Why Telegram Became the Go-To Tool for Newsrooms
Most messaging apps treat large files like an afterthought. WhatsApp caps you at 16MB - that’s less than a single high-res photo. Signal lets you send up to 100MB. Facebook Messenger? 25MB. But Telegram? It lets you send 2GB per file. For newsrooms, that’s not a feature - it’s a lifeline.
When a reporter in Kyiv records 45 minutes of raw audio from a frontline interview, they don’t need to compress it into a muddy mess. When a drone operator in Gaza captures 30 minutes of 1080p footage, they don’t want to split it into 125 tiny chunks just to get it out. Telegram’s 2GB limit lets them send it all in one go. No quality loss. No waiting. No guesswork.
This isn’t luck. Telegram made this choice on purpose. In 2020, they openly mocked WhatsApp’s 16MB limit as a "totally random number." They knew journalists, activists, and investigators needed more. And they built it.
What You Can Actually Send - And How Much Fits
Telegram doesn’t care what kind of file you’re sending. Video? Audio? PDFs? Spreadsheets? It handles them all. Here’s what fits inside that 2GB limit:
- Video: About 30 minutes of 1080p broadcast-quality footage at 35-40 Mbps. That’s enough for a full field report without compression artifacts.
- Audio: Up to 4 hours of CD-quality WAV or FLAC files at 1,411 kbps. No lossy MP3s needed. Perfect for investigative podcasts or courtroom recordings.
- Documents: A 500-page PDF with embedded images, a 100-sheet Excel file with pivot tables, or a full Final Cut Pro project folder - all fit easily.
For comparison: a 1.8GB raw interview file from Ukraine? That’s normal. A 1.9GB drone video from Sudan? That’s routine. Telegram doesn’t force you to shrink your story to fit a platform - it adapts to your story.
How Newsrooms Actually Use It - Real Workflows
It’s not just about sending big files. It’s about how you use them in a workflow.
The BBC’s digital team uses Telegram channels as temporary drop boxes. Field reporters upload footage immediately after recording. Editors download it within two hours - then the file is deleted. No cloud storage clutter. No lingering copies. Just fast, clean handoffs. They process about 12TB of media every month this way.
The Guardian’s podcast team sends uncompressed WAV files over Telegram. Before, they used WhatsApp. Each transfer degraded the audio. Now, they report a 37% drop in artifacts. That’s the difference between a muddy interview and a clean, publishable track.
At The New York Times, engineers split files over 2GB into 1.9GB chunks using Splitter.NET. They’ve gotten a 92% success rate reassembling them. It’s clunky, but it works. And it’s better than losing a 2.1GB file because WhatsApp wouldn’t take it.
Telegram Premium: The Upgrade Most Newsrooms Are Taking
Some stories are bigger than 2GB.
4K footage from a war zone? A 90-minute raw documentary cut? A full audio archive of 200+ interviews? That’s where Telegram Premium comes in. Launched in 2022, Premium bumps the limit to 4GB per file.
Reuters reported that by Q2 2024, 67% of their international bureaus had upgraded. Why? Because 4GB means 60 minutes of 1080p video - or 8 hours of uncompressed audio - without splitting. That’s a massive time-saver.
At $4.99 per month per user, it’s cheap compared to the cost of losing footage, re-recording interviews, or delaying a story. For newsrooms with tight budgets, it’s one of the best ROI decisions they’ve made.
The Catch: Security Isn’t Built In
Telegram’s file-sharing power comes with a blind spot: encryption.
Regular Telegram chats aren’t end-to-end encrypted by default. Only Secret Chats are. That means files sent in groups or channels can, in theory, be intercepted on Telegram’s servers.
Security experts like Bruce Schneier and organizations like Citizen Lab have flagged this. The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that journalists handling sensitive materials - whistleblower documents, leaked evidence, source identities - are at risk.
So what do newsrooms do? Some use VeraCrypt to encrypt files before sending them. Others use scheduled deletion (a feature Telegram added in June 2024) to auto-delete files after download. A few even combine Telegram with Signal - sending the file via Telegram, then sending the password via Signal.
It’s not perfect. But it’s better than nothing.
What Happens When You Hit the Limit
Not every file fits. A 4K drone video can easily hit 2.1GB. A raw 2-hour interview in WAV format? That’s 2.7GB.
When that happens, newsrooms have two choices: split or compress.
Splitting: Tools like Splitter.NET (Windows) or Split&Concat (macOS) break the file into two 1.9GB pieces. The recipient downloads both and reassembles them. It adds 10-15 minutes to the workflow, but it’s reliable. The New York Times’ team has nailed this process.
Compression: Journalist Ana Rodriguez’s popular Medium guide shows how to use HandBrake to reduce video size without losing broadcast quality. By lowering the bitrate from 40 Mbps to 25 Mbps, you can shrink a 2.1GB file to 1.8GB - still high enough for TV, but under the limit. Many freelancers swear by this.
There’s no magic fix. But knowing these tricks keeps your workflow moving.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Telegram’s file limit isn’t just about tech - it’s about press freedom.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 78% of reporters in countries like Russia, Iran, and Belarus rely on Telegram to share evidence. Why? Because local networks are monitored. Email is blocked. WhatsApp is too small. Telegram is the only tool that lets them send raw, unedited proof of abuses - without being stopped.
A 2023 report from the Reuters Institute found that 38% of journalists across 46 countries use Telegram specifically for file sharing. That number has doubled since 2020.
And it’s not just about sending files. Telegram’s "People Nearby" feature lets reporters find sources in real time. Profile videos help verify identities without relying on static photos. These aren’t gimmicks - they’re survival tools.
What’s Next? The Future of File Sharing in Journalism
Telegram’s CEO, Pavel Durov, announced in September 2024 that free accounts could see a 3GB limit by Q2 2025. Premium might go up to 8GB. That’s huge.
But the bigger question is security. Until Telegram adopts end-to-end encryption for all chats - like Signal does - the risk remains. Some newsrooms are already preparing: they’re building layered workflows, using encryption before upload, and limiting access time.
For now, Telegram remains the only messaging app that treats journalists like professionals - not just users. It doesn’t ask you to compromise. It just gives you the tools to do your job.
And in a world where truth is under attack, that’s worth more than any subscription fee.
