[Feature Request] Screen sharing is of somewhat low quality

[p0358]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

The screen sharing quality is a bit lower than expected, the text is blurry/low quality and somewhat hard to read. [tested on Linux and Windows 10 VM, with 3D acceleration available and not respectively]

Describe the solution you'd like

It would be good if we could see a better quality in screensharing. I'm not sure of the technicalities, framerate is already low too. Perhaps the resolution could be increased, with screen sharing there's usually less data to send than with camera data, unless someone decides to stream something like a game or a video. Don't get me wrong, I'm still very grateful Telegram finally has that feature, only suggesting it could be looked into this concern in some free time.

Describe alternatives you've considered

On the lookout I've compared Telegram's quality to other solutions. In Discord, the quality in default free 720p setting is very similar, maybe a tad better. It's much better and clear in higher resolutions available with Nitro subscription. With apps like Skype and Microsoft Teams, the quality is clear, though I think Skype had a better one. Remote control apps/protocols like AnyDesk, TeamViewer, RDP, VNC, all tend to have a crystal clear image quality, some may suffer is there's a lot of motion going on. Free Jitsi Meet in the browser has much clearer image too. (Personally though I'll probably still stick to Telegram, because it has a better voice quality than for example Discord, and using two communication apps at once is meh and not really needed anymore)

Additional context

As far as I know Discord is using regular H.264. Many of the other mentioned platforms surely use different codecs for desktop, some use custom-designed ones for their purpose. It might be hard to adapt them, given people may want to stream dynamic content like video too. Perhaps a solution like resolution increase or a tradeoff settings between resolution and framerate (to maintain similar bitrate, cause I assume that's the limitation) could be introduced, as Discord appears to have a big perceived quality increase on higher resolutions, though we don't really see what bitrate settings are tied to their presets. However if we trust their statistics screen, they seem to use variable bitrate, and when you screenshare something there where not much is happening on the screen, the bitrate flow is very low. It might be a part of changes they introduced as part of updates for quarantine times, where people started using the thing more for whiteboard sharing rather than gaming, not sure about that part though.

I'm encouraging others to share their thoughts about this, maybe it may turn out it's only an issue on my side for example

[kirsan31]

Tried it today with a colleague. The quality is not enough even for full HD. Overall thoughts, in current state nearly not usable for us :( Problems:

• No ScreenSharing in non group calls.
• No quality settings. Definitely need better quality.
• Can't expand it on full screen (voice chat members bar is always visible).

[samushenkov]

We use google meet now for desktop sharing with colleagues. If internet connection is very slow google prefers to use low fps over bad image quality. I personally think it is a relly good solution. Image can be updated like several times in 10 seconds (1 frame per 3 seconds) but it stays crystal clear.

[kirsan31]

Screen sharing quality is something terrible.

Tdesktop 2.9.3 on both side, 100mb net, full call quality indicator, Full HD screen sharing:

[faan11]

The problem still persists in Telegram desktop app. I think the user should select the appropriate video quality. are there any news about this issue?

[faan11]

Moreover, the shared screen is partially cropped when the video call window is maximed.

[ilya-markov]

same for me. please fix!

[Mohoki]

please, fix !

[lmcsu]

Current quality makes screen sharing feature almost useless 😢 Please fix that so we can finally stop using those stupid skype and zoom.

[searleser97]

agree with @lmcsu

[ghost]

Quality is also way too low on Linux Mint 20.1.

As @lmcsu said: the quality is so low, that the feature is useless for many if not most usecases. Trying to view a text file is already impossible at 1080p, as many characters cannot even be deciphered by the viewer(s). Skype is the better alternative (even if I hate Microsoft).

[ddcovery]

Telegram Video Chat is really impressive and easily can substitute horrible zoom in my company... everybody was impressed until I tried to share the screen.

5 minutes after we returned to zoom... discord is our actual tool.

This issue is clearly an stopper and solving it a must!!!

[skhtml]

Паша Дуров, сделай это или не пацан? Все ждут решение этого бага, я восхищен работой телеги в последнее время - все очень четко и круто, кроме этой нужной вещи

[kirsan31]

In Discord you have an option: Without nitro it's 5 fps, and it's perfect for text screen sharing. We defiantly need something similar in tdesktop 🙏

[danbadjar]

Same problem here. Low quality screen sharing (comparing with google/zoom) and the screen is cropped.

Please fix it - This will be a killer feature for competitors

[mnogokotin]

Fix, please

[mnogokotin]

when, guys? )

[sinni800]

What would be a killer for me is a high fps transfer too. At the very least 30, but 60 would be a good target. Maybe think about different recording techniques, like game recording too.

Could adapt code from OBS for this, both Telegram Desktop and OBS are GPL.

You know what would also be SUPER lovable? Being able to link to running live streams so people can watch them in a HTML5 browser. This could also be used to bring more users into Telegram, as they'd not be able to comment in the stream and whatnot. But this is feedback that is somewhat off-topic for this repo (apart from the UI needed to create these live links).

[zakiloki0]

This still not fixed

[smnbbrv]

1 Gbit internet on both clients and such a poor quality... This feature is really about reading texts and / or code at someone's screen. This is even worse than not having screen sharing at all, at least it wouldn't be that frustrating...

