Images
Image resolution & the print check
An image that looks crisp on screen can still print soft or pixelated. The difference is resolution — how many source pixels land in each printed inch — and Popcorn Editor checks it for you the moment you place a bitmap in a print document.
Why resolution matters for print
Your monitor shows roughly 72–150 pixels per inch, so almost any image looks sharp on it. A press resolves far finer detail, and when it doesn't have enough source pixels to work with, edges turn fuzzy and photographs go mushy. Print needs a genuinely higher pixel density than the screen ever demands.
Because this only matters for ink on paper, the check is scoped to print (CMYK) documents. On an RGB/screen document you'll see no resolution warnings at all — see RGB vs CMYK color modes for how the modes differ.
Effective PPI: the number that counts
The metric Popcorn Editor reports is effective PPI — the source pixels packed into each printed inch, measured on the worst (lowest) axis of the image.
The key insight is that effective PPI depends on how big you place the image, not on how many pixels it started with in isolation. The density is the source resolution divided by the scale, so:
- Scaling an image up lowers its PPI. Stretch a 300-PPI photo to twice its size and it becomes a 150-PPI photo.
- Scaling it down raises its PPI, giving you headroom.
- Cropping does not change PPI — it removes pixels and printed inches in equal measure.
- A scaled-up parent group counts too. If a group holds an image and you enlarge the whole group, the image inside inherits that scale and its effective PPI drops with it.
To sanity-check the true source resolution, place the image and switch its Image fit to
Original size (shown as 1:1) to see the bitmap at its native pixels.
The two thresholds
Popcorn Editor uses the standard print targets:
| Effective PPI | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 300 PPI and above | The recommended target — prints sharp |
| 150–300 PPI | Acceptable but soft — usable in a pinch |
| Below 150 PPI | Too low for print — visibly pixelated |
300 PPI is the goal; 150 PPI is the hard floor.
The warning on the image
Select a low-resolution image in a print (CMYK) document and a colored badge appears in the Properties panel, with a detail line reading "{ppi} PPI — 300 PPI recommended" (for example, "210 PPI — 300 PPI recommended").
- Amber — "Below recommended print resolution". The image sits between 150 and 300 PPI. It will print, but not as crisply as it could.
- Red — "Resolution too low for print". The image is below 150 PPI. Fix this before you send the file.
No badge appears on RGB documents, and no badge appears once an image clears 300 PPI at its placed size.
Fixing a low-resolution image
You have four practical options, in rough order of preference:
- Place a higher-resolution source. Use Replace in Properties to swap in a larger original that fits the same frame.
- Scale the image down. Making it smaller on the Canvas raises its effective PPI — the badge clears once you cross the threshold.
- Reduce the printed size by resizing the frame, which has the same effect.
- Regenerate it with Replace with AI if the original simply isn't big enough — see Generating & replacing images with AI.
The trade-off is always pixels versus inches. There's no way to invent detail that isn't in the source, so either bring more pixels or print smaller.
The export preflight
You don't have to hunt down every warning by hand. When you open the Export dialog (via Download), the print checks aggregate every low-resolution image into a single line:
{count} image(s) below 300 PPI (lowest {min} PPI) — may print soft or pixelated.
This is a warning, not a block — you can still export. But it's your last chance to catch a soft image before it reaches the press, so treat it as a to-do rather than noise. The full list of what preflight inspects lives in Preflight: the print checks.
What's next
When you're ready to output the file, walk through Exporting a print-ready PDF, or read the practical walkthrough on choosing the right resolution for print.