Guide · artwork & materials
What DPI do I need for printing?
300dpi at the finished size, for anything held in the hand. For a banner read from three metres away it is closer to 150, and for a large sign lower still.
DPI is not a property of your file
An image is not "300dpi" on its own. Dots per inch only exists once you decide how big it will be printed, because it is a ratio between the two. The same 1063-pixel-wide file is exactly 300dpi on a 90mm business card and 44dpi across a 600mm sign.
So "is this image high resolution?" is not answerable. "Is this image high enough resolution at 90mm wide?" is.
pixels ÷ (millimetres ÷ 25.4) = dpi
Which is why a file can look perfect on screen and be rejected by a printer. A monitor shows roughly 100 pixels per inch. A press lays down 300. Your screen is flattering the file by a factor of three.
What we print for this
Proofed before they run
What each job needs
| Product | Viewed from | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Business cards, flyers, brochures | Arm's length | 300dpi |
| Menus, A3 and smaller prints | Half a metre | 300dpi |
| A2 to A0 posters, pull-up and vinyl banners | 1–3 metres | 150dpi |
| Corflute and A-frames | 3–5 metres | 120dpi |
| Shopfront and vehicle signage | 5 metres and beyond | 100dpi |
Printing large-format at 300dpi is a mistake, not a virtue. A 3-metre banner at 300dpi is a file of several gigabytes that no RIP will process happily, and it will look identical to the 150dpi version from any distance a human being can actually stand.
Upscaling does not work
Enlarging an image in Photoshop produces a bigger file containing the same information, spread more thinly. The dpi number rises and the print does not improve. Modern AI upscalers are better than the old bicubic methods, but they are inventing plausible detail rather than recovering real detail — which is fine for a background texture and dangerous for a product photograph or a logo.
Vectors have no resolution at all
Logos, type and flat graphics supplied as AI, EPS, SVG or vector PDF are drawn as instructions rather than pixels, so they print sharp at any size. This is why a sign maker will always ask for a vector logo, and why tracing a raster logo is worth doing when the original cannot be found.
If your file is too small
- Find the original. The copy pulled from a website or a slide deck has usually been compressed twice already.
- Use it smaller. An image that fails at 200mm often passes comfortably at 120mm.
- Change the product. A photo too soft for a brochure can be perfectly good on a banner.
- Check it first with the resolution checker — it runs in your browser and tells you the real number at the real size.
Common questions
What DPI do I need for printing?
300dpi at the finished size for anything held in the hand, 150dpi for a banner or poster read from a metre or more, and 120dpi for corflute read from several metres. The number falls with viewing distance because that is what resolution is for. Business cards and flyers get 300dpi; pull-up banners get 150.
Is my image high enough resolution?
Whether an image is high enough resolution can only be answered against a finished size, because dpi is a ratio between pixels and dimensions rather than a property of the file. The same 1063-pixel-wide image is exactly 300dpi on a 90mm business card and 44dpi across a 600mm sign. The arithmetic is pixels divided by millimetres divided by 25.4, and the free resolution checker does it in your browser.
What resolution does a banner need?
150dpi at final size is enough for a pull-up or vinyl banner, because both are read from a metre or more away. A 3-metre banner at 300dpi is a file of several gigabytes that no RIP will process happily, and it looks identical to the 150dpi version from any distance a person can actually stand at.
Can I just upscale an image to 300dpi?
No — enlarging an image produces a bigger file containing the same information spread more thinly, so the dpi number rises and the print does not improve. AI upscalers are better than the old bicubic methods, but they invent plausible detail rather than recovering real detail. That is fine for a background texture and dangerous for a product photograph or a logo.
Do vector logos have a resolution?
No — vector artwork is drawn as instructions rather than pixels, so AI, EPS, SVG and vector PDF print sharp at any size. This is why a sign maker always asks for a vector logo. If the original cannot be found, the free logo to vector tool traces a raster one in your browser.
What should I do if my file is too small for the size I need?
Find the original file, use the image smaller, or change the product. The copy pulled from a website or a slide deck has usually been compressed twice already. An image that fails at 200mm often passes comfortably at 120mm, and a photo too soft for a brochure can be perfectly good on a banner.
What does 300 dpi mean?
300 dpi means 300 dots (pixels) of the image for every inch of printed size, which is the standard for anything held in the hand, like a business card, flyer or brochure. A 90 × 55 mm card at 300 dpi needs an image of about 1063 × 650 pixels. The free resolution checker tells you what an image will give you at a size.
What dpi do I need for printing?
300 dpi at the final size for cards, flyers, brochures and posters seen up close. Large signs and banners are viewed from further away and can go lower, because the eye cannot resolve the dots at distance; the guide above says how low by viewing distance. A low-resolution image enlarged does not gain detail, so check before you commit.
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