According to the last published statistics, in June 2017, Whatsapp users sent over 1 billion video messages a day. This obviously represents only a fraction of the market and daily traffic has certainly has grown since then. At the same time, 4K cameras have become standard and mobile screen resolutions have increased in size and quality, driving demand for higher quality videos. However, mobile networks are increasingly congested and inherently inefficient for streaming. To keep latency reasonable for producers and viewers alike, most messaging apps transmit at 480p, sacrificing the quality of experience.
As with most video-related problems on the web, the answer is better compression. I recently tested Crunch Media Works Crunch Video Optimizer and found that it reduced the file size as compared to WhatsApp’s own compression by 34% while maintaining the same quality. You can read a white paper describing these tests by clicking below. You’ll also read about how even small file size reductions can dramatically decrease latency. If you create, market, or sell a video messaging app, it’s a technology I endorse and one that you should consider.
Here’s the report: Crunch_Video_Optimizer_Report_final
Compared to the hardware encoder in my phone that Whatsapp uses anything can save space.
x264 medium preset is about 5x smaller at similar visual quality