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Becherovka
Participant
November 18, 2025
Answered

Real or scaled display resolution for standard previews?

  • November 18, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 96 views

Should standard previews be sized to the longest edge of the display's physical resolution or to the longest edge of the display's scaled resolution? I ask because the auto size for standard previews on my 4K display is 3840, even though my display is configured to display at 1920x1080 in system settings->display.

Correct answer JohanElzenga

Thanks @Aleke  and @JohanElzenga for the quick replies! 

I posted the same question on a different online forum and got essentially the same answers, so I posted the question here., hoping to break the tie.

I can imagine it working either way. I can imagine that LR displays images within a frame at the scaled resolution and I can imagine that MacOS allows LR to display images in a frame at the full native resolution of the display. 

Is there a way to get a definitive answer to which way it actually works?


The point is that scaling the display does not change the hardware resolution of your monitor. Your monitor has 3840 pixels on the longest edge. If Lightroom sends only 1920 pixels (or 2048 pixels) to that display, then those pixels will have to be doubled by interpolation. That means you won't see the image in the quality that your display offers. Setting the preview size to 'Auto' would avoid that, because 'Auto' leads to 3840 pixels wide previews in this case. So it's a choice between best quality and larger previews, or smaller previews and 'second best' quality.

 

1 reply

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Community Manager
AlekeCommunity Manager
Community Manager
November 18, 2025

Hi @Becherovka, welcome to the community!
Generally, for the Standard Preview Size, it's recommended to pick the option that’s closest to the longest edge of your screen resolution (and not shorter than it). For example, if your screen resolution is 1920 x 1200 pixels, you’d choose Standard Preview Size > 2048 Pixels.
You can find more details here:
https://adobe.ly/49Zgz9U
Alek

*(If you mention me with an @, like @Aleke, I’ll get a notification and can respond faster.)*
JohanElzenga
Community Expert
JohanElzengaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 18, 2025

@Aleke A 4K screen has a resolution of 3840 pixels at the longest edge. Unfortunately Lightroom Classic still does not go further than 2880 pixels (you can use 'Auto', but that may set the size a lot bigger, depending on the scaled resolution settings). 

@Becherovka If you set the standard previews to 'Auto', you will get the 3840 pixels previews. That's the correct size. Your screen still has 3840 pixels, regardless of the scaled resolution settings.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga
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BecherovkaAuthor
Participant
November 18, 2025

Thanks @Aleke  and @JohanElzenga for the quick replies! 

I posted the same question on a different online forum and got essentially the same answers, so I posted the question here., hoping to break the tie.

I can imagine it working either way. I can imagine that LR displays images within a frame at the scaled resolution and I can imagine that MacOS allows LR to display images in a frame at the full native resolution of the display. 

Is there a way to get a definitive answer to which way it actually works?

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