Why is image quality so low in apps?

[TdRock127]

I've noticed that on almost every app on my Galaxy S8+ that shows images (Instagram, Twitter, even the Google Play Store) shows the pictures in a low quality/ pixelated state. However, they look normal in my gallery and Google photos, and when I go to the chrome version if Instagram they show up fine. They also appear fine when I view them from a different kind of phone. Why do photos appear pixelated in my apps on my Galaxy S8+, and is there any way to fix it? Thanks.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Try wiping the cache partition: https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-34311

 

[TdRock127]

I wiped the cache partition, however it didn't help with the issue. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[Ca_lvn]

What's the resolution on your phone set at maybe it's too high for the apps?

 

[Gary02468]

What's the resolution on your phone set at maybe it's too high for the apps?

Pixelation comes from resolution that's too low, not too high. If a photo has lower resolution than the screen, it should still display about the same as it would if the screen were set to the picture's lower resolution.

 

[RiverCity.45]

Social media apps will typically reduce the size and quality of any image posted. You're just not going to see full-resolution pix in an Instagram post.

But it does sound odd that they appear better on other phones. Maybe the other phone's screen resolution is less than the S8's, so the pixelation isn't noticeable?

 

[B. Diddy]

Pixelation comes from resolution that's too low, not too high. If a photo has lower resolution than the screen, it should still display about the same as it would if the screen were set to the picture's lower resolution.

I can see how this might happen, though. If the screen's resolution is set really high, the system may still try to display a low-res image (like a thumbnail) so that it's still the same size as other images -- but if the resolution of the screen is really high, that means the low-res image will look more pixelated, since it's essentially blowing up that image to the proper size. It's like trying to watch an SD (480p) video full screen on a 1080p (or worse yet, 4K) screen -- it'll look blocky.

 

[Gary02468]

I can see how this might happen, though. If the screen's resolution is set really high, the system may still try to display a low-res image (like a thumbnail) so that it's still the same size as other images -- but if the resolution of the screen is really high, that means the low-res image will look more pixelated, since it's essentially blowing up that image to the proper size. It's like trying to watch an SD (480p) video full screen on a 1080p (or worse yet, 4K) screen -- it'll look blocky.

If a small low-res image is displayed on a large screen, it'll look blocky regardless of what resolution the screen is set to. So the only way the screen's resolution would matter is if (as you suggest) the higher resolution makes the phone decide to make the image physically larger. But there's no reason for that--a higher screen resolution should either have no effect on the image size, or if anything should make the image size smaller, not larger.

 

[onthebrightside]

Hey! I don't know if you still have this problem but I was going through the same thing and finally somewhat fixed it.
Here's the solution:

- Go to Settings
- Go to Apps
- On the top right corner, press the button with the 3 dots
- Go to special access>optimize battery usage>press apps not optimized and switch to all apps
- Find all the apps with the low resolution problem and switch it off

It doesn't fix it completely but it makes a huge difference, also, I turn off app power monitor in settings>device maintenance just in case. Hope this helps a bit!

edit** I have a s6 so I don't know if the settings are any different in s8+ but I hope you get the idea

 

[MARIEUSA]

Hello!

I have a Samsung Note 8 and I had the same problem, but I fixed it. I am not sure if the set up works the same for all Samsung Galaxy cellphones.

Here's what I did

Go to your Messages Settings.
Under Settings go to Chat Settings
Chat Setting you'll see Image Size
Under Image Size you'll have five selections.

Best available
Original
Large 50 percent
Medium 20 percent
Small 10 percent

I picked Original. But you can choose the size of your choice.

Under Multimedia Limit you'll have 2 choices.

Automatically accept all
Automatically accept files less than 9765 MB in size.
I chose Automatically accept all

Good luck!

Marie

 

[vitornsb]

I've got this same problem here on a Galaxy S8+, but none of what you guys did worked for me. Does anyone have another solution? I'm really disappointed.

 

[SDTRMG]

if this has to do with things like snapchat, instagram storeys, etc. it's the apps and not the phone, on android those companies decided to take a screenshot of the photo instead of uploading the photo, this reduces the quality. people on ios don't have this problem.

 

[vitornsb]

Unfortunately, not with the quality of pictures taken with our devices, that actually seems normal to me. What we say is that every internet loaded image, both our friend stories and feed looks awful. I've noticed that is also happens on album artworks on Spotify, app icons inside the Play Store and images from Twitter. Sad, sad, sad.

 

[kirito h1jack]

I dont understand what u mean i cant find all the options that u listed in my settings

 

[Ryanpl22]

In short: apps/websites need to serve images that are 4 times bigger than actual width of image in the viewport (browser window/screen in fullscreen mode)

Samsung S8 viewport Samsunga is 360x740 PX.
Screen resolution is 4 times larger - 1440 x 2960 PX.

Now if we have website/app that shows images on full visible window/screen (viewport) that is 360px like in S8 then it need to server 360px * 4 = 1440px image width to make image look sharp. This 4 is a "pixel density".
Different phones/screens in laptopt etc. can have 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, (perhaps more in the future) pixel denisty.

So for screen (viewport) with width 360px and picture shown on 100% of this screen.
1x - 360px image looks great
2x - 720px looks great
3x - 1080px looks great
4x - 1440px looks great


Most websites (and I guess apps) serve only one version of image (1x) for everyone or perhaps 1x and 2x version and then browser/app/server (depending on implementation) show proper image depending on the device screen pixel density