
Google Drive sends photos in a resolution that's surprisingly low, at least when compared to what you'd expect from a cloud service. Specifically, photos uploaded to Google Drive are resized to 1600 pixels on the longest side.
The resolution of Google Drive's photos is determined by the service's default settings, which prioritize file size over image quality. This is likely done to save storage space and reduce data transfer times.
Google Drive's photo resolution can be a concern for photographers and graphic designers who rely on high-quality images. However, for casual users, the resolution may not be a major issue.
Recommended read: Reset Dvr Resolution
Google Drive Image Settings
Google Drive Image Settings are a crucial aspect of managing your photos and images in the cloud. By default, Google Drive compresses images to reduce file size, but you can adjust the settings to suit your needs.
You can choose from three image quality settings: Balanced, Tilt Shift, and Original. The Balanced setting is the default and provides a good balance between image quality and file size.
The Tilt Shift setting reduces file size further, but may affect image quality. This setting is useful if you need to share large numbers of images.
Discover more: Google Drive See Who Viewed File
Google Drive vs Other Cloud Services
Google Drive's compression algorithm can result in a loss of image quality, which may be a concern for users who value high-quality photos. This is particularly true when compared to other cloud services like iCloud, which prioritizes seamless integration with Apple devices.
Google Drive also has limited control over compression settings, meaning users can't easily adjust the level of compression to suit their needs. In contrast, Dropbox offers a feature called "Smart Sync" that allows users to store files and folders in the cloud while still accessing them from their device.
Dropbox's "Smart Sync" feature is useful for managing large photo libraries without taking up too much space on your device. This can be a major advantage for users who have a lot of photos but don't want to sacrifice storage space.
- Google Drive: Loss in image quality, limited control over compression settings, and compatibility issues with certain file formats.
- iCloud: Prioritizes seamless integration with Apple devices.
- Dropbox: Offers "Smart Sync" feature for storing files and folders in the cloud.
Google Drive vs iCloud
Google Drive and iCloud are two of the most popular cloud storage services available. Google Drive offers a free plan with 15 GB of storage, while iCloud has a free plan with 5 GB of storage.
Suggestion: Icloud Storage vs Google Photos

Google Drive is integrated with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, making it a great choice for those who use Google's productivity suite.
iCloud is tightly integrated with Apple devices, allowing seamless syncing across iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Google Drive has a more generous storage limit for its paid plans, with 100 GB of storage for $1.99 per month.
iCloud's paid plan starts at 50 GB of storage for $0.99 per month.
Here's an interesting read: How to Load Photos from Icloud to Google Drive
Google Drive vs Dropbox
Google Drive and Dropbox are two of the most popular cloud storage services. Google Drive offers 15GB of free storage, which can be used to store files, documents, and even Google Docs.
Dropbox, on the other hand, offers 2GB of free storage, but it's easy to earn more by referring friends. This makes it a good option for individuals who want to share files with others.
Google Drive integrates seamlessly with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, making it a great choice for businesses and teams that use these tools. This integration allows for real-time collaboration and automatic saving of changes.

Dropbox also offers file sharing and collaboration features, but they're not as robust as Google Drive's. Dropbox's collaboration features are mostly limited to sharing files and folders, rather than creating and editing documents together.
Google Drive allows for automatic saving of changes to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, which is a huge time-saver for users. This feature is especially useful for teams that work on documents together.
Dropbox's file recovery feature is also quite good, allowing users to recover deleted files for up to 30 days. However, Google Drive's file recovery feature only allows for 30 days of deleted file recovery, which is the same as Dropbox.
For another approach, see: File Request for Google Drive
Sources
- https://support.google.com/photos/answer/6220791
- https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/105379/high-quality-setting-when-upload-image-to-google-drive
- https://filerev.com/blog/drive-image-optimization-space/
- https://www.multcloud.com/explore/does-google-drive-compress-photos-7201-ac.html
- https://developers.google.com/actions-center/verticals/things-to-do/guides/partner-integration/image-guidelines
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