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GlossaryPrinting your card

What Does 300 DPI Mean for Printing?

300 DPI means 300 dots, or pixels, for every inch of printed length, the usual minimum resolution for photographs and raster images in print. At that density a 91.6 by 60 mm business card with bleed needs an image of about 1082 by 709 pixels, and a lower resolution prints visibly soft.

What the Number Means

Resolution is how many dots fit in an inch. A photograph printed at 300 DPI packs 300 pixels into each inch, which is dense enough that the eye cannot pick out individual pixels at reading distance. Strictly, DPI counts printer dots and PPI counts image pixels, but in everyday use people say DPI for both.

The Pixel Size a Card Needs

Multiply the size in inches by 300. A finished card of 85.6 by 54 mm is 3.37 by 2.13 inches, so about 1011 by 638 pixels. Including 3 mm bleed the card is 91.6 by 60 mm, or 3.61 by 2.36 inches, about 1082 by 709 pixels. An image with fewer pixels than that is either stretched, which looks soft, or printed smaller than intended.

Raster and Vector

A raster image is a grid of pixels, so it has a resolution and enlarging it blurs it. A vector image is described by lines, curves and fills, so it has no resolution and stays crisp at any size. Logos and simple shapes are best supplied as vectors. Photographs are always raster and need to meet the 300 DPI floor at the size they will be printed.

Why Screen Images Fall Short

Images copied from a website are usually 72 or 96 DPI at their display size and are often much smaller in pixels than a print needs. Raising the DPI setting in an editor does not create detail that was never captured, so the original must be large enough to begin with.

Frequently asked questions

Is 300 DPI required for a business card?

300 DPI is the usual minimum for photographs and other pixel images. Artwork made of vector shapes and text has no DPI and prints sharp at any size.

What pixel size is a business card at 300 DPI?

An 85.6 by 54 mm card is about 1011 by 638 pixels, and about 1082 by 709 pixels once 3 mm of bleed is added on every side.

Can I make a low resolution image 300 DPI?

Changing the number does not add detail. Resampling stretches the same pixels and the print still looks soft, so use a larger original.

Keep reading

Related terms

CMYK vs RGBRGB mixes red, green and blue light and is the colour model of screens. CMYK mixes cyan, magenta, yellow and black ink and is the model most commercial printing uses. A file made in RGB must be converted to CMYK to print on a standard press, and some vivid screen colours cannot be reproduced.BleedBleed is the extra artwork that runs past the edge where a printed card will be cut, so that a blade landing slightly off the line still finds ink and not bare paper. It is usually 3 mm on every side, which makes a card with an 85.6 by 54 mm finished size a 91.6 by 60 mm file.Print-Ready PDFA print-ready PDF is a file prepared so a printer can use it without changes: the right finished size, bleed on every side, text and images that will print cleanly, and page boxes that record where the cut falls. It is a PDF built for a press rather than for viewing on screen.Business Card DimensionsBusiness card dimensions vary by country: 3.5 by 2 inches (88.9 by 50.8 mm) in the United States and Canada, and about 85 by 55 mm across most of Europe. The international ID-1 size, 85.6 by 54 mm, is the same as a bank card and is the size used for the print file here.

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