Photo DPI & Print Size Calculator

Why Your Prints Look Blurry (And How to Fix It)

We've all been there. You find a great photo on your phone. You send it to the printer to make a nice poster for your wall. And when it comes back... it looks like a Minecraft block. Blurry, jagged, and ugly.

The problem isn't your printer. It's your resolution. Screens are forgiving; paper is not. To get a crisp print, you need a lot more pixels than you think.

The Magic Number: 300 DPI

DPI stands for "Dots Per Inch." It's simply a measure of density. Think of it like thread count in sheets—higher is smoother.

• 300 DPI: This is the "magazine quality" standard. If you are printing a photo to hold in your hand (like a 4x6 or a wedding album), you need 300 DPI. Anything less will look soft.
• 150 DPI: This is fine for things you view from a distance, like a poster on a wall. You don't need 300 DPI for a poster because you aren't staring at it with a magnifying glass.
• 72 DPI: This is for screens only. Never, ever print at 72 DPI. It will look terrible.

"Can I Just Make the Image Bigger?"

No. This is the "CSI Effect." In TV shows, they shout "Enhance!" and a blurry blob becomes a clear face. In real life, that doesn't exist.

If you have a small image (say, 500 pixels wide) and you stretch it to print on an A4 paper, the printer has to invent pixels that aren't there. The result is a blurry mess. You can't add quality that wasn't captured by the camera.

Real-World Cheat Sheet

Here is what you actually need for common print sizes (assuming high quality 300 DPI):

• 4x6 Photo: You need at least 2 Megapixels (1200x1800). Any modern phone can do this easily.
• A4 Paper (Letter): You need about 9 Megapixels (2480x3508). Most phones are fine here too.
• Large Poster (24x36"): You need a lot. Ideally 70+ Megapixels. But since posters are viewed from far away, you can drop to 150 DPI, which means a standard 20 Megapixel camera is actually enough!

Common Questions