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There are some things in Photoshop's "new" dialog window that I find troubling: photoshop's 'new' dialog window

  1. Assume an image of 1000 pixels by 1000 pixels. How can there be an input box for ppi? Ppi a property of the result of displaying or printing an image, not a property of the image itself, am I right?
  2. Also, why does Photoshop call ppi "Resolution"? Shouldn't it be called "density"?
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  • But density would be wrong for i.e. "cm". The "resolution" in this case only adds an info for how it is displayed/printed and nothing more
    – tim human
    Jun 15, 2015 at 7:46
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    They should really call it "Print Resolution"
    – DA01
    Jun 15, 2015 at 14:38
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    It's called resolution because it describes the smallest detail that can be resolved. It's always been called resolution. The new usage of "resolution" has been this weird but now common trend in describing overall display / print dimensions (but not physical dimensions) as "resolution" in recent years. Of course, the concepts are all tied together very closely.
    – Jason C
    Jun 15, 2015 at 17:26
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    Becouse that is what it is... resolution. Oh. btw. There are many types of resolution. But it still is resolution.
    – Rafael
    Jun 15, 2015 at 18:48
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    Thats propably because it is the resolution. PPI is just a a popular unit to describe the Resolution for Print Media.
    – BlueWizard
    Jun 15, 2015 at 21:31

6 Answers 6

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The PPI doesn't really matter if you use pixels as units; 1000x1000 pixels at 300 or 72ppi will still be 1000x1000 pixels. But when you change the units to inches, then you'll notice one is smaller than the other; there will be be more pixels per inch as the name says. As you mentioned, PPI is more for printing, but it can also now be used as a reference for high density screens (eg. Retina) for web projects.

The field is not that useful for PPI and pixels together, but it can be convenient when comparing sizes like inches VS pixels combined with PPI, if one needs to visualize all this quickly.

PPI or DPI (dots-per-inch) are the standard units for resolution, and it's true it could be called density but it might not be that useful to rename a standard and well-known unit based only on the new display technology. There's still LPI (lines-per-inch) used in printing as well, and all these names make sense together. The name pixels-per-inch is quite self-explanatory, easy to understand, and still appropriate for the technology that is used today.


About density and how PPI/DPI work (to respond to comment):

Pixels-per-inch (PPI):

When the resolution is higher, the pixels are smaller and the image is also smaller.

When people ask for a 1000x1000 pixel image with 300DPI (or 300PPI), they actually want a 3.33inch x 3.33inch image at 300DPI (or 8.47cm x 8.47cm at 300DPI if you prefer). But when you create your file in Photoshop, you can simply use the pixels and enter the 300dpi if you really want to have the right print size; when you save it, it will be at the right size and with the right "pixel concentration" no matter the unit the printer/client prefers. For you it won't make a difference on performance or image quality, it's the same number of pixels.

As a trick, if you wonder if a web image of 72 dpi (72ppi) will be good enough for printing, you can already visualize that image 4x smaller (1/4) than what you see on the screen at 100% and guess how big it can be used on a print project.

What is resolution and pixels-per-inch PPI

Dot-per-inch (DPI):

In offset printing, instead of using square pixels, they use dots. When you send files for printing, it's transferred on a metal plate and your pixels are re-encoded in dots. The darker the color, the bigger the dot. When you see a printed color image, it's a set of 4 dots (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black) and they each have their own angle. A vector or bitmap file is clearer because there no anti-aliasing being reproduced; so no tiny dots next to your full shape which gives that "hairy letter" effect.

For digital printing, they'll use DPI when talking about the quality of their machines. In general, the printer uses powders that are dropped on a sheet, mixed together and cooked in the process. That's why there's no visible dots. The difference of quality between vector and rasterized images will be less obvious too.

For large format prints such as a pull-up banner, it's the same concept as an inkjet and they use DPI too.

Line-per-inch (LPI):

To put it simply, LPI is the unit related to the quality of the offset press itself and indicates how big the dots are and how many lines of dots are in one inch; LPI is 1/2 of the DPI/PPI. It's the same logic as dpi/ppi except with lines; more lines = more quality. Usually, when you hear about a file that needs to be 300DPI, this image will be printed at 150LPI.

Standard newspapers are printed at 85LPI, most offset press have 133LPI and top quality press (rarer) 150LPI. Yes, nice 300DPI images are often printed in reality at 266DPI on offset.

Why it's important to know about LPI: if you needed to select a printer for a jewellery catalog for example, you would need to ask if your printer can handle 150LPI for maximum quality and clarity. You can also ask this when requesting quotes and wondering why one printer is way lower than the other... His estimate could be for digital printing, 85lpi, 133lpi or 150lpi.

What is resolution and dots-per-inch DPI and line-per-inch (LPI)

Top image: Inkjet, digital (DPI)

Second image: Pixels, display, web (PPI)

Thirdimage: Offset color printing (DPI + LPI)

Pixels, Dots, Lines


Other question related to this topic here.


