Tobias Reed Production Knowledge Lead at 4OVER4.COM
Tobias is our voice for cutting, binding and large format, built from the knowledge of our production team, with over 20 years in printing.
Question
Does DPI matter for web images?
Answer
Not in a meaningful way. Web browsers render images by their pixel dimensions and ignore the embedded DPI tag entirely, so a 1200 x 800 image looks identical whether it is labeled 72 or 300 DPI.
- For screens, focus on: pixel dimensions (actual width and height) and file compression for fast loading.
- DPI only matters for print, where it maps pixels to a physical size on paper.
- Watch file size: a needlessly large image slows page loads without improving how it looks on screen.
Save the 300 DPI thinking for anything headed to a printer, and size web images to the largest dimensions they will actually display at.
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