How to stop MS Paint changing resolution of files to 96 dpi?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dmitry Kopnichev
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Dmitry Kopnichev

Hello
How to stop MS Paint changing resolution of b&w tif files from 600 to 96
dpi? After editing the 600 dpi files in MS Paint and saving them the files
become 96 dpi.
 
I don't think anything is wrong.
The 96 dpi displayed by Paint is simply your monitor display.
Open the Properties of the file and check the pixel dimensions of it. It
should have the same pixel dimensions as the original file, say, something
like:
1200 x 800.
 
I did not write about pixel dimensions, I wrote about resolution. The Paint
changes resolution and length dimensions of a scanned image, not pixel
dimensions, therefore, Paint prints a 600 dpi image 6+ times larger.
 
Pixel dimensions and resolution are the same thing!
Paint does not print anything 6+ times larger. Impossible.
What you see from Paint is the size that your image would occupy on your
screen, at 96 dpi, with the number of pixels contained in your image file.
Nothing more and nothing less. Paint does not print anything. It simply
tranfers the file to your printer. Select the print size.
Get some free software from here to edit and print your images:
www.faststone.org
and forget about Paint.
 
Resolution is number of dots per inch. Pixel dimensions are the size in
pixels. They are different things.
If you think it is impossible, then try yourself, scan a A4 sheet with 600
dpi resolution to a 1bit tif and try to print it from Paint with 100% size
in the Page setup. Paint will print just 1/6 of the image.
I did not write about size on screen, but about size on a printed paper.
I do not want to "Select the print size", I want the Pain to print with the
original size stated in a tif.
 
Yves.
Do the free software from www.faststone.org treat pixel dimensions and
resolution as the same things too? Do they require to "Select the print
size" too? Do not they see original image size in centimeters or inches too?
 
The problem comes from the fact that dpi (dot per inch, and used for
printing)) and ppi (pixel per inch and used for video display) are often
used interchangeably.
Say you have a photo at 5000 x 4000 pixels.
Your screen display is set at either 72 or 96 ppi.
Thus 5000/72= 69.4 and 4000/72= 55.5 inches.
This means that at 72 ppi, you could fill a screen of 69.4 x 55.5 inches.
The displayed photo would look pretty bad. Instead, the software works to
place this photo to fit your screen size, and it looks very good.

Now you want to print. Can you print at 69.4 x 55.5 inches. The answer is
yes (provided you have a printer that can do this), but the print would be
terrible.

To print, a rule of thumb is you need 300 dpi for a great print.
So for the above photo you have:
5000/300= 16.6 and 4000/300= 13.3 inches.
You can reduce this 300 dpi to about 200 dpi and still get a fairly good
print. Below 200 the quality will deteriorate rapidly.

So, with your tif file, look at the pixel dimensions of the file. This will
tell you (using 300 dpi as a start) how large a high quality print you can
make.

There is no reason to use Paint for editing or printing. It is just too old
and so much free software is available to do this much better.
 
Yves.
Does the free software require to "Select the print size" too? Does not it
see original image size in centimeters or inches in tif file too? I want to
print with exactly the same size as the original scanned paper image, not
with the size which gives "a high quality print".
 
No printing software "sees" centimeters or inches. The dimensions of an
image is in pixels only and this is the only thing the printing software
sees about your image. No inches or centimeters (see my answer to your
message of 5:44AM).

When you print, you must select a size in inches or centimeters. The
software takes the dimensions of your image in pixels and prints the size
you select.
For a very good print, take the dimensions of your image in pixels and
divide by 300 to get an idea of how large a print you can make, if you want
a smaller print than the answer below there is no problem.
So if the dimensions of your image are 5000 x 4000 pixels, you can print at
16.6 x 13.3 inches. You can reduce 300 down to 200 and still get a decent
print of a larger size. Below 200 the quality of the print will deteriorate
pretty quickly.
Faststone will give you the options such as "fit to page" or "specified
size". It will give you a "preview" of how the image will be printed on the
page by your printer.

However, there is another problem that you must solve before you print. You
must fit the aspect ratio of your image to the aspect ratio of the paper
size you select.