[Aokromes]

try on https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/releases/tag/v3.5.0

[danbadjar]

Just installed 3.5.0 but the screencast quality is still low and unusable :(

[vserdyuk]

Text captured from 1440p screen looks really bad (шакально) on 1080p screen.

[john-preston]

@danbadjar Sad :( I've ensured that downscaling is no more than 2x and no scaling for resolutions less than 2560x1440. But looks like it's not enough.

[mnogokotin]

quality is still bad (

[john-preston]

Well, I hope this one

https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/issues/16487#issuecomment-902766387

will look differently now.

[coreequip]

Well, I hope this one

#16487 (comment)

will look differently now.

Unfortunately not, John.

[Aokromes]

https://i.imgur.com/ctqGOj2.png 4k screen test

[kirsan31]

@john-preston

Well, I hope this one

#16487 (comment)

will look differently now.

1920x1200 (both screens) in static is excellent now:

With low speed scrolling looks like static in previous versions.

Nice improvements - thanks 👍

[danbadjar]

Just tested in 3.5 Screen Sharing quality between 2 people is GOOD and ok now.

Screen Sharing quality in a group audio chat is still VERY BAD quality.

Con you confirm this? If yes then the problem seems only in group chats.

It would be good to have a good quality screen sharing in group chats.

[tkipkurgat]

screen cast quality still pathetic, needs to be really improved.

[Benzgood77]

Is your feature request related to a problem?

The screen sharing quality is a bit lower than expected, the text is blurry/low quality and somewhat hard to read. [tested on Linux and Windows 10 VM, with 3D acceleration available and not respectively]

Describe the solution you'd like

It would be good if we could see a better quality in screensharing. I'm not sure of the technicalities, framerate is already low too. Perhaps the resolution could be increased, with screen sharing there's usually less data to send than with camera data, unless someone decides to stream something like a game or a video. Don't get me wrong, I'm still very grateful Telegram finally has that feature, only suggesting it could be looked into this concern in some free time.

Describe alternatives you've considered

On the lookout I've compared Telegram's quality to other solutions. In Discord, the quality in default free 720p setting is very similar, maybe a tad better. It's much better and clear in higher resolutions available with Nitro subscription. With apps like Skype and Microsoft Teams, the quality is clear, though I think Skype had a better one. Remote control apps/protocols like AnyDesk, TeamViewer, RDP, VNC, all tend to have a crystal clear image quality, some may suffer is there's a lot of motion going on. Free Jitsi Meet in the browser has much clearer image too. (Personally though I'll probably still stick to Telegram, because it has a better voice quality than for example Discord, and using two communication apps at once is meh and not really needed anymore)

Additional context

As far as I know Discord is using regular H.264. Many of the other mentioned platforms surely use different codecs for desktop, some use custom-designed ones for their purpose. It might be hard to adapt them, given people may want to stream dynamic content like video too. Perhaps a solution like resolution increase or a tradeoff settings between resolution and framerate (to maintain similar bitrate, cause I assume that's the limitation) could be introduced, as Discord appears to have a big perceived quality increase on higher resolutions, though we don't really see what bitrate settings are tied to their presets. However if we trust their statistics screen, they seem to use variable bitrate, and when you screenshare something there where not much is happening on the screen, the bitrate flow is very low. It might be a part of changes they introduced as part of updates for quarantine times, where people started using the thing more for whiteboard sharing rather than gaming, not sure about that part though.

I'm encouraging others to share their thoughts about this, maybe it may turn out it's only an issue on my side for example

[Benzgood77]

#

[zakiloki0]

Quality still bad and low FPS

[akhil-rana]

Still very bad quality in latest desktop versions on both windows and linux (arch, kde, wayland).

Moreover with new streaming support from OBS still suffers from bad quality (not too bad but still ain't good) even if we use high presets in OBS

[ivanglushko]

Bump for quality

[pashkash]

increase priority please

[zakiloki0]

It seems that this is not a priority for Telegram

[cksrc]

so disappointing, why do you even keep the feature if is useless?

[github-actions[bot]]

Hey there!

This issue was inactive for a long time and will be automatically closed in 30 days if there isn't any further activity. We therefore assume that the user has lost interest or resolved the problem on their own.

Don't worry though; if this is an error, let us know with a comment and we'll be happy to reopen the issue.

Thanks!

[sinni800]

Still an issue, people just kind of lost hope

[smnbbrv]

People found other platforms to work with :) But issue is still there

[mnogokotin]

fix it!

[jeffdcamp]

Please fix this

[sakibarifin]

Please fix it. Is the quality higher in premium?

[ivanglushko]

Please fix it. Is the quality higher in premium?

i doubt it

[islawtf]

still a issue

[kinseii]

A much-needed feature in video chats. As long as the screencast quality is poor in Telegram, I have to go to other platforms.

[greg7mdp]

Fix it already! Screen sharing quality is unacceptable for 4k monitors (and I have premium).

[Linerd4]

To this day screensharing is still unusable in many ways... There's a lot of potential by fixing it, we're still waiting for it :)

[luisalvarado]

Note this also affects on phone. So let's say you want to do support and a client shares their screen via telegram. You look at it on the phone. If you try to do zoom with your fingers, everything is highly pixelated and there is no option anywhere to control the base resolution wnd quality you want to use.

So there is no way to pick of I want the highest quality so I can zoom and read code or a legal document etc..

Same thing applies on desktop too.