How to Understand Printing Resolution

Today's computer printers have come a long way since their beginning. Old-fashioned dot-matrix printers have now given way to color laser and ink-jet printers that are capable of producing photo-quality prints. One of the ways that these printers are rated is according to their printing resolution. It is helpful for printer users to gain an understanding of print resolution.

Instructions

1. Understand what is meant by the word "resolution." When someone speaks of resolution, they are referring to the amount of data that a file contains. This is often measured in pixels, and the greater the number of pixels, the higher quality the image when printed or viewed. When citing resolution it is often given as two dimensions, horizontal by vertical, as in 400x600.

2. Understand what is meant by megapixels. Digital images are made up of very tiny squares of color that when put together form the image. Any given image will have thousands or millions of pixels, with 1 million pixels equaling a megapixel.

3. Understand resolution and file size. There are other factors that can affect file size, but, in general, a file with higher resolution is going to be a larger file than one with a lower resolution. Large images of very high resolution can take up a lot of memory.

4. Understand how resolution pertains to printing. A large image will take up a lot of memory and also print out larger. Also, the number of pixels per inch of the image will determine how large it can be printed before you get a noticeable loss of quality. Experts suggest a minimum of 300 pixels per inch for printing high-quality images.

5. Understand what dots per inch, or DPI is, as opposed to pixels per inch (PPI). Printers use tiny dots of ink to produce a printed image. The number of dots per inch is the common measurement in describing the resolution of a printer. Again, the higher the number the better. A printer capable of 1200x1600 DPI can produce higher resolution images than a printer with an 800x600 DPI rating.

Tips & Warnings

• Using image-editing software to increase the size of an image will generally result in a loss of quality.

References

• Print Resolution Explained
• Understanding Images: A Guide to Resolution and Size

Resources

• Printer Reviews