DPI vs PPI Explained: What Resolution Should Your Images Be?

DPI and PPI are widely misunderstood — even by designers who use them daily. Most people use the terms interchangeably, but they refer to different things and matter in different contexts. Let's clear this up once and for all.

PPI: Pixels Per Inch (Screen Resolution)

PPI describes how many pixels are packed into each inch of a screen. A high PPI screen (like Apple's Retina at 227 PPI) displays sharper images than a standard 96 PPI monitor. PPI is a physical property of your display hardware.

DPI: Dots Per Inch (Print Resolution)

DPI describes how many ink dots a printer places per inch of paper. A 300 DPI print is sharp and professional. A 72 DPI print looks blurry. DPI is a property of the printer and the print job settings.

The Common Confusion

Image editing software shows "DPI" in file metadata — but for a digital image, this number only affects printing, not screen display. A 72 DPI image and a 300 DPI image with the same pixel dimensions look identical on screen. The DPI setting only tells a printer how to scale the image.

Recommended DPI by Use Case

• Web/screen only: 72–96 DPI (any higher is wasted data)
• Standard print: 150–200 DPI (for documents, presentations)
• Professional print: 300 DPI (business cards, brochures, photos)
• Large format print: 100–150 DPI (banners viewed at distance)

The Key Question: How Many Pixels Do You Have?

For print, calculate required pixels = DPI × inches. To print a 4×6 inch photo at 300 DPI, you need at least 1200×1800 pixels. If your image has fewer pixels, the print will look blurry — no DPI setting can fix this.