Fixing low-resolution images

Graphics you place in your document may appear pixelated or fuzzy or grainy. In most cases, it’s because InDesign displays images in low-resolution by default to improve performance.

Check the display settings

To display graphics in high resolution, choose View > Display Performance > High Quality Display. For more details on changing these display performance settings, see Control graphics’ display performance.

Use Place instead of Paste

The image may still be low resolution even though you changed the display performance settings. For these images, make sure that you use the Place command to insert the image into InDesign. In some instances, pasting an image from another application may result in the preview image being inserted instead of the original file.

Check your print settings

If your image appears in low resolution in print, check your print settings to make sure graphics are printing properly. In the Graphics section of the Print dialog box, choose Send Data > All.

Avoid transformations in images of borderline quality

In addition, scaling or rotating an image could reduce its quality. You may want to choose Clear Transformations from the Control panel menu.

Improve the image resolution

In some cases, such as with an image copied from a web page, you may need to replace a low-resolution image with a high-resolution image.