Why does the same photo or video that I receive in iMessages show up in different resolutions on my iPhone and my iPads?

TidBITS Talk
1

This has been bugging me for quite some time, and I haven’t been able to figure out why.

Here’s an example. Just today my sister sent me a one-minute video taken on her 12-inch iPad Pro.

When I looked at it on either my iPad Pro or iPad Mini, the resolution was horrible.

When I saved it, here’s the info about the resolution and file size:

image
image2388×1668 350 KB

But when I went to my iPhone, it was a much higher resolution with the following specs:

image
image1920×1341 194 KB

(I was able to download/save the second one by choosing to save a ‘duplicate’.)

Could someone please tell me what I’m doing wrong here? TIA!

2

Interesting! What about the version you got on Messages on the Mac? If the results were reversed (small on the iPhone, large on the iPad), I might have suggested that it was trying to save bandwidth via cellular.

3

Alas! also low resolution on the Mac.

???

4

Sounds like some testing with other videos might be in order to see if there are commonalities or differences to be observed.

5

Looks like a preview file was downloaded on the iPad and Mac, like an animated icon, much like a finder window will let you play the icon of a video file.

6

Could it be that one device received the file via cellular connection and the other via WiFi? Or via Messages using a phone number vs Messages using an email address?

7

Alas that’s not the case… at least I don’t think so. When I ask my correspondents to send the photo or video as an iCloud link, then everything downloads correctly.

Any idea as to why that is?

8

Thanks for trying but “none of the above” is true. Please do see my response above to Tommy Weir, that when my correspondents send the photo/video as an iCloud link, then everything downloads properly on all my “iToys”. :woman_shrugging:t2: