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Media | Developer Documentation

Media

Updated: Dec 11, 2025
You use 4 different endpoints to manage your media:
Endpoint Uses
Upload media.
Retrieve the URL for a specific media.
Delete a specific media.
Download media from a media URL.
See Supported Media Types for supported types and size limits.

Get media ID

Some of the API requests described in this document require a media ID. Media IDs are returned by the API when uploading media, and are included in incoming media messages webhooks (image messages, video messages, etc.)
Media IDs returned by the API expire after 30 days. Media IDs in webhooks expire after 7 days.

Upload media

To upload media, make a POST call to /PHONE_NUMBER_ID/media and include the parameters listed below. All media files sent through this endpoint are encrypted and persist for 30 days, unless they are deleted earlier.
Endpoint Authentication
/PHONE_NUMBER_ID/media
Developers can authenticate their API calls with the access token generated in the App Dashboard > WhatsApp > API Setup.
Solution Partners must authenticate themselves with an access token with the whatsapp_business_messaging permission.

Parameters

Name Description
file
Required.
Path to the file stored in your local directory. For example: “@/local/path/file.jpg”.
type
Required.
Type of media file being uploaded. See Supported Media Types for more information.
messaging_product
Required.
Messaging service used for the request. In this case, use whatsapp.

Request

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/media' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
-F 'messaging_product=whatsapp' \
-F 'file=@<FILE_PATH_AND_NAME>;type=<MIME_TYPE>'
Response
Upon success:
{
  "id": "<MEDIA_ID>"
}
Example request
curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/106540352242922/media' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-F 'messaging_product=whatsapp' \
-F 'file=@/media/template_assets/black_friday_2025.mp4;type=video/mp4'

Example response
{
  "id": "1037543291543636"
}
Get media URL
You can query a media ID directly to get a media URL, which you can then query directly with your access token to download the media asset. Note that incoming media messages webhooks (image messages, video messages, and so on) include the media URL, which is assigned to the url property.
Media URLs expire after 5 minutes, after which you must query the ID again to get a new URL.
Request syntax
curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<MEDIA_ID>?phone_number_id=<BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB'
Note that phone_number_id is optional. If included, the request will only be processed if the business phone number ID included in the query matches the ID of the business phone number that the media was uploaded on.
Response syntax
A successful response includes an object with a media url. The URL is only valid for 5 minutes. To use this URL, see Download Media.
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "url": "<MEDIA_URL>",
  "mime_type": "<MEDIA_MIME_TYPE>",
  "sha256": "<SHA_256_HASH>",
  "file_size": "<MEDIA_FILE_SIZE>",
  "id": "<MEDIA_ID>"
}
Delete media


Use the DELETE /<MEDIA_ID> endpoint to delete a media asset.






Request
syntax
curl -X DELETE 'https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<MEDIA_ID>?phone_number_id=<BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...'
Note that phone_number_id is optional. If included, the request will only be processed if the business phone number ID included in the query matches the ID of the business phone number that the media was uploaded on.
Example response
{
  "success": true
}
Download media


To download media, make a GET request on the media URL and include your access token. If you omit your token, the request will fail.


Note that when retrieving a media from a media ID received via webhook, the media ID will only be available to download for 7 days.






Request
syntax
curl '<MEDIA_URL>' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-o '<DESIRED_FILE_NAME>'
Upon success, the API will respond with the binary data of the media asset. Response headers contain a content-type header to indicate the mime type of returned data. Check supported media types for supported media types.
If the download attempt fails, you will receive a 404 Not Found response code. In that case, try to get a new media URL and download it again. If doing so doesn’t resolve the issue, renew your access token and attempt to download the media asset again.
Supported media types








Audio








Audio Type 

Extension 

MIME Type 

Max Size 






AAC





.aac





audio/aac





16 MB






AMR





.amr





audio/amr





16 MB






MP3





.mp3





audio/mpeg





16 MB






MP4 Audio





.m4a





audio/mp4





16 MB






OGG Audio





.ogg





audio/ogg (OPUS codecs only; base audio/ogg not supported; mono input only)





16 MB








Document








Document Type 

Extension 

MIME Type 

Max Size 






Text





.txt





text/plain





100 MB






Microsoft Excel





.xls





application/vnd.ms-excel





100 MB






Microsoft Excel





.xlsx





application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet





100 MB






Microsoft Word





.doc





application/msword





100 MB






Microsoft Word





.docx





application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document





100 MB






Microsoft PowerPoint





.ppt





application/vnd.ms-powerpoint





100 MB






Microsoft PowerPoint





.pptx





application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation





100 MB






PDF





.pdf





application/pdf





100 MB








Image


Images must be 8-bit, RGB or RGBA.








Image Type 

Extension 

MIME Type 

Max Size 






JPEG





.jpeg





image/jpeg





5 MB






PNG





.png





image/png





5 MB








Sticker


WebP images can only be sent in sticker messages.








Sticker Type 

Extension 

MIME Type 

Max Size 






Animated sticker





.webp





image/webp





500 KB






Static sticker





.webp





image/webp





100 KB








Video


Only H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec supported. Single audio stream or no audio stream only.


Note that videos encoded with the H.264 “High” profile and B-frames are not supported by Android WhatsApp clients. We recommend that you use H.264 “Main” profile without B-frames, or the H.264 “Baseline” profile when encoding (or re-encoding with a tool like ffmpeg), and place moov boxes before mdat boxes, for broader compatibility. If you are using ffmpeg, you can use the -movflags faststart flag to place moov boxes before mdata boxes.








Video Type 

Extension 

MIME Type 

Max Size 






3GPP





.3gp





video/3gpp





16 MB






MP4 Video





.mp4





video/mp4





16 MB


Note that mismatched MIME type (131053) is a common error. Inspect your media files to verify their MIME type. Make sure that your file name extensions reflect their types. For example, if you are using UNIX, you can inspect a file via the command line to determine its MIME type:


file -I your-image-asset.png








Media message download constraints


The maximum supported file size for media messages on Cloud API is 100MB. In the event the customer sends a file that is greater than 100MB, you will receive a webhook with error code 131052 and title:


“Media file size too big. Max file size we currently support: 100MB. Please communicate with your customer to send a media file that is smaller than 100MB”.


Send customers a warning message that their media file exceeds the maximum file size when this webhook event is triggered.








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