Faster, Simpler Photo Uploads

by Chris Putnam Friday, February 5, 2010 at 2:57pm

Facebook is the largest photo-sharing site with over 2.5 billion photos uploaded to Facebook each month. In order to make sharing photos even easier, today we are announcing a new and improved photo uploader.

Recently we've received feedback that people struggle with our current photo uploader due to various technical issues, while others are confused by the installation process. In this new version of the photo uploader, we have solved many of those problems and developed a fast, stable and simple experience for sharing photos on Facebook.

The new uploader will be rolling out gradually over the next several weeks. Once this upgrade has launched for you, the first time you go to upload a new photo you'll be asked to install the Facebook Plug-In. Simply click "Install" when you see the dialogue box in your web browser. Installation should take no longer than two minutes, and you will usually not have to restart your browser to continue.

Once the installation is complete, you will see a simple photo browser appear in a dialogue box on your screen. The top half of the box allows you to browse and select the folders from your desktop that contain your photos. From the bottom half of the box, you can choose which photos you'd like to upload to your Facebook profile. Click the "Use Selected Photos" button when you're ready to upload.

Once you have started your upload, you'll discover another feature, asynchronous uploading, that allows you to navigate away from the upload page, or even away from Facebook completely, while your photos continue to upload in the background. When the process is complete, you will receive a notification and can navigate back to edit, tag and add captions to your photos.

The installation box for the photo uploader will appear anytime you do something on the site that requires it—for example, when you create a new photo album or add photos to an existing album. The new photo uploader will also support additional image formats.

Our goal with this upgrade is to give you a fast, stable and simple experience for sharing photos on Facebook with your friends. If you have additional questions about the new photo uploader, please visit the Help Center or read this post on the Facebook Engineering Page to learn more about the technical details.

Chris, a Facebook engineer, is uploading photos from last night's Hackathon.

Topics: Photos

Updated about a month ago · Comment · Like

Brooklyn, Rami, Wulan and 5,569 others like this.

Cheridyth Zachary

FB plug in does NOT work for me at all! Why mess with something that wasn't broken. Trying to upload 100 pics from vacation and have to do it 5 at a time! Are you kidding me?

Yesterday at 12:26am

Mahesh Yadav

my 1 st day in mumbai...............

mumbai is my dream city i always want to go there, & its raely mumbai is dream city as i assume..........
train facilty, crowd, mumbai people, tifin center, & many more service facility and a patna girl.......my wonderfoll toor next day...........

Yesterday at 7:48am

Diane Burdall

this is pants!! I don't get the plug in question and all I have is the ability to upload 5 pics at any one time! Its my daughters 18th tomorrow and I wanted to upload an album of 90 pics - I'll still be her when she's 21 at this rate!!!!!!!

Yesterday at 2:03pm