DPI vs PPI: What's the Difference?

DPI (Dots Per Inch) technically refers to printer dots — the individual ink droplets a printer places on paper. PPI (Pixels Per Inch) technically refers to screen pixels — the individual light-emitting elements on a display.

In practice, for digital design work (Photoshop, Figma, image export), the terms are used interchangeably. When you set an image to 300 DPI in Photoshop, you are really setting it to 300 PPI. The distinction only matters in professional print production where halftone screening and ink dot patterns come into play.

Our Inches to Pixels converter uses the same math whether you call it DPI or PPI. The formula px = inches × resolution works identically for both terms. Use whichever term you prefer — the results are the same.