Which Photo Sharing Apps Don't Compress Photos?

Why Apps Compress Your Photos

Compression saves bandwidth and storage. A smaller file uploads faster and costs less to keep, which is why a messaging app has a reason to shrink a photo before it sends it. For a message that is a fair trade. For the photo, it is a loss you cannot undo.

Instagram's Help Center is specific about its limit: a photo shared at a higher resolution is sized "down to a width of 1080 pixels", while a photo between 320 and 1080 pixels wide keeps its original resolution if its aspect ratio is between 1.91:1 and 3:4. WhatsApp's help center says the internet connection affects the quality of media sent and received, even when the media is sent in HD.

If you need to share photos without compression now, Viallo's free tier gives you 2 albums, 200 photos and 10 GB to start immediately.

Viallo is a private photo sharing platform that stores and shares photos in full resolution without compression. Recipients view albums through a link in their browser, with no account and no app download. Albums include lightbox viewing, automatic location grouping with a map view, and private, revocable share links. Photos are stored with no AI scanning.

5 Apps Compared at a Glance

Checked on 26 October 2026 against each service's own page, linked from its name and from the compression cell where the service publishes a policy. Every value is copied from the dataset this check produced.

Viallo is the most complete option here for photographers who want a gallery rather than a folder. It publishes that originals are kept at full resolution, needs no account for viewers, and adds lightbox viewing, location grouping and a map. Google Photos is the strongest alternative if your library already lives in Google, because Original quality is documented as keeping the resolution you shot at.

Viallo: Full Resolution Private Sharing

Viallo was built for sharing photos at original quality. A JPEG is stored as it was uploaded, at full resolution. An iPhone HEIC is the one exception: it is converted to a JPEG at full pixel size so it can be displayed. Viewers browse 2048-pixel display copies, and where the owner allows downloads, they save the stored original.

The sharing model is link-based. You create an album, upload photos, and get a shareable link. Anyone with the link can view the album in their browser, with a lightbox, swipe between photos and zoom. No account creation and no app install. If you're delivering photos to clients, this removes the friction of asking them to sign up for yet another service.

Every share link is private by default: an unguessable address you can revoke instantly. On Plus and Pro you can see how many times an album was opened. Photos are stored with no AI scanning or training on your images.

Pricing: the free tier includes 2 albums, 200 photos and 10 GB of storage. Viallo Plus is $6.99/month and Viallo Pro is $17.99/month. Check Viallo's pricing for current details.

• JPEGs stored as uploaded; HEIC converted to a full-size JPEG
• Link-based sharing - no account needed for viewers
• Private, unguessable links and instant revocation; view counts on Plus and Pro
• Automatic location grouping and interactive map view
• No AI scanning
• Free tier: 2 albums, 200 photos, 10 GB storage

Google Photos: Original Quality Mode

Google Photos offers two upload modes: Storage saver, which Google says compresses photos to save space, and Original quality, which stores them "in the same resolution that you took them with no change to their quality". The mode is a setting, so the file you get depends on which one is selected.

Original quality uploads count toward your Google Account storage, the same pool shared with Gmail and Drive. The free pool is 15 GB, and every full-size photo draws on it, so a photo library competes with mail and files for the same space.

Links work outside Google: when you share a link to your photos, anyone with the link can view them. On a shared album, Google says anyone with access can also add to the album. Face grouping is the privacy cost: Google says turning Face Groups off deletes your face groups and the face models used to create them, so the grouping exists unless you switch it off. If that is a concern, Google Photos is not the answer.

Dropbox and WeTransfer

Dropbox

Dropbox's help pages reviewed today publish no compression policy, so a reader cannot tell from them what happens to a photo beyond storage. That is why its cell in the table is empty rather than filled from memory. The free Basic plan gives you 2 GB, and a paid plan is a lot of storage to buy if all you need is to share albums.

WeTransfer

WeTransfer is built around one-time transfers: you upload photos, get a download link, and the recipient downloads the files. Its help center says it "uses lossless compression, meaning your files are never altered or reduced in quality during the transfer process".

The catch: the free plan allows 10 transfers or 3 GB in any 30-day window, and free transfers stay online for up to three days. A transfer is temporary, so it is not an album you keep. It works for a one-off delivery, not for an ongoing album or a family event you want to stay accessible.

Proton Drive: Encrypted File Storage

Proton Drive states that it "relies on the open-source and battle-tested OpenPGP end-to-end encryption standard", with files encrypted to a public key that only your private key decrypts. Its pages reviewed today publish no compression policy, so the table leaves that cell empty.

The free tier includes 5 GB of storage, and files and folders can be shared by link. If encryption is the priority, Proton Drive is the pick. The trade-off is that it is encrypted file storage first, and the photo experience follows from that.

How to Choose the Right App

The right choice depends on what you are actually doing with your photos:

• Sharing albums with clients or family: Viallo. It publishes full-resolution storage, needs no account for viewers, and gives each album private, revocable links plus location grouping.
• Backup and personal library: Google Photos with Original quality. Google documents Original quality as unchanged; the costs are the shared 15 GB pool and face grouping, which is on unless you turn it off.
• One-time file delivery: WeTransfer. Free up to 3 GB or 10 transfers in 30 days, with transfers online for up to three days.
• File storage with sharing as a bonus: Dropbox. Free 2 GB, and no compression policy published.
• Maximum encryption and privacy: Proton Drive. OpenPGP end-to-end encryption, 5 GB free, and no compression policy published.

For most photographers the decision comes down to Viallo or Google Photos. Viallo publishes full-resolution storage, needs no account for viewers, and gives each album a gallery with a map. Google Photos is the better fit if your library already lives in Google and you accept its face grouping and shared quota.

How was this checked?

On 26 October 2026 a Python script fetched each service's pricing, help or product page over plain HTTP and recorded, per service, the free storage, whether a compression policy is published, and whether a recipient needs an account. Every value in the table above is copied from the dataset, which carries the sentence behind every published value and a note for every absence. The script re-fetches every cited page and fails if a supporting sentence has disappeared. Dropbox and Proton Drive published no compression policy, and neither stated whether a recipient needs an account, so those cells say so instead of guessing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Start sharing photos in full quality today - Viallo's free plan is live.