Can Facebook reduce the resolution of photos after I upload them, and can I prevent it?
Asked 6/8/2018
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2 answers
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I noticed that photos on one of my Facebook accounts now appear lower resolution than when they were first posted. I had assumed images uploaded online would stay unchanged, but I’ve read that hosting sites may recompress or rewrite files later. Can Facebook do this, and is there any way to stop it? I’d also like to know whether metadata is preserved.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
8y ago
2 Answers
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one of my Facebook accounts seem to have lost a significant amount of resolution
Facebook (and other social media sites) compress photos while storing/displaying. Considering the amount of data that gets uploaded in these sites, its difficult to argue against it. This link talks about how you can minimize that to a small extent (but that article is old and not sure if those settings are still present). Brief googling brings up this guide from facebook.
I read somewhere that it is possible if the host website decides to rewrite them
That would depend on the usage agreement/terms and conditions that you agree to while signing up. As per Remco's answer users grant usage and modify right to Facebook.
If preserving the original quality (and metadata) is your requirement, you can look into dedicated photo storing websites like 500px, flickr and others. Google photos lets you choose the quality of uploaded images and offers unlimited storage on compressed images. However their compression algorithm IMHO is better than that of facebook and the loss of quality is negligible.
Originally by user67684. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user67684
8y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes. Services like Facebook commonly recompress, resize, and otherwise reprocess uploaded images for storage and display. They may also strip metadata. So what you see online is often not the original file, and a host can change how it stores or serves that image over time.
In Facebook’s terms, you grant them broad rights to host, use, distribute, and modify uploaded content. That means you generally should not expect uploaded photos to remain untouched or preserved at full quality.
In practice, there is little you can do to fully prevent this on a social platform you do not control. Some platforms may offer upload settings that minimize compression, but they typically do not guarantee original-quality preservation.
If keeping full resolution and metadata matters, do not rely on Facebook or similar social sites as storage or backup. Keep your original files yourself and use a service you control or one specifically intended for archival or high-quality image hosting.
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