Google Photos will begin to compress high-quality photos with distortion

The Google Photos team has launched an email newsletter about new paid editing features for Google One customers. In addition, free users have been warned that uploading photos in their original quality will result in distortion. Thus, users will have to buy additional storage space in order to save the photo in the desired form.

When the service was launched in 2015, its creator, Anil Sabharwal, promised that uploading high-quality photos would provide “nearly identical visual quality” to the original images.

However, Google is now striving to ensure that users pay extra for it. The company demonstrated what the difference would be between original image quality and high quality.

High quality image specifications are limited to 16 megapixels for photos or 1080p for videos. They can be stored on the service for free until June 2021. In this case, the images of the original quality are loaded with any resolution that the user's camera provides, that is, they can be larger files. Storing these files will require purchasing a Google One plan after the free 15GB of storage runs out.

Most users probably won't notice the difference between high and original image quality. However, this can be a problem for those who are engaged in professional photography or video shooting.

All new photos and videos uploaded in high quality will take up storage space from June 1st. This applies to both free and purchased additional space.

Last fall, Google also offered Drive users with unlimited G Suite storage for $ 12 a month to upgrade to Workspace for a minimum of $ 20. The former option will be retained only for companies with four or more employees.