I hear back.
I upgraded to an iPhone 12 Pro and I still have the same issue. Im wondering if it’s a Verizon issue in NYC. My friend who lives in California has a 11 Pro Max. He’s able to send me a 4K/60 3 second video. The file size is around 15mb. I send him a 4K/60 3 second video and he receives a file at the size of 1.6mb! Huge difference. It happens over WiFi, LTE, 5G on numerous devices. I wonder if Verizon purposely compresses data that leaves the area. Ive tried using a VPN on either side, it did not help.
Last edited:
I have the problem too. Settings are correct, iMessage-only recipient(s), and various types of attachments (gifs, jpgs, etc) wind up getting shrunken, like George Costanza after a dip in a cold lake. Sounds like it must be a bug based on previous responses. Bumping this thread to the top and hoping we see some sort of fix or workaround.
Thank you for chiming in. Yes I’ve been checking the video file sizes from people all around the states that get sent to me. Most of the time they are overly compressed but every so often it’s not.
This has been happening at least since iOS13, device doesn’t make a difference either.
Where else have you seen this reported? I haven’t found any other information on it. I have spent quite a few hours on the telephone with Apple Support. Sending them all sorts of videos in different configurations. The resolution is, well, no guarantees.
Personal experience, friends and family. Affects nearly half or at least quite a number of people.
I am not sure but I don't think this is limited to just iOS 14 seems the same on iOS 13? - I think some phones are compressing the audio and video files before sending as SMS or imessages
I have the same problem. Happens randomly since ios 13 or maybe even before. The videos appear as tiny thumbnails in the message and when selected are very grainy and unwatchable. It only happens on cellular. I have a UK cellular contract.
I have been having the same problem - it was happening with an 11 Pro Max and now with a 12 Pro Max - here are the two known scenarios where I've seen it: 1) I am in a group chat with multiple types of iPhones and one Android phone on different carriers (the most recent video came from an iPhone 8 Plus on T-Mobile - very low res) - and I've sent from my 12 Pro Max to the group and had the same results - they receive low res video. I don't have the option on to send lower resolution video/images and full sized versions are on my device. Has anyone else had any luck?
I’ve only had this occur when sending/receiving video to or from an android device. Since androids cannot send via iMessage, the message is sent via MMS which is over the carriers and gets heavily compressed down to the 1-1.5mb file size.
Most androids can send to each other via the Advanced messaging protocol now which resolved this issue on android as it allows for larger file sizes, delivery receipts and near live typing indicator similar to that seen in iMessage. Apple has not allowed this protocol to interface with iMessages yet so anything sent to/from and android will get compressed (unless you use a 3rd party app that sends media over a data connection)
Most androids can send to each other via the Advanced messaging protocol now which resolved this issue on android as it allows for larger file sizes, delivery receipts and near live typing indicator similar to that seen in iMessage. Apple has not allowed this protocol to interface with iMessages yet so anything sent to/from and android will get compressed (unless you use a 3rd party app that sends media over a data connection)
Anyone had any luck figuring this out? My girlfriend and I are on iOS 14.3 (gf has iPhone 11 Pro, I have iPhone 12 Pro Max). When she sends me images in Messages, even when we're both in the house and on wifi, the images sometimes get shrunk as soon as they leave her phone (I say when "they leave her phone" because my MacBook Pro and iPad Pro both receive the smaller versions of the images as well).
I also just noticed that on her phone, a test image we're using starts out as a 28KB jpeg, but lands on my devices as a 4KB HEIC. Seems like this could point to where the problem lies. HEIC is capable of storing images at higher quality and fewer bytes, but perhaps there is a bug in the conversion process that only manifests from time to time. Would be nice if there were any way to disable this conversion, if even just temporarily...
I also just noticed that on her phone, a test image we're using starts out as a 28KB jpeg, but lands on my devices as a 4KB HEIC. Seems like this could point to where the problem lies. HEIC is capable of storing images at higher quality and fewer bytes, but perhaps there is a bug in the conversion process that only manifests from time to time. Would be nice if there were any way to disable this conversion, if even just temporarily...
