Bug Discovered in Windows 11 Built-in DPI Scaling Levels

In this article, we are going to talk about a very annoying bug discovered in Windows 11 DPI scaling settings.

Many Windows users use custom DPI scaling on their displays to increase the size of all elements and font/text so that they can view and read everything easily in large size without hurting their eyes.

All Windows versions allow users to change DPI scaling level to increase the size of text, app windows, etc. If you also use custom DPI scaling in your Windows device, you might be aware of the fact that many times people face blurry text or fuzzy UI elements issues while using custom DPI scaling specially on high-DPI devices.

Advertisement

Today I discovered a weird and annoying bug in Windows 11’s built-in or predefined DPI scaling levels which can be selected from the drop-down list using Settings app.

Here is a quick summary of the bug before discussing in details:

If we select the built-in DPI scaling level (125%, 150%, 175%) using the drop-down box given in Windows 11 Settings app, some 3rd party apps start showing blurry text.

BUT

If we apply the same DPI scaling level such as 125% by manually entering the level number in “Custom Scaling” option present in Settings app, no 3rd party app show blurry text.

Now let’s discuss the issue in details!

The bug occurs only if we select a DPI scaling level using the default drop-down box in Windows 11. If we apply the same DPI scaling using custom scaling option, no blurry text bug appears.

Advertisement

We are providing some screenshots which will make the bug more clear to understand.

When we applied 125% DPI scaling using Settings -> Display -> Scale drop-down box, some 3rd party programs started showing blurry text.

Windows_11_Builtin_Display_DPI_Scaling_Level_Drop_Down_List.png

Following screenshot shows Notepad++ having blurry text issue in 125% DPI scaling selected from the drop-down box in Windows 11:

Notepad_Plus_Blurry_Text_Issue_Windows_11_Custom_DPI_Scaling.png

Following screenshot shows Adobe Photoshop having blurry text issue in 125% DPI scaling selected from the drop-down box in Windows 11:

Adobe_Photoshop_Blurry_Text_Issue_Windows_11_Custom_DPI_Scaling.png

You can notice clearly in above screenshots that the text or font inside the program windows such as menubar, toolbar, etc is blurry but the titlebar text is not blurry.

And when we applied the same 125% DPI scaling by manually typing it using Settings -> Display -> Scale -> Custom Scaling textbox, all 3rd party programs worked fine without any blurry text issue.

Set_Custom_Display_DPI_Scaling_Level_Windows_11_Settings.png

Following screenshot shows Notepad++ having NO blurry text in manual 125% DPI scaling in Windows 11:

Notepad_Plus_Blurry_Text_Issue_Fixed_Windows_11_Custom_DPI_Scaling.png

Following screenshot shows Adobe Photoshop having NO blurry text in manual 125% DPI scaling in Windows 11:

Adobe_Photoshop_Blurry_Text_Issue_Fixed_Windows_11_Custom_DPI_Scaling.png

So there is definitely some problem in Windows 11’s built-in DPI scaling level feature.

The bottom line is that if you need to set custom DPI scaling level in Windows 11, DO NOT select the DPI level from the built-in drop-down box. Instead manually enter the desired DPI scaling level using the text box present on Settings -> Display -> Scale -> Custom Scaling page.

If you still face blurry text issue, following articles will help you:

Let Windows 10 Automatically Fix Blurry Apps Problem

[DPI Scaling Fix] Bold, Blurry or Hard to Read Font Problem in Windows 8.1 / 10

[Fix] Blurry Text of News and Interests (Weather) in Windows 10 Taskbar

Published in: Windows 11

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. Gracias por el tip. Tengo un portátil con pantalla de 15″ y algunas aplicaciones tenían letra borrosa con el DPI predeterminado de 125%, así que primero lo cambié manualmente a 150% y luego a 125% y ahora todo se ve bien nítido.

    Translation:

    Thanks for the tip. I have a 15″ laptop and some apps had blurry fonts at the default DPI of 125% so I manually changed it to 150% first and then 125% and now everything looks nice and sharp.

  2. No, it’s not a bug, you miss the point of these settings.

    There are 2 different concepts: scaling and increasing the font size.

    Scaling means every UI element is enlarged by some factor. That’s what the options in the main window do.

