Why is my image blurry?

Image blurriness can occur for several reasons. This page covers two of the most common reasons and potential solutions:

Device pixel ratio (DPR) not taken into consideration

Most devices have a DPR greater than 1 and sometimes greater than 2. When delivering images to devices with a DPR greater than 1, you'll want to proportionately increase the pixels in the image as well.

For background on what DPR is and how it affects delivery, see Device Pixel Ratio (DPR).

Set dpr to match the device's pixel ratio

For example, to deliver an image to a device with a DPR of 2.0, set the dpr transformation parameter to 2.0:

You can then use this version of the image and display it in the same container as you would for the original version. It looks sharper.

For dpr parameter syntax and values, see dpr (DPR) in the Transformation URL API reference.

Resizing images leads to blurriness

Image resizing may cause some blurriness, whether you are scaling up or down. For example, a 300×300 image scaled down to 100×100 has far fewer pixels to represent the same detail, so it tends to look less sharp and clear. Enlarging a small source to fill a much larger area often makes that softness especially obvious. This occurs regardless of the resizing method you use, and some images hold up better than others depending on the image's colors, lining, models, and similar factors.

The examples below upscale the front_face image (original 292×282) by delivering it at 700 px wide (w_700, dimensions 700×676). That's larger than the source, so detail can look soft.

Use e_auto_enhance

For the best results, add e_auto_enhance to the transformation chain. This uses AI to automatically enhance the image by analyzing the image quality and automatically selecting the right enhancement techniques to apply, for example:

For more information, see e_auto_enhance in the Transformation URL API reference.

Use e_sharpen

Add e_sharpen to the transformation chain, for example:

Use e_improve

Add e_improve to the transformation chain, for example:

For more information, see e_improve in the Transformation URL API reference.