A simple guide for Pronto Reprographics customers.
If you’ve ever sent a file to a print shop and gotten back a blurry, fuzzy, or pixelated result — DPI is almost certainly why. It’s one of the most common reasons print jobs don’t turn out the way customers expect, and it’s completely avoidable once you understand what DPI means and how to check it before you send your file.
This guide is written for everyday customers — no technical background needed. By the end, you’ll know exactly what DPI is, why it matters, and how to make sure your files are always print-ready.
So, What Does DPI Actually Mean?
DPI stands for Dots Per Inch. It’s a measurement of how many tiny ink dots a printer places within one inch of space on a printed page.
Think of it like a mosaic made of tiny colored tiles. If your mosaic has very few, large tiles, the image looks blocky and rough up close. But if it’s made of hundreds of tiny tiles packed tightly together, the image looks smooth, detailed, and sharp. DPI works exactly the same way — more dots per inch means a finer, crisper result.
The Difference Between Screen Resolution and Print Resolution
Here’s where most people get confused — and it’s the most important thing in this entire article:
An image that looks great on your screen can still print terribly.
Your computer monitor typically displays images at 72–96 DPI. That’s all a screen needs to look sharp because you’re viewing it at a set distance from a lit display. But when that same image goes to a printer, 72 DPI isn’t nearly enough — the printer needs at least 300 DPI to produce a clean result.
So when you pull a logo or photo off a website and try to print it large, it often comes out blurry — even though it looked perfectly fine on your screen. The screen was just compensating for the low resolution in a way that print cannot.
What DPI Should You Use? A Simple Reference Guide
Here’s a quick reference table for the most common print projects:
| DPI | Quality | Best For | Print Ready? |
| 72 DPI | Poor | Screen / web only | ❌ No |
| 150 DPI | Fair | Large banners (viewed from far away) | ⚠️ Sometimes |
| 300 DPI | Excellent | Documents, flyers, signs, posters | ✅ Yes |
| 600 DPI | Superior | Blueprints, fine detail, line drawings | ✅ Yes |
The 300 DPI rule of thumb: When in doubt, 300 DPI at the actual print size is the safe standard for almost any project. It’s what we recommend for the vast majority of jobs at Pronto.
The exception for wide-format or large-format: For very large prints like banners and trade show displays that are viewed from several feet away, 150 DPI is often acceptable because viewers are never close enough to see individual dots.
How to Check the DPI of Your File
Before sending us your file, here’s how to check its resolution on the most common platforms:
On a Windows PC:
- Right-click your image file and select Properties.
- Click the Details tab.
- Look for Horizontal resolution and Vertical resolution — these show your DPI.
On a Mac:
- Open your image in Preview (double-click it).
- Go to Tools > Show Inspector (or press Cmd+I).
- The Image tab shows DPI under Image DPI.
In Adobe Photoshop:
- Go to Image > Image Size.
- You’ll see the Resolution field showing DPI. Make sure it says 300 or higher.
- Important: do not just change the number without also having Resample checked — simply typing a higher number without resampling doesn’t add real image data.
In Canva:
- Canva designs are resolution-dependent based on the canvas size you set.
- When downloading, choose Download > PDF Print instead of PNG or JPG — Canva’s PDF Print option outputs at 300 DPI automatically.
The Most Common DPI Mistakes We See
After decades of printing for customers, these are the issues we run into most often:
❌ Saving a low-res image at a high DPI
Changing the DPI number in software doesn’t magically add detail that wasn’t there. If you take a 72 DPI web image and tell Photoshop to make it 300 DPI without resampling, you’re just relabeling it — the actual image data is still low quality. Garbage in, garbage out.
❌ Pulling logos and images off websites
Website images are compressed and optimized for fast loading, usually at 72–96 DPI. They almost never work for print. Always ask for a high-resolution version of a logo directly from the company or designer who created it. Most logos should be available as a vector file (.ai, .eps, or .svg) which prints at any size with no quality loss.
❌ Designing at the wrong size
If you design a banner at 8.5×11 inches and then ask us to print it at 4×8 feet, the DPI effectively drops dramatically when we scale it up. Always design at the actual final print size — or larger.
❌ Sending a screenshot
Screenshots are always low resolution — usually 72–96 DPI. We see this often when customers send screenshots of logos or graphics from their phone or computer. Always send the original source file, not a screenshot of it.
A Quick Rule You Can Always Remember
| If it’s going on a screen → 72 DPI is fine. If it’s going on paper → 300 DPI minimum. If it’s a large banner or sign → 150 DPI at print size is OK. |
Not Sure If Your File Is Print-Ready? Just Ask Us.
We review files before printing and will always let you know if we spot a resolution issue before your job goes to press. It’s part of how we’ve kept customers happy since 1964.
Send us your file and we’ll take a look. We’d rather catch a DPI problem before printing than after.
- Website: https://prontoreprographics.com/contact
- Phone: (361) 777-0808
- Location: 4302 Tiger Lane, Corpus Christi, Texas 78411-4441
- Hours: Monday – Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Thank you for reading!
– Pronto Reprographics is a 3rd generation, family-owned commercial print shop located in Corpus Christi , Texas; specializing in: blueprint printing, architectural plans, yard signs, signs, banners, posters, wide-format printing, wide-format scanning, wide-format laminating, stickers, embroidery, and more! We ship nationwide, let’s explore the possibilities!