    On the other hand, the custom scaling options just increase the font size in order to fake scaling, as was done all the way back in Windows XP. If you look on your Notepad++ window, you see the document icon on the tab is actually the same as before, displaying very tiny, while only the tab name is now written using bigger characters. So yeah, this is not real scaling.

    When you only have access to bitmaps, it’s pretty difficult to scale without visible blurriness unless you employ some extra trickery.

    Want to see a real bug? Grab a 3840×2160 monitor, set scaling to 150%, maximize an app that scales well (like Chrome) open an app that scales using System or System (Enhanced) methods (like mmc), maximize that and try to close the window by hitting the most upper right corner. Big chances the click will get through right to the window behind, closing that. This has been in Windows for years, no one seems to be too bothered about it.

  3. You are cheating yourself. Custom scaling set on ANY monitor shall set the same scaling for ALL monitors. The method you have described is akin to setting 125% on both monitors from the dropdowns (in which case the problem would be fixed too).

  4. I totally can confirm that, and it’s unbelievable. First thing, a small right rectangle on the right of a dropdown lead to a complete new menu! After discovering that, it tells you NOT to use it! And if you use it, you get a better result, then in the drop down.

    I also need to say, I thought this menu is something, which somehow circumvents the real feature, therefore the warning (see comment of Vali). But the problem is, the real feature DOES NOT work. I only used the normal dropdown back and forth between 125% and 100%. After a number of changes even the system menus (!) starts to become blurry in cases of the “old” dialog boxes.

    Only the showed setting brought me back the original sharp fonts. So yes, I can confirm, there is something seriously broken.

  5. The other issue with custom scaling option is that when you set the scale manually it applies the same to all monitors connected. So, if you run a second monitor which requires a different scale then you other monitor you will need to use the preset scaling options. My own thoughts on scaling are that non-integer scaling overall is just bad. You cannot split up pixels they are fixed DPI and you can only really use integer X2 or X3 as scaling options. Certainly, Windows 10 and 11 do non-integer scaling pretty well. But it is not a perfect way to deal with HiDPI screens.

  6. Thanks a lot, I’ve had this issue on my laptop. It was so annoying and there wasn’t any fixes only. Now everything is perfect and sharp 🙂

  7. Looks like I have this same issue. I noticed another issue as well. When I set custom scaling to 125%, now Settings thinks I have 175% under Display Settings.

  8. After a user adjusts Windows DPI scaling settings, the re-scaling process is in a transitory state in which the re-scaling is not complete. Complete and correct re-scaling does not occur until the user has signed out of Windows, and then signed in again (or restarted Windows). Only after the sign-out/sign-in again can any true judgement be made about the effect of the new scaling factor.

  9. This is a very annoying bug indeed. Microsoft has ended up with a messy situation with control of Scaling and Screen Resolution through Display Settings, and Text Size in Accessibility Settings. Meanwhile, it has removed the user’s ability for a more granular control of appearance. The number of times I have to log out, log back in and restart the PC is mind-numbing. I’ve had enough already. My next PCs will definitely be anything but Windows.

  10. Scaling isn’t perfect by any stretch especially fractional scaling. I give credit to Microsoft for trying their best to scale all the types of screen sizes and resolutions well. But many times, it lacks something in the translation. I ended up on my 1920×1080 15 inch laptop to just use 100% scale and add a little text size increase for readability. Seems like the PC makers made choices in resolutions that were not great for scaling. Unlike Apple which does seem to match screens to scaling in best case scenario.

  11. Are all of you aware that you must sign-out after changing scaling. You do not have to restart the computer, just sign-out which only takes seconds to return to the log-in screen.

  12. I had this problem but with icons in explorer. After setting the custom scaling on windows 11 it did what windows 10 used to do when changing scale in the dropdown menu…

  13. Good for displays that use 125% and lower scale, for example FullHD laptops or 24inch QHD monitors. It won’t work on displays that use scale higher than 125% (4K monitors). On 144dpi display (150%) you need to use 125% scale and increase the font size to 120%.

  14. I myself see more of a blurring effect with 150% then 125% on my FHD laptop. It sort of comes with the territory of fractional scaling vs an integer scaling option of either 100% or 200%. You just cannot split pixels into fractions, so some sort of smoothing has to be done to hide this. When you add more percentage, you increase this, and the result is more blurriness.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

NOTE: Your comment may not appear immediately. It'll become visible once we approve it.