Ensuring Your Images are High-Resolution for Print

Steph Burr and Alyssa Archambault • July 27, 2020

Ensuring Images are High Resolution - What is DPI?

Most printers ask for images at 300 DPI, but what does that mean?

DPI stands for “Dots Per Inch”. Remember the dots on newspaper comics? DPI refers to the number of pixels that are printed per inch. 

The standard resolution needed for printing is 300 DPI. A higher DPI means a higher quality print and is the standard quality for most professional printings (Side note: If you plan on submitting a piece for our Art in the Windows project, the image needs to be at least 150 DPI!).

The resolution of a computer/phone screen is 72 DPI. This means that even if an image looks like it is high quality on a screen, it may still look bad when it prints out. 

To check the resolution of an image, you can upload your image here and see what size and quality you can print. 

Check Image Size & Quality Here

If your image is too low resolution, there is no way to make it higher resolution. Even if you change the image settings to a higher DPI, the image will still be just as blurry. For example, if your image is 100 DPI and you change the settings to 300 DPI, it will duplicate the pixels 3 times, so the image will look just as blurry (even though it is technically a higher DPI).


Most newer cell phones take high resolution photos, just ensure that when you export your image you export it at full resolution.

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