When sending files using WhatsApp, you can send videos, audio, or document files. However, not all file extensions are supported by WhatsApp.
When you attempt to send an unsupported file format, you will encounter the following error message;
“The file format is not supported.“
This means that WhatsApp does not support the sending of this file extension.
In this article, we tested several file formats to determine which ones are supported by WhatsApp.
What are all the different file formats that WhatsApp supports?
Our test is conducted using three (3) different file types, namely;
- Video files
- Audio files
- Document files
Supported Video File Formats
Here is the complete list of video file formats we have tested.
Based on our test results, Whatsapp only supports the following video file formats; MP4, M4V, MKV, MOV, WEBM, 3G2, and RMVB.
| S/no | File Extension | Able to Send? | Able to View? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MP4 | Yes | Yes |
| 2 | M4V | Yes | Yes |
| 3 | MKV | Yes | Yes |
| 4 | MOV | Yes | Yes |
| 5 | WEBM | Yes | Yes |
| 6 | 3G2 | Yes | Yes |
| 7 | RMVB | Yes | No, use external media player |
| 8 | MPEG* | No | No |
| 9 | MPEG-2* | No | No |
| 10 | FLV* | No | No |
| 11 | WMV* | No | No |
| 12 | DIVX* | No | No |
| 13 | RM* | No | No |
| 14 | OGV* | No | No |
| 15 | 3GP | No | No |
Supported Audio File Formats
Here is the complete list of audio file formats we have tested.
Based on our test results, Whatsapp supports most audio file formats. They are AAC, AMR, FLAC, M4A, M4R, MP3, OGG, WAV, and WMA.
| S/no | File Extension | Able to Send? | Able to View? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AAC | Yes | Yes |
| 2 | AMR | Yes | Yes |
| 3 | FLAC | Yes | Yes |
| 4 | M4A | Yes | Yes |
| 5 | M4R | Yes | Yes |
| 6 | MP3 | Yes | Yes |
| 7 | OGG | Yes | Yes |
| 8 | WAV | Yes | Yes |
| 9 | WMA | No | No |
Supported Document File Formats
Here is the complete list of document file formats we have tested.
Based on our test results, Whatsapp supports sending all the document file formats we used to test it. They are DOC, XLS, PPT, PDF, TXT, HTML, and EPUB.
However, you must install an external document viewer to view them, especially on a mobile device.
For example, you need to install an EPUB reader and PDF viewer to view these files.
| S/no | File Extension | Able to Send? | Able to View? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DOC | Yes | No |
| 2 | XLS | Yes | No |
| 3 | PPT | Yes | No |
| 4 | Yes | No | |
| 5 | TXT | Yes | No |
| 6 | HTML | Yes | No |
| 7 | EPUB | Yes | No |
Summary
We tested three (3) different file types: video, audio, and document.
Thirty-one (31) file extensions are used to test WhatsApp to determine how many file formats it can support.
Out of which, our test concluded that a total of twenty-two (22) file extensions are supported and allowed to be sent to the Whatsapp recipient through its server.
