DPI stands for dots per inch. DPI can also be defined as the resolution of the printer. The dpi is used mostly in the field of printing. In printing, it determines the number of ink dots that need to be physically applied to a piece of paper based on square per inch. The DPI is often used to evaluate the quality of the digital photo printing and at the same time dpi acts as an indicator of the printer quality.
DPI is just a physical feature of the printer. The dots printed by the printer when put close to each other they form a photo. All dots have a physical size. DPI determines the quality of the image that is formed when the dots are joined together. That is the higher the dpi the sharper the image that is printed. Printers print by the use of a series of dots. DPI can be used in various software and documents. The resolution of the image is determined by the number of dpi.
Printed or displayed images on the screens are made up of tiny dots. Dots are of two types which are colored and black dots. Both black and white printing the shape and size of black dots and their separation distance when printed results into the illusion of shades of gray. The more the dpi used the clearer the picture becomes. Also the more the dpi the greater the graphics file. DPI is also used to measure the resolution in terms of both the horizontal and vertical inch.
Printers tend to print a specific number of dots of picture as per its specification. The picture should not have a higher number of dots than the display device can support. The excess dots tend to go into waste. They lead to an increase in file size but they don’t to improvement in terms of display or printing of the picture.