How To Convert 72 DPI To 300 DPI

Image sizing is relatively simple and straightforward. Although having said that, there are the key aspects that you should have a basic understanding on to ensure the quality of the result. Knowing the fundamentals of resolution measurements and learning how to set 300dpi are the must-have know-how and skill. It is because we are all aware that 300dpi is the proper resolution for sending to a standard inkjet printer. This tutorial thus will walk you through on the dpi explanation and suggested methods to convert 72dpi or any low-resolution image to 300dpi. Now let’s discover how to convert 72 DPI to 300 DPI

What is DPI – 3 Resolution measurements

When we work with imagery, we have 3 different units of measurements for image resolution:

  • PPI – Pixels Per Inch. PPI is the on screen unit of measurements used by the software.
  • DPI – Dots Per Inch. DPI is used in desktop printers and scanners.
  • LPI – Lines Per Inch. LPI is used on professional commercial printing presses.

 

PPI DPI LPIThe meaning of converting 72 dpi or any “less than 300 dpi” to 300dpi is that we are trying to cram more pixels into each inch. Obviously, the higher the number of pixels we can cram into that same inch of paper, the higher the quality the image is going to be on the final output, So, that’s why we have higher resolution and lower resolution or higher-qualiy and lower-quality images.

Set 300dpi in Photoshop

  • First, open Photoshop. In the menu, click on the “File” button and then select “New.” This action will open the window that allows you to enter the specifications for your new image.
  • In this window, you can opt for the width and the height of your picture. But what we are interested in here is the “Resolution” window. There are 2 windows. One to the left contains a numerical value and a drop-down box from the right-hand side which reads pixels/inch. Please note that in Photoshop, pixels/inch means the same thing as DPI.
  • Enter 300 into the box on the left-hand side – the “Resolution” box.
  • Click “OK” and a blank image will open to those specifications.

Set 300dpi on an image

  • Open the image in Photoshop. In the main toolbar, click on the “Image” option
  • In the menu that appears, click on the “Image Size” option. This action will open a box that allows you to adjust the setting of the image.
  • In this box, go to the “Resolution” field. In the left-hand side box, type 300 and then make sure the right box is set up in pixels/inch.
  • Select “Ok”. The box will close, and the image will now have been successfully set to 300dpi.

 

Set the photo from 72 dpi to 300dpi without increasing its size

Open the image

Go to “Image”, then select “Image Size”. You may see the resolution box is manifesting “72 dpi” while the width and height are large. You all learned that it is typically low-resolution. So, you may want to use high-resolution in pdf format.

You will change the resolution to 300dpi , but you will not change the pixel dimensions. In other words, you will not increase the photo size, you just want to change the resolution. However, once you adjust the resolution, the pixel dimension will accordingly change.

Copy the original pixel dimensions and paste them onto the pixel dimensions box of the 300dpi photo you have just converted.

Click “Ok”.

Note: Especially for print, make sure your source image is as big as possible with the highest possible dpi. You can always scale down, but you cannot scale up.

 

Change 72 DPI to 300 DPI

Change 72 DPI to 300 DPI

Change 72 DPI to 300 DPI in Illustrator

Go to “Effects” then select “Document Raster Effects Settings”.

Either check high-quality 300dpi or do a custom setting and use 355 dpi which is recommended for high-end publication use.

Make your PDF and that should do it. The 72dpi is a way of keeping the file smaller and have illustrator function faster.

To create new document, simply click on “File”, select “New Document” or press “Ctrl-N”

In the drop-down “Raster Effects” box, select  “300dpi” and click “Ok”

 

Change DPI from 72 to 300 by using MS Paint

The key to this method is you have to have an image which is 300dpi. If you don’t have it, you can download it from the Internet. And we will call the image with 300 dpi is the standard image, the image ou want to convert is the subject image.

Open the subject image and the standard image with Paint

On the standard image, click on “File” and then choose “Properties”. Keep the “Image Properties” box open.

Redo the steps with the subject image (File – Properties)

Copy the “Width” and “Height” properties of the subject image and paste those details on the “Width” and “Height” of the standard image

Click “Ok” on the “Image Properties” box of the standard image. Don’t change anything on the subject image, simply hit the red “x” button.

Click on the subject image and press “Ctrl-A” to select all then press “Ctrl-C” to copy it.

Click on the standard image and press “Ctrl-P”

Now the standard image is the subject image, but with 300dpi. In short, you just modify the subject image’s dpi.

Finally, go to “File”, and then choose “Save As”. Pick a name and destination to save your file and you’re done.

Go to the newly saved imaged, right click on it and select “Properties” and then “details” to check the result. The “Horizontal resolution” and “Vertical resolution” are now both set in 300dpi.

Conclusion:

It is such a common thing with the photos when they are imported into the Photoshop, and you will notice that they are 72dpi. Now that it may be still a high-resolution image because of their overall size, so you can definitely use them in your print projects. But what we are supposed to do is to convert them into 300dpi before we use them. This conversion ensures we will not have any problems and have the highest resolution image possible. This tutorial has just walked you through all you need to know about converting to 300dpi. Strongly hope that it will help you with your imagery manipulations.