600 DPI in pixels
At 600 DPI an inch is 600 pixels and a centimetre is 236.2 pixels. An A4 page is 4961 × 7016 pixels and a US Letter page is 5100 × 6600.
600 DPI is used for line art, small text and scans that will be enlarged. It is also the native resolution of many office laser printers.
At 600 DPI the pixels of a print blend together, for someone with 20/20 vision, from about 5.7 inches (15 cm) away. Closer than that, an eye can pick out the pixel grid; further back, more resolution adds nothing you can see.
Paper and photo sizes at 600 DPI
| Size | Dimensions | Pixels at 600 DPI | Megapixels | Uncompressed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A0 | 841 × 1189 mm | 19866 × 28087 | 558 | 1.56 GB |
| A1 | 594 × 841 mm | 14031 × 19866 | 279 | 797 MB |
| A2 | 420 × 594 mm | 9921 × 14031 | 139 | 398 MB |
| A3 | 297 × 420 mm | 7016 × 9921 | 70 | 199 MB |
| A4 | 210 × 297 mm | 4961 × 7016 | 35 | 100 MB |
| A5 | 148 × 210 mm | 3496 × 4961 | 17 | 50 MB |
| A6 | 105 × 148 mm | 2480 × 3496 | 8.7 | 25 MB |
| A7 | 74 × 105 mm | 1748 × 2480 | 4.3 | 12 MB |
| Letter | 8.5 × 11 in | 5100 × 6600 | 34 | 96 MB |
| Legal | 8.5 × 14 in | 5100 × 8400 | 43 | 123 MB |
| Tabloid | 11 × 17 in | 6600 × 10200 | 67 | 193 MB |
| Half Letter | 5.5 × 8.5 in | 3300 × 5100 | 17 | 48 MB |
| 4 × 6 in | 4 × 6 in | 2400 × 3600 | 8.6 | 25 MB |
| 5 × 7 in | 5 × 7 in | 3000 × 4200 | 13 | 36 MB |
| 8 × 10 in | 8 × 10 in | 4800 × 6000 | 29 | 82 MB |
| 11 × 14 in | 11 × 14 in | 6600 × 8400 | 55 | 159 MB |
| 16 × 20 in | 16 × 20 in | 9600 × 12000 | 115 | 330 MB |
| 12 × 12 in | 12 × 12 in | 7200 × 7200 | 52 | 148 MB |
| 12 × 18 in | 12 × 18 in | 7200 × 10800 | 78 | 222 MB |
| 18 × 24 in | 18 × 24 in | 10800 × 14400 | 156 | 445 MB |
| 24 × 36 in | 24 × 36 in | 14400 × 21600 | 311 | 890 MB |
| Business card | 2 × 3.5 in | 1200 × 2100 | 2.5 | 7.2 MB |
Lengths at 600 DPI
| Inches | Pixels |
|---|---|
| 0.25 in | 150 |
| 0.5 in | 300 |
| 0.75 in | 450 |
| 1 in | 600 |
| 1.5 in | 900 |
| 2 in | 1,200 |
| 2.5 in | 1,500 |
| 3 in | 1,800 |
| 3.5 in | 2,100 |
| 4 in | 2,400 |
| 5 in | 3,000 |
| 6 in | 3,600 |
| Centimetres | Pixels |
|---|---|
| 0.5 cm | 118 |
| 1 cm | 236 |
| 1.5 cm | 354 |
| 2 cm | 472 |
| 2.5 cm | 591 |
| 3 cm | 709 |
| 3.5 cm | 827 |
| 4 cm | 945 |
| 4.5 cm | 1,063 |
| 5 cm | 1,181 |
| 6 cm | 1,417 |
| 7 cm | 1,654 |
| Millimetres | Pixels |
|---|---|
| 1 mm | 24 |
| 2 mm | 47 |
| 3 mm | 71 |
| 5 mm | 118 |
| 10 mm | 236 |
| 15 mm | 354 |
| 20 mm | 472 |
| 25 mm | 591 |
| 30 mm | 709 |
| 35 mm | 827 |
| 40 mm | 945 |
| 45 mm | 1,063 |
Changing an image to 600 DPI
The DPI stored in an image file is a label that says how large to print it. Changing the label to 600 without resampling keeps every pixel and only changes the print size: a 3000 × 2000 pixel photo becomes 5 × 3.33 inches. Resampling changes the number of pixels instead, and making an image larger that way does not add detail.