Print Sizes and Pixel Dimensions: The Cheat Sheet

This is a reference page. Bookmark it, and any time you are about to export something for print you can check whether your file has enough pixels. The whole thing rests on one formula, so we will start there and then lay out the numbers.

The only formula you need

Pixels = inches × DPI. That is it. A 5 by 7 inch card at 300 DPI is 5 times 300 by 7 times 300, which is 1500 by 2100 pixels. A 24 by 36 inch poster at 150 DPI is 3600 by 5400. If you remember nothing else, remember to multiply the inches by the DPI, and you can size any print job correctly.

DPI means dots per inch, the density of detail. Screens show about 96 DPI. Print wants 300 for most work, 150 is fine for large pieces seen from a distance, and 600 is for very fine detail.

Document sizes

Resolution	US Letter	A4	Good for
96 DPI	816 × 1056	794 × 1123	Screen only
150 DPI	1275 × 1650	1240 × 1754	Drafts and proofs
300 DPI	2550 × 3300	2480 × 3508	Standard print
600 DPI	5100 × 6600	4960 × 7016	Large or fine detail

Size	Inches	150 DPI	300 DPI
US Legal	8.5 × 14	1275 × 2100	2550 × 4200
Tabloid	11 × 17	1650 × 2550	3300 × 5100
A5	5.8 × 8.3	874 × 1240	1748 × 2480
A3	11.7 × 16.5	1754 × 2480	3508 × 4961

Poster sizes

Size	Inches	150 DPI	300 DPI
A2	16.5 × 23.4	2480 × 3508	4960 × 7016
18 × 24	18 × 24	2700 × 3600	5400 × 7200
A1	23.4 × 33.1	3508 × 4961	7016 × 9933
24 × 36	24 × 36	3600 × 5400	7200 × 10800

Cards and postcards

Size	Inches	300 DPI	Notes
Business card	3.5 × 2	1050 × 600	Add bleed for print shops
Postcard	6 × 4	1800 × 1200	Standard mailer
Invitation	5 × 7	1500 × 2100	Common invite and card size
Photo print	4 × 6	1200 × 1800	Standard photo

How to choose your DPI

• 300 DPI for anything held or read up close: flyers, cards, invitations, resumes, brochures, photo prints.
• 150 DPI for large posters and signs viewed from a few feet or more. It halves the pixel count in each direction and looks identical at distance.
• 600 DPI for fine line art, small type at large scale, or when a print shop specifically requests it.
• 96 DPI is screen resolution. It is never enough for print. If your exported file matches the 96 DPI column above, it will look blurry on paper.

The quick check before you print

Open your exported file and look at its pixel dimensions. Compare them to the right row above. If your US Letter export is 2550 by 3300, you are at 300 DPI and good to go. If it is 816 by 1056, it is a screen-resolution capture and it will print soft. This ten-second check catches almost every blurry-print problem before it wastes paper.

Keep the formula in mind, inches times DPI, and none of this requires memorizing. Every number in these tables comes straight from multiplying the size by the resolution.

Social and digital sizes

Not everything is destined for paper. If you are exporting the same design for the screen, here are common digital sizes in pixels. These are already in pixels, so DPI does not apply the way it does for print.

Use	Pixels	Ratio
Instagram post	1080 × 1350	4:5 portrait
Instagram story	1080 × 1920	9:16
Facebook / X post	1200 × 675	16:9
YouTube thumbnail	1280 × 720	16:9
Presentation slide	1920 × 1080	16:9

How to check your file's DPI

You do not need special software to tell whether a file is print resolution. Open it and look at its pixel dimensions in your file viewer or image tool, then compare to the tables above. If a full US Letter page reads 2550 by 3300, it is 300 DPI. If it reads 816 by 1056, it is screen resolution and will print soft. The pixel count is the truth. A file can claim any DPI in its metadata, but if the pixels are not there, the detail is not there.

Bleed and safe margins

Two terms come up constantly at print shops. Bleed is extra background, usually an eighth of an inch, that extends past the trim line so color reaches the edge after cutting. Add it when your design runs edge to edge and a shop will trim it. The safe margin is the opposite: an inset area, also around an eighth to a quarter inch, where you keep important text and logos, so nothing critical sits near the cut where it might be shaved off. Design with both in mind and your files come back from the printer looking exactly as intended, with color to the edge and nothing important lost to the blade.

DPI and PPI: are they the same?

You will see both DPI and PPI, and in everyday use people treat them as the same thing, which is fine. Strictly, PPI, pixels per inch, describes a digital image, while DPI, dots per inch, describes what a printer lays down on paper. For the practical purpose of sizing a file for print, the number you care about is the same either way: how many pixels per inch of finished output. So when a print shop says 300 DPI and your image tool says 300 PPI, they are asking for the same density of detail. Do not let the two acronyms confuse you; aim for the same target regardless of which word is used.

Why you cannot rescue a small image by scaling it up

A tempting mistake is to take a small, screen-resolution image and stretch it to print size, hoping it will fill the page. It will fill the page, but it will not add detail. The extra pixels are invented by guessing what belongs between the existing ones, which produces a soft, smeared result rather than a sharp one. Detail has to be captured at the resolution you need, not manufactured afterward. This is the deeper reason screenshots fail for print and why the pixel counts in these tables matter: you want the file rendered at the target size from the start, so the detail is genuinely there.

Quick reference: which DPI for which job

To close the loop, here is the fast version. Business cards, flyers, invitations, resumes, and photo prints: 300 DPI, because they are held and read closely. Posters and signs viewed from several feet: 150 DPI is plenty and keeps files manageable. Fine line art, small type printed large, or anything a professional printer flags: 600 DPI. And never rely on 96 DPI for print, because that is screen density and it will always look soft on paper. Keep the formula in your back pocket, inches times DPI, and you can size any job in seconds.

Frequently asked questions