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How to Fix Lines in Facebook or WhatsApp Photos in Photoshop

Problem

When downloading photos from Facebook or WhatsApp, Photoshop may sometimes display the image incorrectly. The left half of the photo may appear full of lines, while the right half looks normal. This happens because of how Meta platforms compress and rescale images. Fortunately, it’s easy to fix.

Cause

Facebook and WhatsApp heavily compress images, remove metadata, and internally split photos into image blocks. This altered JPEG structure isn’t always read correctly by Photoshop, leading to visual glitches. Other photo programs, like Windows Photos or Paint, usually don’t have this issue.

Solution

Follow these steps to restore the photo:

  1. 🖼️ Open the photo in Paint: Download the photo from Facebook or WhatsApp to your computer, right-click it, choose Open with, and select Paint.
  2. 💾 Save the photo in a new format: Go to File, then Save As, and choose a different format, such as PNG or JPEG. Paint reconstructs the image and removes the glitches from the original Meta version.
  3. 🖌️ Open the new file in Photoshop: Drag the newly saved image into Photoshop, or open it from the File menu. The lines should be gone, and the photo will now work correctly.

Tips to Prevent the Problem in the Future

📎 WhatsApp: Send photos as documents rather than images to preserve the original quality.
🌐 Facebook: Open the image in a new tab before saving it, or ask the sender to email the original photo instead of sending it via Messenger.
⚠️ General: Whenever possible, use original photos and avoid edited versions from social media. Facebook and WhatsApp always apply compression, regardless of the photo size.

Summary

Photos downloaded from Facebook or WhatsApp may show lines in Photoshop due to aggressive compression and nonstandard JPEG structures. Saving the photo again in PNG or JPEG via Paint fully restores the image, allowing it to be edited in Photoshop without issues.

See here an example of what lines look like when a photo is downloaded directly from Facebook or WhatsApp.