WhatsApp Chat Export Limits: Messages and Media

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated November 9, 2026

WhatsApp's current help center does not state a fixed number of messages for a chat export. What it does say is that when you include media, only the most recent media is attached. Many guides repeat older figures of about 10,000 recent messages with media and 40,000 without media, but they are not on the current official page, so treat them as approximate and check where your own export starts.

What the official help says

• Media: on Android and iPhone, if you choose to include media, "the most recent media sent" is added as attachments. Older media in a long chat can be left out.
• No re-import: the exported history is a text file and not a backup, so it cannot be put back into WhatsApp.
• Messages never exported: view-once messages are not exported. The page for WhatsApp on Web, Windows and Mac also lists disappearing messages.
• Desktop exports: WhatsApp on Web, Windows and Mac exports a ZIP file without media, and lets you choose all messages or a custom date range.

The 10,000 and 40,000 figures

The numbers most often quoted are 10,000 of the latest messages when media is included and 40,000 messages without media, usually explained by email size limits. Make Tech Easier, for example, states both figures in a guide last updated in 2023, without citing a source. We could not find them on WhatsApp's current help pages, and other sites give different numbers. Our reading:

• A text-only export of a very long chat may not reach back to the first message.
• An export with media may contain fewer messages, or fewer photos, than a text-only one.
• The exact cut-off may vary by version and platform, so verify it on your own export.

Size limits come from where you send it

Apart from WhatsApp's own limits, the destination you pick in the share sheet can cut an export short. Email services cap attachment size, so sending a large export with media by email is the most likely place to fail. In tests published by WITNESS in 2018, Android exports with media above 25 MB carried only the most recent 25 MB of media. Saving to Files, iCloud Drive or Google Drive avoids the email cap.

How to check what your export contains

1. Export the chat and save it to Files or Drive rather than email.
2. Open the .zip or .txt in PrintChats. The header shows the date range of the messages it found.
3. Compare that first date with the start of the chat in WhatsApp. If it starts later, the export was cut.
4. Scroll to the oldest messages and check whether photos are shown or replaced by a placeholder. Placeholders mean the media was not included.

Getting more of a long chat

There is no official setting to raise the limit. These steps help you keep as much as possible:

1. Export without media to get the longest text history. Then export again with media if you also want the recent photos.
2. Save to Files or Drive, not email, so the file is not cut by attachment limits.
3. Export regularly. If you need a long-term record, an export every few months keeps each one well within the limits.
4. Keep a WhatsApp backup as well. A backup is not readable outside WhatsApp, but it keeps the full history inside the app. See WhatsApp backup vs export chat.
5. Save photos separately if older images matter. On Android they are usually also in the phone's WhatsApp media folders.

If you are keeping the chat as a record, read saving a WhatsApp chat as a record for how to document what you exported.