19

What's the dimensions of a presentation slide in pixels?

I'm having a hard time trying to get it right. I keep guessing and checking and it's taking too long. I googled some results and they're a bit off as well.

The other issue is that I'm using .opd format; the format proprietary to open office / libre office in windows 7.

I'm just trying to design a decent background for my presentation.

Improve this question
0

7 Answers 7

Reset to default
7

I create Powerpoint templates regularly for clients.

I use RGB / 1504px x 1129px or 20.889" x 15.681" / 72ppi jpg or png files for full page backgrounds in PowerPoint. This image size will cover the entire slide. Any thing smaller will need to be scaled to match the slide dimension.

Improve this answer
3
  • This will be too tall for modern widescreen ratios, though.
    – e100
    Jul 5, 2012 at 18:19
  • 1
    I'm simply posting what I use every day. I realize it may not fit with screen sizes, but this is the max size of a Powerpoint slide. How Powerpoint squishes and squirms to fit a screen is somewhat irrelevant. This is the size of the full slide.
    – Scott
    Jul 5, 2012 at 18:44
  • As e100 pointed out above, thankfully you can choose the aspect ratio now. You can actually create the image to fit the screen. Personally, I just use Google Presentations now anyway.
    – plainclothes
    Apr 4, 2014 at 16:25
7

Both PowerPoint and Impress slides are specified in inches or cm, rather than pixels, and these real-world units are somewhat arbitrary given that the presentations are normally scaled proportionally to fit whatever screen they're shown on. (Or non-proportionally, if somewhat's got the screen settings wrong)

I'd go with an image that's big enough in pixels for any screen you're likely to show it on; just scale it proportionally to fill the background.

But for best results try to match the proportions of the presentation itself to the screen you're going to use. Both PowerPoint (at least up to 2003) and Impress (latest version in mid 2011) "sized for on-screen show" slides defaulted to a 4:3 ratio, which is too tall for modern widescreens. In PowerPoint 2010 (and perhaps 2007?) you have the choice of 4:3, 16:9, 16:10.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    It occurs to me that I'm probably in the minority of people on this site who remember when Powerpoint's output was actual slides -- the film kind. There were these projector things with carousels on top and even the remotes and auto change used analog signals -- the Neolithic period of Powerpoints.
    – Alan Gilbertson
    Jul 6, 2011 at 21:22
  • Transition animations must have been a bit fiddly ;-)
    – e100
    Jul 7, 2011 at 10:14
  • If I recall correctly, those involved something with smoke, mirrors and a sacrificial goat. :-D
    – Alan Gilbertson
    Jul 7, 2011 at 18:55
1

Inside Libre Office / Open Office Impress

  1. File -> Export as JPEG
  2. Open the .jpg export reveals the PX Dimensions

1058px x 794px at 72 DPI

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    I'm not sure the exported px dimensions are necessarily the same as the best dimensions for the background, which is what you seemed to be asking.
    – e100
    Jul 7, 2011 at 10:13
1

The reason everyone is TOTALLY confused here is that Powerpoint uses 72 POINTS Per Inch (28.346 per cm) NOT PIXELS. It works with the old print standards. if you take the standard 960x720 document size of 25.4cm x 19.05cm and do the maths it doesn't work out and funnily enough the amount it's out by is EXACTLY the ratio of standard points (as used in font sizes) to pixels eg: 36pt = 48px (this isn't an EXACT ratio but near enough for this)

So take the dots per cm 28.346 * width in cm 25.4 should = 960 but actually = 720. divide this by 36 and times by 48 and WOOHOO we get the actual 960 pixels!

Powerpoint works in a completely different unit than pixels so if you look at the standard presentation.xml within the .pptx file you'll see this line that defines the standard slide size: p:sldSz type="screen4x3" cy="6858000" cx="9144000"/

This 9144000x6858000 size is the standard 960x720 pixel template. (25.4cm x 19.05cm)

if you get out your calculator you can work out that a 1280x720 template requires you to edit the .xml to read : p:sldSz type="screen4x3" cy="6858000" cx="12192000"/

You can do this by right clicking the .pptx and opening it with winrar ; )

Alternatively just use 33.86cm x 19.05cm ... it's a lot quicker :D

For 1920 x 1080 use 50.8cm x 28.575cm

If you want to check my settings use these sizes and save the slide out as a jpeg. You'll find they are correct : )

Improve this answer
1
  • I found this answer useful. If you want are creating a powerpoint document and you want to work in points multiply the value by 96 then divide by 72.
    – Keith John Hutchison
    Nov 26, 2015 at 2:11
0

PPT default presentation: 2200X1650. Pic resolution: 220. I got this size by creating a rectangle with a slide size in my presentation> save as jpg. I insert it in PPT and it was too small. I read that the default res in PPT is 220 so I resample my pic in Photoshop from 150 dpi to 220 dpi and got the exact size. It might be heavy so you can use 1500X? (I don't remember but keep it proportionally) - PPT save as default, and stretch it in PPT.

Improve this answer
0

try: page size 50.80cm x 28.57cm. It seems to work for me so far. I created a full HD JPEG in Photoshop (1920x1080 pixels at 72dpi pixels per inch). Then created a new Impress presentation. Right clicked the page and entered: slide > page setup.

At first I tried 16cm across by 9cm high and then doubled each in turn, until I reached largest cm size possible (300cm is largest so finally reached 256cm x 144cm) but when I inserted the full HD JPEG, the image was really small. so I selected original size and it was still really small. So I investigated the JPEG size with a right click and it was 50.80cm x 28.57cm) so: Changed page size to 50.80cm x 28.57cm.

Then inserted picture. (have to right click > position & size and play with the settings a bit. ie: position x at 0cm and y at 0 cm. but then the image should fit perfectly).

I've not tested this as a presentation yet, but so far, this seems to be working.

Improve this answer
0

PC's use a base resolution of 96 ppi. Mac's use 72 ppi.

A traditional PPT slide was 10" x 7.5" on the PC, totaling 960x720 pixels.

Now, PowerPoint will allow for larger resolutions for your images. However, when displaying, your images and fonts are rendered at the screen resolution -- which could be set by your monitor or a presentation switcher.

It is all very confusing.

So, if your goal is HD -- then 1920x1080 is great. If you don't know, a resolution of 150 ppi works great for both onscreen and desktop printing.

BTW, PNG images have great advantages in ppt. You can use Photoshop or illustrator to export them. They compress in PPT and print great, and allow for transparent backgrounds. If you are old-school, and have built massive decks, you know JPEGs can cause all sorts of problems.

Oh. I have told you too much ...

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    DPI resolution is fairly meaningless on screen.
    – DA01
    May 6, 2014 at 0:22

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.