Free tool
What DPI should you scan at?
Two questions, one number, and the reasoning behind it. The same rules our scanning guide teaches, as a thirty-second answer.
Scan DPI advisor
Why intent decides the number
DPI questions usually get answered with a single magic number, and the number is usually 300 because that is what printing needs. But a scan of an irreplaceable print is not a print job. It is the one chance to take everything off that piece of paper before it fades further, so the right question is not what printers need. It is what you will wish you had captured in ten years.
That is why the advisor asks what happens to the scan first. Screen sharing genuinely needs very little. Archiving wants headroom. And enlarging a small original is the hungriest case of all, because every centimetre of extra print size spends pixels you can only capture now.
The full reasoning, scanner settings included, is in the guide: what DPI to scan old photos at. For slides and negatives the arithmetic changes completely; use the film scanning calculator instead.
Common questions
- Is 300 DPI enough for old photos?
- Only if the scan will never leave a screen. For anything you might restore, reprint or enlarge, 600 DPI is the sensible floor, and small or damaged prints deserve 1200. The difference in scan time is seconds; the difference ten years from now is real.
- Does scanning at a higher DPI improve a blurry photo?
- No. Scanning captures what is on the paper, so a soft print scans soft at any resolution. Higher DPI preserves detail that exists; recovering apparent sharpness afterwards is an enhancement job, which is what the app is for.
- What DPI do photo labs use?
- Bulk scanning services commonly run 300 DPI by default and charge extra for 600. That default is chosen for their throughput, not for your archive, which is a good reason to ask for the higher setting or do it yourself.
- Should I scan the same photo twice at different settings?
- Scan once, properly, at the recommendation above, and keep that file as your master. Any smaller version you need for sharing can be made from the master in seconds. It never works in the other direction.
The scanner is only half the machine
Scan at the number above, then hand the file to Photo Restore. Tears, fading and soft faces repaired on your iPhone, three free restorations a day.
