"Media omitted" (WhatsApp)

The placeholder text WhatsApp writes into an export in place of a photo, video, or voice note when the chat is exported "without media".

Choosing "Without Media" when exporting a chat keeps the file small by leaving out the actual photos, videos, and voice notes — but WhatsApp still needs to mark that something was there, so it writes a short placeholder line in the message’s place. The exact wording depends on the phone’s language and platform: English iOS says "image omitted", English Android says "‎<Media omitted>", and other languages have their own equivalents. A tool reading the export has to recognize every one of these phrasings as "this was an attachment, not text" or it ends up treating hundreds of photo placeholders as if they were things somebody actually typed.

Example

A group chat where members frequently share photos without captions can show "image omitted" dozens of times — real attachments, not a word anyone actually typed, and it shouldn’t appear in a list of someone’s most-used phrases.

Try it with your chat

Frequently asked questions

Can a "media omitted" placeholder be turned back into the original photo?+

No — exporting without media genuinely doesn’t include the file anywhere, so there’s nothing to recover from the text export alone. Only exporting "with media" keeps the originals, bundled into a .zip.

Does a captioned photo show up differently?+

Yes — WhatsApp keeps the caption text alongside the media placeholder, so "image omitted, Happy birthday!" needs to be read as one attachment with a caption, not as a person literally typing the placeholder text.

Frequently asked questions

Related terms