How to convert pixels to inches
- Type a pixel value into the first field to convert it into physical units.
- Set the resolution, or pick one of the presets, 96 for screens, 300 for print.
- Read the result in inches, centimetres, millimetres and points at once.
- To go the other way, type into the inches field instead and read the pixels required.
- Use the resulting pixel figure in the image resizer to produce the file.
What this converter provides
- Conversion in both directions, with whichever field you type into driving the other.
- Results in inches, centimetres, millimetres and typographic points simultaneously.
- Presets for the resolutions that actually come up: 72, 96, 150, 300 and 600.
- Live updating as you type, with no button to press.
- Sensible rounding that avoids meaningless decimal places.
- A plain explanation of why the DPI value has to be supplied at all.
Why this conversion needs a third number
Pixels and inches measure different things. An inch is a fixed physical distance. A pixel is one cell in a grid, and it has no size at all until you decide how densely those cells are packed onto a surface. Ask how many inches 300 pixels is and the only correct answer is another question: at what resolution?
That third number is the DPI. At 300 DPI, 300 pixels occupy exactly one inch. At 96 DPI the same 300 pixels stretch across roughly 3.1 inches. Nothing about the pixels changed, only the density you chose to print or display them at.
Which resolution to use
- 96 DPI: the CSS reference resolution, and the right choice for anything measured for the web.
- 72 DPI: a historical typographic figure from early Macs, still seen in older design software.
- 150 DPI: draft printing and posters viewed from a distance.
- 300 DPI: the standard for photographic prints, magazines and professional print work.
- 600 DPI: line art, technical drawings and text-heavy scans where edges must stay crisp.
Screens make this messier than it looks
The CSS specification defines one inch as 96 pixels, and every web measurement follows that convention. Physical displays ignore it entirely. A phone screen may pack over 400 physical pixels into an inch, while a large television spreads them at under 50. This is why the same web page appears at a comfortable size on both: the browser works in CSS pixels and the device maps them to however many hardware pixels it has.
The practical consequence is that a "1 inch" element in CSS is not an inch on the glass, and cannot be. If a measurement genuinely has to be physical. A printed ruler, a scale drawing. The calculation has to happen at print time using the printer's resolution, not the screen's.
Where people actually need this
The most common case is checking whether a photograph is big enough for a print. A 6 by 4 inch print at 300 DPI needs 1800 by 1200 pixels, and this converter gets you there in one step. The second most common is the reverse: someone has an image of a known pixel size and needs to tell a print supplier how large it can safely go.
It also comes up in document layout, where a template specifies image slots in inches or millimetres and you need to know what to export. And in fabrication work, laser cutting, vinyl, embroidery, where a design drawn in pixels has to end up a specific physical size. For a fuller picture of whether an image will print sharply, the DPI calculator works the problem from the other direction, and the centimetres to pixels converter covers metric measurements directly.
Points, and why they appear here
A typographic point is exactly 1/72 of an inch, a definition inherited from centuries of printing. It survives in font sizes, page margins and print specifications, which is why the conversion is included above. A 12 point font is one sixth of an inch tall, and at 300 DPI that is 50 pixels, useful to know when you are matching a design to a printed reference.