For this example, the 300ppi image would work best because of it's larger print size and high quality. The 300ppi and 600ppi images both looked very crisp, but the 600ppi image was way too small. Which one to choose? The 72ppi and 150ppi images are too low of quality to produce a high-quality print, so they're out. The print quality is extremely low, leaving the image looking very blurry or 'soft'.ġ50ppi: The document size is still too large for the 8.5 x 11 sheet and the quality is mediocre and makes the image look acceptable, but isn't very desirable.ģ00ppi: The image almost fills up the entire sheet of paper and the print quality is very good with crisp, sharp details.Ħ00ppi: The image is substantially smaller than the other files, but the quality is extremely high. In this example, our image has been sent to print from a laser printer on standard 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper.ħ2ppi: The document size is so large that it cannot fit onto an 8.5 x 11 sheet and is clipped. Here's the math to make it more clear: Sample Image is 3000 x 2000 pxĦ00ppi: 3000 pixels / 600 pixels per inch = 5 inchesĢ000 pixels / 600 pixels per inch = 3.33 inchesģ00ppi: 3000 pixels / 300 pixels per inch = 10 inchesĢ000 pixels / 300 pixels per inch = 6.667 inchesġ50ppi: 3000 pixels / 150 pixels per inch = 20 inchesĢ000 pixels / 150 pixels per inch = 13.33 inchesħ2ppi: 3000 pixels / 72 pixels per inch = 41.67 inchesĢ000 pixels / 72 pixels per inch = 27.78 inches If we increase resolution then we must decrease from somewhere! Since the pixel dimensions cannot change, the only other place to decrease is our document size (width and height of image). Since we are not adding or subtracting any information (pixels) from our image, our image has to always balance out to its original 3000 x 2000 px. This is important to remember, because when we change resolution we are changing only how many pixels will be displayed per inch of the image, not how many pixels make up the image. We started with an image at 3000 x 2000 pixels (px) and ended with the dimensions still being 3000 x 2000px. We notice that the pixel dimensions never change. Now my image will print larger, but the quality will be much lower.

What happens if we decrease our resolution?Īs you may have guessed, our Width and Height doubled when we halved our Resolutions. However, note that the Width and Height decreased by half when the Resolutions doubled. This means that in order to print at 600ppi and retain full-quality, I can print this image only as large as 5' x 3.33'. Remember that the number of pixels in the image have stayed the same because we did not add or subtract any pixels to the image, only determined how many of those pixels to display per inch. I wanted to print this image in a professional publication and the image needed to be at least 600ppi. In this example, we had an image with a 300ppi resolution. This is because GIMP is changing only the resolution of the image and not adding any additional pixels (which is what happens when an image is resized). To change resolution we are NOT changing the number of pixels in the photo, but changing only how many of those pixels will be displayed per inch.Ĭ ongratulations! You have successfully changed the resolution of an image! You will notice that when you type a value into the Resolution field, the values of the document's width and height also change. In the X and Y Resolution fields, type in your desired resolution. If Print Size Width and Heights are not shown as inches, select the dropdown beside Height and select 'in'.Ĥ. A Set Image Print Resolution dialog box will appear like the one pictured below. Tip: You may right-click and save the tiger image below to use it as a practice image.ģ. With GIMP open, go to File > Open and select an image Image editing programs like GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) can give you resolution information and allow you to change the resolution of an image. One would change the resolution of an image particularly for printing purposes, because the quality of the print is dependent on the resolution of the image.ġ. How to Change Image Resolution Using GIMP

Photo resolution converter