Pixel density converter
Convert screen and print sharpness between PPI, pixels per cm and pixel pitch.
That's about the same as a magazine photo. Beyond about 29.11 cm, 20/20 eyes can no longer make out single pixels.
What it means
How sharp is that?
The viewing distance uses the one-arcminute rule for 20/20 vision; sharper eyes can see a little further. Screen values are typical for each class.
Every unit
Your pixel density in every unit
Learn
Three things worth knowing
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300 PPI for print
At reading distance, 300 pixels per inch is finer than the eye can pick out. That is why photo labs and publishers ask for it.
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Dots and pixels
DPI comes from printers, which lay down ink dots; PPI from screens. The two are used interchangeably, although a printer needs several dots to draw one pixel.
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Changing DPI adds no detail
A 3,000-pixel photo set to 72 DPI or 300 DPI is the same image. Only the printed size changes.
Shortcuts
Popular pixel density conversions
Background
About pixel density
Pixel density is how many pixels fit into an inch, and it decides how sharp a screen or print looks. Phones pack in over 400; an LED billboard, seen from across a road, gets away with two or three.
Pixel pitch, the gap from one pixel to the next, is the same thing upside down. LED walls are sold by it.