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Screenshot Resolution

A screenshot copies the pixels on screen, so it doesn't lower quality by itself. See what makes screenshots blurry and what decides their size in MB.

Screenshot resolution is the number of pixels in a captured image, written as width by height, for example 2880×1800. It is fixed at capture time by two factors: the size of the captured area in points, and the scale factor of the display it was on.

On a standard display each point is one pixel. On a Mac Retina display each point is 2×2 pixels, so a 1000×600 point window captures at 2000×1200 pixels. A web page capture uses the browser's viewport size and device scale factor instead of the physical screen. Resolution differs from DPI or PPI, which is a print or display hint stored in the file and does not add detail.

Does taking a screenshot lower quality?

No. A screenshot copies the pixels the display shows, so the capture itself is exact. Quality drops afterward: when the file is saved as a low-quality JPEG, scaled down, or recompressed by a chat app or social site. A screenshot of a video or photo shows only the resolution that was displayed, which may be lower than the source.

What determines screenshot resolution

  • The captured area: full screen, window or region.
  • The display scale factor: 1x or 2x on Macs.
  • For web captures, the viewport size and device scale factor.
  • Later resizing during export or upload.

How big is a screenshot file?

Uncompressed, a 2880×1800 image with four bytes per pixel takes about 20.7 MB in memory. Saved files are much smaller. PNG compresses flat interface areas well, while photos and gradients compress less. JPEG at quality 85 is usually smaller than PNG for photo-heavy captures, with some loss.

Common mistakes

  • Upscaling a small screenshot and expecting sharper text.
  • Changing the DPI value and expecting more detail.
  • Capturing on a 1x external display and expecting Retina detail.
  • Uploading to a service that resizes, then blaming the capture.

Taking the same screenshots again and again?

Temposhot captures at the native pixel size of the source. Custom Area presets fix sizes such as 16:9 1600×900, and Website Capture devices fix the viewport at 1920×1080, 768×1024 or 390×844. See capture sources.

Common questions

Why is my screenshot blurry?

Usually because it was scaled or recompressed after capture, or the source content was low resolution.

How do I check a screenshot's resolution?

Open it in the Screenshot Resolution Checker or check Get Info in Finder.

Sources

Taking the same screenshots again and again?

Temposhot captures a screen, window or area on a timer and exports the set as a PDF, images, ZIP or MP4. The free browser tools fix single images.

Download for MacSee features

Related resources

Related terms

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