If you see blurry text, fonts or apps in Windows 11 or Windows 10, then this post will help you resolve the issue.
Many users these days own devices with a high DPI display. DPI stands for Dots per Inch and describes the resolution of the displays. Some users, while running various desktop applications on their Windows computers, have reported seeing blurred, blurry, fuzzy fonts or text when running desktop applications like Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Office, Windows Photo Viewer, Windows Media Player, Windows Store apps, and even the Windows Firewall. Some have also reported seeing truncated text.
Fix Blurry Text and Fonts in Windows 11/10
If you are facing a blurry fonts problem on your Windows 11 or Windows 10 device, there are a few things you may want to try.
- Disable DPL virtualization
- Lower the overall Windows DPI setting
- Use Windows DPI Fix Tool
- Use Advanced Scaling Settings in Windows 10.
Let’s see how to do this.
1] Disable DPI virtualization
If you are facing a problem with a particular application, such as the Chrome browser, open its Program Folder, right-click on its chrome.exe file, and select Properties.
Select the Compatibility tab. Here check Disable display scaling on high DPI settings.
Click Apply/OK and check if your issue has been resolved.
If it does not help, or if you face this problem for most of your programs, you may want to consider lowering the Windows DPI setting system-wide.
2] Lower the overall Windows DPI setting
To do this, from the WinX Menu, open Control Panel > Display applet.
You will see a slider under the Change the size of all items section. To operate this slider, first check the Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays option. Once you have done this, move the slider to 100% or to a position that suits you.
If you do this, you must realize that on very high-DPI display, this may make fonts, text, and screen elements very small and at times difficult to read.
High-DPI displays allow the display to produce crisper text and graphics, but these issues arise because some application developers do not take advantage of this feature.
Fix: Blurry File Open dialog box in Chrome and Edge.
3] Use a Free Windows DPI Fix Tool
See if this free tool Windows DPI Fix helps you fix the problem of blurry fonts, text, and images.
4] Use Advanced Scaling Settings in Windows 10
Did you ever have to face blurry programs and text on the screen? Well, if so, this Windows 10 feature can help you with that. Under Settings > System > Display > Advanced scaling settings, you can now find a feature called Let Windows try to fix apps so they’re not blurry. Blurry Applications usually occur when you connect/disconnect an external display or a projector.
With this feature in place, you will not have to sign-out or restart your computer to fix any of these blurry applications. Also, whenever a display is unplugged, Windows will notify you about the blurry applications, and you can directly fix them from the notification actions itself. This feature is really very useful for people who use multiple monitors with their laptops. It can save time and frustration that went into fixing blurry applications.
Not just this, there is also an option to define DPI settings individually for exe programs that will override system settings. This gives you more control over DPI settings and can fix almost all scaling issues. Right-click an exe file, go to Compatibility and then select Change High DPI Settings. In this settings window, you can define custom DPI settings for this program. You can also select when the program should override the system’s DPI settings.
The addition of this feature gives you more control, and at the same time lets, you fix any particular application that is not coming up on screen properly.
Unfortunately, Windows 11 doesn’t come with the Let Windows try to fix apps so they’re not blurry option. Therefore, you need to opt for other solutions, as mentioned in this post.
Additional readings to help with the issue of blurry fonts:
- To fix the issue of Blurry Fonts or Poor Display Scaling In Office Programs, you can also use the Registry Editor
- How to rebuild Font cache.
- Make text easier to read using ClearType Tuner.
We hope this helps you fix the blurry text issue. We are giving you some additional information below.
Advanced Display Settings in Windows 11
This page is completely new and was added to Windows 11 v1803. Currently, this page does not offer much but seems like it is a place where Microsoft will be adding more features. Currently, Advanced Display Settings page tells you about the screens that you have connected to your computer. Moreover, it can tell you which graphics processor is powering a screen. Other than that, it displays some basic information such as resolution, refresh rate, bit depth, color format, color space etc.
Also, there is an option that links to the display adapter properties that a display is using. From Adapter Properties, you can change some of the important settings.
Graphics Settings in Windows 11/10
This Graphic Setting was also introduced in the recent update, and it lets you customize the graphics performance of individual apps. You can select any Classic or Universal App and define the GPU it should use.
If you are using Windows 11, you need to go to System > Display > Graphics. From here, click on an app on the list or the blurry app, and select the Options button.
Following that, choose the Graphics performance based on the current setting.
It is recommended to switch from one to another to check if the change makes things better or not.
How do I turn off Advanced scaling?
Before getting started, you need to know that Windows 11 doesn’t have the Advanced scaling functionality included in the Windows Settings. However, if you want to change the scaling level on Windows 11, you need to open Windows Settings and go to System > Display. Expand the Scale drop-down list, and select the 100% option. Alternatively, you can choose something else as per your requirements.
How do I get rid of Fix apps that are blurry?
When an app shows blurry text or font, Windows 11/10 displays a notification saying Fix apps that are blurry. You can select the Yes, open Settings option, and click the Apply button. It will hide the respective notification from the Action Center. However, if you want to fix blurry font in any app, you must follow the aforementioned guide.
Additional readings to help the issue of blurry fonts:
- To fix the issue of Blurry Fonts or Poor Display Scaling in Office Programs, you can also use the Registry Editor
- Make text easier to read using ClearType Tuner.
