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My printed design looks blurry


Printed a design and it turned out blurry or pixelated? There are several reasons why the design you printed or your Canva Print order may appear this way. The most common reason is using low-resolution photos.

My printed design looks blurry

What can cause this

You might've used a low-resolution photo in your design.

What to do

Upload high-resolution images or use images and elements from our media library.

For many Canva Print products, we’ll alert you during the proofing step if your design contains an image that doesn’t meet the resolution requirements for the selected product and size.

Here are a few tips for checking your image quality before submitting your order:

  • Image dimension: This is the image’s size in pixels. Generally, images with larger dimensions look better when printed.
  • Image resolution: This is the number of pixels or dots per inch in an image. The minimum recommended resolution for printing is 300 dots per inch (DPI). Many images from the internet are only 72 DPI, which may cause them to look blurry when printed.
  • Photo source: Images downloaded from the internet or social media are often low-resolution to help them load faster. We recommend using original photos obtained directly from a camera or photographer.
  • PDF proof for Canva Print: Download the PDF proof during checkout and review how your design will look when printed. If the proof looks blurry, the printed design will likely look blurry too.
  • Image size in the design: If a high-resolution image isn’t available, make the image smaller in your design to reduce the appearance of blurriness. Avoid using low-resolution images for large design elements or backgrounds.

Checking image resolution on a Windows PC

  1. Look for the photo you want to use from the File Explorer.
  2. Right-click on the photo and select Properties. A window will appear with the image’s details.
  3. Go to the Details tab to see the image’s dimensions and resolution.

Checking image resolution on a Mac

  1. Open the image on Preview, the default image and PDF viewer program for Mac.
  2. After the image opens on Preview, click on Tools from the menu bar on top.
  3. Select Show Inspector. Details on the Image dimensions and DPI should show.

If your Canva Print order looks blurry, contact us so we can work on a solution.

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