AI agents couldn't open a video; photos came out blurry
1What happened
Sandra (client work) needed the video. Felix (engineering) built the fix.
Our AI agents could not get the original file when a client sent a video or a big photo. Photos looked soft. A video seemed to be missing.
Why it happened
There were two causes.
Blurry photos: a setting on our agents' file reader shrank any image over 1,280 pixels on its long side. It was set up for one earlier job and reached further than meant.
The missing video: nothing could save an email attachment.
What we tried first
We tested video from a file we already had. That worked, so the problem was not the video viewer.
We then looked at where files come from. We found no way to save an email attachment as the original file.
2What we did
We left the image setting alone and built a tool that cuts a big photo into small tiles, each at full detail.
For attachments, we built a tool that saves the file at original size and compares the saved byte count to the count the mail service lists. It prints MATCH, MISMATCH or UNVERIFIED, so a shrunken or cut-off file cannot slip through.
3How we checked
We ran the tool on four client files: two large images, a photo and the video. All four said MATCH.
The video turned out to be in an older email that our first search missed. It came as an email attachment, and the saved file matched the original. The agent then pulled frames and a transcript from it.
One mailbox type is still untried on a live file. The count check runs every time, so the first one will prove itself.
4Try it
When an AI agent says a file looks wrong, check whether it ever had the original. Compare byte counts before you trust what it sees.