Images source: DPI/LPI theme.fm, PPI kalliopimonoyios.com, EYE www.rgbcmyk.net

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  • Sometimes I get a request to send an image file with "resolution at least AxB px and dpi of 300". Does it mean that "dpi" is stored somewhere in jpeg file?
    – groovy354
    Jun 15, 2015 at 8:35
  • The DPI is stored in the way that it's the quantity of pixels in your image. So if you specify 300dpi, in fact it will "store" the dimension at 300dpi. I added some notes in my answer above, it responds to your question about the weird request of 1000x1000 pixels at 300dpi. When they give you that info in this way, that's not really how they should ask for it. They're mixing 2 things.
    – go-junta
    Jun 15, 2015 at 11:12
  • @groovy354 - Yes, it is. What you're doing in setting the PPI (not DPI, though people get that wrong more often than they get it right, so live with it) is saving some time at the print setup. Whether your image is going into a page composition application or straight to a RIP (raster image processor, which you can sort of think of as an industrial-strength printer driver), if you have the resolution set wrong for the job, then the pressman or the prepress operator have to change the resolution - which often happens after it hits the press/printer, once the mistake become expensive. Jun 15, 2015 at 11:16
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    @groovy354 Even stranger, I often get request to submit a jpeg, and when I ask: What size should it be to match their layout?, they only specify: 300dpi. This is of course a stupidest of all possible answers as the dpi is just a number field in the file header. Jun 15, 2015 at 14:49
  • A good summary of many issues people got there is written up in dpiphoto.eu/dpi.htm . I guess this should also be a required reading for graphic design instructors. Jun 15, 2015 at 16:09
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Other answers have more than adequately explained resolution, so I'll explain density, which has a VERY different meaning in the graphic design world. Ink density is the total area coverage of paper by the printed ink dots, from 0-400% (100% each for CMYK), and this is important because depending on the printing process, only 250-350% is available for use, and saturation has to be managed to keep it under the limit.

Because most print Photoshop users would instantly think of ink density if they saw density (even if it was called "pixel density"), Adobe uses resolution there, since lens & film resolution were already well-accepted measurements among photographers.

This is also called Total Area Coverage or Total Ink Coverage.

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  • Great that you bring this up, this use of the word density.
    – Rafael
    Jun 15, 2015 at 17:42
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Possibly related: Is it mandatory to keep images at 72DPI for web design?

Resolution was the universal term for print production before the web really existed. History dictates it be called resolution. And resolution is the correct term when discussing image quality for print output.

Density only refers to on-screen and has no bearing on printing.... and printing is the only place PPI matters. Pixel Density is baked into the display not the image on it. Therefore the "Resolution" field means nothing for on screen images. Density would be an inaccurate term for any image - print or screen.

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    I consiedered an option that "dpi" or "ppi" is a property stored in the image file, as a "suggested output resolution". One could take the image size and it's desired dpi and figure out the desired physical size of the output. But I don't suppose that's the case?
    – groovy354
    Jun 15, 2015 at 9:25
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    One thing I've seen some designers do is use the Resolution input box when designing for Retina displays. So instead of 72 they'd input 144. I suppose it might make the workflow a bit easier for some.
    – gburning
    Jun 15, 2015 at 10:34
  • @groovy354 Yes that is what it is
    – joojaa
    Jun 15, 2015 at 11:40
  • @gburning Good idea anyway to create graphics at bigger resolution... Sometimes the next project requires a bigger size and you don't need to re-do the work! I always do my web design in 300-600dpi since clients often ask for web designs and then print designs!
    – go-junta
    Jun 18, 2015 at 14:31
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Many image formats contain the chosen ppi value as an advice to other applications. For instance, when placing an image in indesign, it will be of the size specified in photoshop. Even if the pixel count is exactly the same, it will be different sizes. Using highres images in indesign is cumbersome with the wrong ppi set.

This is an image in PS. As you can see it is rather high resolution. It is in png format but the same experiment worked with jpg.

600dpi

Placing it in indesign works as intended:

600dpi in indesign

This is the same image with the same pixel resolution but different ppi:

72dpi in PS

Placing it in indesign doesn't work very well. It becomes much to large and needs to be scaled down.

Here we see it in indesign (old 600 dpi version on top):

600dpi and 72dpi

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  • So a jpg file contains information on desired physical dimensions?
    – groovy354
    Jun 16, 2015 at 4:28
  • I wasn't totally sure as I normally work with png but after experimenting I found that it does.
    – Gunslinger
    Jun 16, 2015 at 11:01
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As an addendum to some of these great answers, there should be a distinction made about the term "density." In the ink/offset press world, "density" refers to ink coverage. But in the photography world (it is called PHOTOshop, after all), "density" refers to brightness -- a carry-over from film terminology. So we have three uses of the term "density" that mean three different things.

I think this is why most refer to the three as "ink coverage" (print), "screen resolution" (display), and "density" (image).

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t has become commonplace to refer to PPI as DPI, even though PPI refers to input resolution. Industry standard, good quality photographs usually require 300 pixels per inch, at 100% size, when printed onto coated paper stock, using a printing screen of 150 lines per inch (lpi).

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