By Sean Kelly & Hagen Green, Product Managers, Messenger

The way people message today is no longer limited by just text; visual messaging as our new universal language is much more emotional and expressive. Whether you’re catching up over moments big and small — like a recent vacation, an amazing meal at a new restaurant, a new member of the family, or the first snow day of the year — sharing photos of our experiences brings our conversations to life.

We’re making significant investments in how people communicate visually on Messenger. That’s why today, we’re excited to share that people can send and receive photos in Messenger at 4K resolution — or up to 4,096 x 4,096 pixels per image — the highest quality many smartphones support. We heard that people want to send and receive high resolution photos in Messenger — and considering people send more than 17 billion photos through Messenger every month — we’re making your conversations richer, sharper, and better than ever.

Your photos will also be sent just as quickly before, even at this new, higher resolution.

You may be curious how much of a difference 4K resolution makes. Take a look at the before and after of this photo a beach in Sydney. On the right at 4K resolution, once you zoom in, the photo is much sharper and clearer so you can see every detail. That’s what we mean by bringing your conversations to life.

See the difference in quality in this photo of the Brooklyn Bridge…

Or on a windowsill in Paris…

Or in a park in London.

To send and share photos at 4K resolution, first update your Messenger app to make sure you have the latest version. Then open a conversation and tap the camera roll icon. Select the photo, tap send, and the person you’re messaging with will receive the high resolution photo.

Starting today, we are rolling out 4K resolution on both iPhone and Android to people in the US, Canada, France, Australia, the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, and South Korea. In the coming weeks, we’re planning to roll out 4k resolution to additional countries.

We know that every message matters to you, no matter how or what you’re sharing. We appreciate that you continue to use Messenger to connect with the people you care about most.

*The images on the left were reproduced to reflect the previous default resolution at 2K. The images on the right reflect the new default resolution at 4K.