Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10

How to Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10

Dots per inch (DPI) is the physical measurement of number of pixels in a linear inch of a display. DPI is a function of display resolution and size; a higher resolution or a smaller size will lead to higher DPI, and a lower resolution or a larger size will lead to lower DPI. When a display has a higher DPI, pixels are smaller and closer together, so that the user interface (UI) and other displayed content appears smaller than intended.

Windows ensures that everything appears on the screen at a usable and consistent size by instructing applications (including the Windows desktop shell) to resize their content by a scale factor. This number depends on the display DPI as well as other factors that impact the userÂs perception of the display. Almost all desktop displays and most current laptop displays are in the range of 95-110 DPI; for these devices, no scaling is required, and Windows sets a scale factor of 100%. However, there are a number of new devices, particularly in the premium laptop and tablet markets, which have higher displays with over 200 DPI. For these devices, Windows sets higher scale factors to ensure that the user experience is comfortably viewable.

When you change the DPI scaling level for your displays, it changes the size of text, apps and other items to appear larger or smaller. A higher DPI level has everything appear larger, and a lower DPI level has everything appear smaller.

The default DPI level is 100% (96 DPI).

For more about display scaling, see:

This tutorial will show you how to change the DPI scaling level for all or specific displays to make everything appear smaller or larger on the display(s) for only your account in Windows 10.

When you use a DPI over the default 100%, the icons of the default folders under Quick access in the navigation pane of File Explorer will be on a folder instead of just an icon like below.

If you have an app that doesn't scale properly when you are using a high DPI setting, then you could use compatibility mode to Disable display scaling on high DPI settings for the app.

For a Windows 11 version of this tutorial, see:

Change Display DPI Scaling Level in Windows 11

Contents

Option One: To Change DPI Scaling Level Per Display in Settings app
Option Two: To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Settings
Option Three: To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Registry Editor
Option Four: To Restore Default DPI Scaling Level for All Displays using a REG file

OPTION ONE

To Change DPI Scaling Level Per Display in Settings app

1 Do step 2 or step 3 below for what you would like to open Display in Settings.

2 Open Settings, click/tap on the System icon, and go to step 4 below.

3 Right click or press and hold on your desktop, click/tap on Display, and go to step 4 below. (see screenshot below)

4 Click/tap on Display on the left side. (see screenshot below step 6)

5 If you have more than one display connected to your PC, then select a display at the top on the right side that you want to change the DPI of. (see screenshot below step 6)

If all your displays are not shown, then click/tap on the Detect link to see if Windows can find it. If you are not sure which display belongs to what number, then you can click/tap on the Identify link to have each display's number briefly appear on each display to see.

6 Under Change the size of text, apps, and other items, select the DPI percentage from the drop down you want to set for that display. (see screenshot below)

This setting is stored as the DpiValue DWORD data value in a long subkey per display in the registry location below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\PerMonitorSettings

7 Click/tap on the Sign out now link to apply. (see screenshot below)

Starting with Windows 10 build 17083, your DPI scaling changes are applied instantly without the need to sign out.

OPTION TWO

To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Settings

This option is only available starting with Windows 10 build 15019.

1 Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.

2 Click/tap on Display on the left side, and click/tap on the Advanced scaling settings link under Scale and layout on the right side. (see screenshot below)

3 Enter a custom scaling size between 100-500 % you want for all displays, and click/tap on Apply. (see screenshot below)

4 Click/tap on Sign out now to apply. (see screenshot below)

To turn off custom scaling:

A) Open Settings, and click/tap on the System icon.

B) Click/tap on Display on the left side, and click/tap on the Turn off custom scaling and sign out link under Scale and layout on the right side. (see screenshot below)

OPTION THREE

To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Registry Editor

1 Type regedit in the search box (Win+S) on the Start menu or taskbar, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

2 If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

3 In Registry Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

4 In the right pane of the Desktop key, double click/tap on the LogPixels DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot above)

If the LogPixels DWORD doesn't exist, then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the right pane of the Desktop key, click/tap on New, click/tap on DWORD (32-bit) Value, type LogPixels, and press Enter.

5 Select (dot) Decimal, type in the value data from the table below for the DPI scaling level you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

DPI Scaling Level	Value data
Smaller 100% (default)	96
Medium 125%	120
Larger 150%	144
Extra Large 200%	192
Custom 250%	240
Custom 300%	288
Custom 400%	384
Custom 500%	480

6 In the right pane of the Desktop key, double click/tap on the Win8DpiScaling DWORD to modify it. (see screenshot below)

If the Win8DpiScaling DWORD doesn't exist, then right click or press and hold on an empty area in the right pane of the Desktop key, click/tap on New, click/tap on DWORD (32-bit) Value, type Win8DpiScaling, and press Enter.

7 Type 0 or 1 for the value data based on the table below, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

Value data	Description
0	Enter 0 if you used 96 in step 5 for no custom DPI scaling.
1	Enter 1 if you used any other size in step 5 for custom DPI scaling.

8 Close Registry Editor.

9 Sign out and sign in to Windows to apply.

OPTION FOUR

To Restore Default DPI Scaling Level for All Displays using a REG file

1 Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below.

Restore_Default_DPI_in_Windows_10.reg

Download

2 Save the .reg file to your desktop.

3 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

4 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

5 Sign out and sign in to Windows to apply.

6 You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn Brink

Change DPI Scaling Level for Displays in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Help Forums (2025)

To Change DPI Scaling Level Per Display in Settings app

To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Settings

To Set Custom DPI Scaling Level for All Displays in Registry Editor

To Restore Default DPI Scaling Level for All Displays using a REG file