Best Resolution for iPad Retina Display

[diane_madura]

<p>The new iPad Air resolution is 2048-by-1536, as was the previous iPad. I had asked this question once before when I had the older iPad. But now I cannot find the answer when searching this site. And now I have the retina display. </p>

<p>I believe that the optimum size for a photo, when transferring to the iPad Air, would be 2048-by-1536. However, I'd like to transfer a larger file so that when someone zooms in on the iPad, the photo is at the optimum size while it is zoomed in. So, what would be the optimum size, while zoomed in, on a retina display? I hope I'm phrasing this well enough to be understood.</p>

<p>I believe either Matt Lauer or Patrick Lavoie responded to this the last time. Thanks in advance for your answers.</p>

[ellis_vener_photography]

According to Apple: 266 dpi.

[marc_rochkind]

<p>Even though the question asks about resolution, which is pixels per unit of measure, I think the question is really about pixel dimensions, which is often erroneously called resolution. The answer is to multiply the screen dimensions by the degree of zoom desired. For example, if one wants to zoom in to 4X, then multiply the dimensions by 4.</p>

<p>However, that results in very large files, and it may not be a good idea to try to stuff that much data into an iPad. Depends on the situation, of course.</p>

<p>Also, it may be that the iPad has a dimension limit. I used to know what that was, but I'm not up to date on the latest iPads and iOS 7.</p>

[diane_madura]

<p>Thank you everyone. In response to Marc, when you tap on an iPad, it always zooms the same amount. I don't know what that percentage is. I know what the dimensions of the screen are. But how much bigger should I be making the file so that I am optimizing the results when I tap on the screen?</p>

<p>I guess I didn't explain myself well. Because on an iPad, I cannot request to zoom 10%, 20%, etc., I just want to know what the optimum file size would be so that when I tap on the screen, the best possible quality is displayed.</p>

[Burnsie]

<p>Double tapping on iPad is 2X. so set your <strong>short</strong> dimension to <strong>3072</strong>. that way you get full resolution when you double tap on the image. (2 x 1536 = 3072).</p>

[diane_madura]

<p>Thanks Chris!</p>