The aspect ratio is simply dividing the width by the height of the pixel
dimensions.
In the example above it would be 5000/4000= 1.25.
So if you print on 10 x 8 in. paper size, 10/8= 1.25 and the image will fit
perfectly.
If you print on 6 x 4 in. paper size, 6/4= 1.5. The image will not fit and
Faststone will show you (in the print preview window) how the image will be
automatically cropped to fit the size you selected. If this is not to your
liking. after you open the image with Faststone, use the crop tool. Crop the
image to the paper size you want to use, placing the crop where you want it,
then print using the paper size you cropped the image with. Faststone will
also let you save the cropped image, with no alteration to your original
file. Go with this option since you may want to print at a different size in
the future and you will want to crop the original image.
 
True. But not for cropping and printing. You will do much better with
Faststone. Irfanview has been great and a favorite, no doubt. But now in
need of upgrading.
 
MS Photoeditor (which is Part of MS Office), Adobe Photoshop and others see
tif image size in centimeters or inches.
 
Study features of the tif file type.
Yves Alarie said:
No printing software "sees" centimeters or inches. The dimensions of an
image is in pixels only and this is the only thing the printing software
sees about your image. No inches or centimeters (see my answer to your
message of 5:44AM).

When you print, you must select a size in inches or centimeters. The
software takes the dimensions of your image in pixels and prints the size
you select.
For a very good print, take the dimensions of your image in pixels and
divide by 300 to get an idea of how large a print you can make, if you want
a smaller print than the answer below there is no problem.
So if the dimensions of your image are 5000 x 4000 pixels, you can print at
16.6 x 13.3 inches. You can reduce 300 down to 200 and still get a decent
print of a larger size. Below 200 the quality of the print will deteriorate
pretty quickly.
Faststone will give you the options such as "fit to page" or "specified
size". It will give you a "preview" of how the image will be printed on the
page by your printer.

However, there is another problem that you must solve before you print. You
must fit the aspect ratio of your image to the aspect ratio of the paper
size you select.

The aspect ratio is simply dividing the width by the height of the pixel
dimensions.
In the example above it would be 5000/4000= 1.25.
So if you print on 10 x 8 in. paper size, 10/8= 1.25 and the image will fit
perfectly.
If you print on 6 x 4 in. paper size, 6/4= 1.5. The image will not fit and
Faststone will show you (in the print preview window) how the image will be
automatically cropped to fit the size you selected. If this is not to your
liking. after you open the image with Faststone, use the crop tool. Crop the
image to the paper size you want to use, placing the crop where you want it,
then print using the paper size you cropped the image with. Faststone will
also let you save the cropped image, with no alteration to your original
file. Go with this option since you may want to print at a different size in
the future and you will want to crop the original image.



600
Click to expand...
 
If Faststone gives only "fit to page" or "specified size" for tif , not
original size, then Faststone does not suit my need.
 
The software you have does not see the image file in centimeter or inches.
It calculates it for you. It makes this calculation by simply taking the
dimensions of the image in pixels and divides this by an arbitrary number
such as 72 or 96 to yield and image size in inches.
Look at the pixel dimensions of your image and divide by 72 or 96 and you
will get the same answer.
But this is not good for printing.
 
MS Photoeditor, Adobe Photoshop and others divide dimensions in pixels not
by an arbitrary number, but by the original scan resolution in dpi. How to
make Paint read the original scan resolution in dpi from a tif file?
 
All tiff file formats are NOT the same. MS Paint will read SOME original
scan resolutions and not others. If you give it a format that it DOESN'T
read the "dpi" of, it DEFAULTS to 91 dpi. Simple as that. You CAN'T
change MS Paint, so YOU must use a tif format that the "dpi" is read.
 
Dmitry said:
Hello
How to stop MS Paint changing resolution of b&w tif files from 600 to 96
dpi? After editing the 600 dpi files in MS Paint and saving them the files
become 96 dpi.
Click to expand...

Paint doesn't do DPI or image dimensions in real world dimensions like
inces or milimeters. It was written when printers would only do 300 DPI
and had to use a cluster of several of those dots to print very many
different colors. Thus it prints at some really low resolution like 75 DPI.

Paint is really a VERY PRIMATIVE demonstration application that comes
with Windows. Don't expect too much from it. If you want better
capabilities look for a bitmap editing application like Microsoft Photo
Editor, Corel Photopaint or JASC Paintshop (there are others I haven't
tried). It's common for such programs to come bundled with digital
cameras, scanners and Multi Function Devices (MFDs combo
scanner/printer/fax machine).
 
The problem is - Even if Paint reads an original scan resolutions, it still
prints it as an image with 96 dpi resolution, not the original scan
resolutions, with different than the original size.
 
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