Tablets, smartphones and even some modern laptops and computer monitors have pixel densities ranging from 200 ppi all the way up to over 500 ppi, upper part of the range occupied by smartphones.Ĭolor depth represents the number of distinct colors that can be shown by a pixel and it depends on the number of bits assigned per pixel.Ģ4-bit color depth('Truecolor') is used by vast majority of contemporary computer and phone displays and it gives 16,777,216 color variations. PPI = total number of pixels vertically / size of screen in inches vertically

PPI = total number of pixels horizontally / size of screen in inches horizontally Pixel density is equal to display's native resolution divided by screen size in inches and can be expressed as either of two following formulas: The higher the pixel density of the display, the sharper and crisper are text and images being displayed. Pixel density determines how high is the definition of the display. Historically term dpi has been used for printers & scanners and even though for electronic displays term dot translates to pixel and therefore ppi would be more correct term, today both terms are used interchangeably. Value of pixel density is expressed as dpi(dots per inch) or ppi(pixels per inch). Pixel density is an attribute of a display device measured as number of device pixels within one inch of screen space, either in horizontal or vertical direction. Reference pixel size varies with typical intended user device viewing distance, it becomes larger if the viewing distance increases(TVs) or smaller if viewing distance decreases as in case of handheld devices such as smartphones or tablets. Visual angle is therefore about 0.0213 degrees and at arm’s length distance of reader from display, one reference pixel corresponds to about 0.26 mm (1/96 inch). Reference pixel gives physical size to abstract notion of pixel as point of visual information.Īs defined by W3C(World Wide Web Consortium), reference pixel is the visual angle of one pixel on a display device with a pixel density of 96dpi(classic desktop monitor) and a distance from the reader of nominal arm’s length of 28 inches. Thanks to human perception of colors, combinations of different shades of these three primary colors give single screen pixel way to reproduce all other colors in color gamut.Ĭontemporary smartphones and tablets may use different number of subpixels per pixel( PenTile matrices) but principle stays the same. Pixel(picture element) is a smallest controllable element of a display device and therefore pixels are basic building blocks of any image you see on screen.Įach pixel is divided into three subpixels, each showing one color of varying intensity/brightness: red, green and blue(RGB). Some standard display resolutions and their market names/acronyms:ġ280 x 720 (720p, HD, HD Ready, Standard HD)Ģ560 x 1440 (1440p, Wide Quad HD, Quad HD, WQHD, QHD)Īspect ratio of a display device is a ratio between the width and the height of the screen. 'My screen resolution' is the resolution of the display device that you are using to access this website. Furthermore, more viewable content can fit onto a higher resolution screen. The higher the display resolution is, the sharper and clearer displayed content can be because a higher resolution monitor will be made up of more pixels than a lower resolution monitor. It is usually noted in a format of width x height, for instance: 1920 x 1080 means the width is 1920 pixels and the height is 1080 pixels which in this case would give total of 2,073,600 pixels on screen.

Screen resolution is the number of individual pixels in each axis that can be displayed on screen of electronic visual display device.

What is my screen resolution