If you are reading this article, probably someone has asked you to share a very heavy video via WhatsApp but the file you want to send is too heavy and you cannot. At this point it asks you if the problem is the video format, or its size (too many MB?) Or, again, if the problem is to convert the video format.

Stop and think no more. Now I will explain how to share a large file on WhatsApp in a super simple way. All without cutting the video (which could solve the problem, but we don’t care).

The trick is to use Google’s cloud storage. Through Google Drive you can not only backup WhatsApp , but you can also save your files in the form of audio files, video files or any other type of document (and size) on Google servers.

So, to share a large file with your contacts via WhatsApp, you just need to upload the file to Google Drive and then share the link via WhatsApp chat.

Here are the steps to follow.

How to send heavy video on WhatsApp:

1. Download and install Google Drive on your phone.
2. Upload the file you want to share on Google Drive via the blue “+” icon on the app. Alternatively, you can upload it by directly selecting the file in your gallery and clicking on Share > Save to Drive .
3. Once uploaded, copy the link by long-pressing it on the file and click “Copy link”.
4. Open WhatsApp and paste the link in the chat where you want to share the video.

Done. With this move you have just shared a heavy video via WhatsApp that you could not have directly shared.

NB I remind you that if you want to share videos from Youtube, like those on the good morning you find here , you will have no problem of size and share what you want without problems.

Why couldn’t I share heavy videos on WhatsApp?

We respond immediately by saying that the problem is not yours, but WhatsApp’s. A lot of people use this messaging app as a platform to share photos, music and video clips with contacts who live in different parts of the world. But these multimedia files are compressed before being uploaded to WhatsApp servers . This way files become lighter and share faster. The price to pay is the loss of original quality. In a recent article, we mentioned a workaround where you can share full quality images, audio and video clips on WhatsApp.

High -quality media files are often large too. A 5-minute audio file reaches 40 – 60MB, while an average 720p resolution music video reaches 80 to 200MB. WhatsApp has a general upload limit of 16MB for any type of media file (photos, music or videos). Probably, the only high-quality media files you can share within that limit are 5-minute MP3 files, nothing more.

So, in effect, the ability to send high-quality media files depends on WhatsApp , and it’s not very useful unless we manage to exceed the 16MB upload limit, as we saw earlier in this post.