Interpolated Resolution

Interpolated Resolution
A photographic image resolution that is measured in DPI (dots per inch). Computer software has the ability to enhance or increase an image's resolution by guessing at the color of the dot in between dots of a known color.

interpolated resolution
If a datum, instead of being measured, is calculated based upon the data either side of it, it is said to be interpolated.

Interpolated Resolution adds pixels to the image using complex software algorithms to determine what color they should be. It is important to note that interpolation doesn't add any new information to the image - it just makes it bigger! ...

What does "interpolated resolution" mean?
It's a fancy way of saying "faking it." Let's say a scanner is capable of scanning 300 pixels per linear inch.

This process, called interpolated resolution, adds pixels to the image to increase the total number of pixels. To do so, software evaluates those pixels surrounding each new pixel to determine what its color should be.

True scanner resolution is optical resolution, not interpolated resolution. Interpolated resolution will read higher than optical because it's been enhanced by the software bundled with the scanner.

Many scanners advertise extremely high interpolated resolutions. Interpolated high resolution is just advertising hype. Scanning with these high interpolated resolutions will not provide you with high quality digital images.

Interpolated resolution starts with a hardware optical scan at a lower resolution, followed by a software guess at what the higher interpolated resolution should look like.

Some scanners use interpolated resolution which is an "educated guess" made by the scanner to turn a scan into a higher resolution scan. A 300 X 300 scan can be interpolated into a 600 X 600 dpi.

There are three types of resolution: real resolution, native resolution and interpolated resolution.

Some digital cameras on the market claim to have ‘interpolated resolution’ numbers - a camera would be presented as a four megapixel camera but will claim to have eight ‘interpolated pixels’.

(compare flatbed scanners and their interpolated resolutions quoted in advertisements as opposed to their effective resolutions).

optical resolution
the maximum physical resolution of a device. Optical resolution provides better quality than interpolated resolution of the same number, which uses software to create additional image information.

Digital cameras do this when set to larger (but bogus) "recording resolutions" or "interpolated resolutions." You can do this yourself in a program like Photoshop when you resize the image and have "resample" box checked.

Optical resolution
The true resolution of a scanner and the key factor in determining the amount of detail visible in a image. Optical resolution is one type of resolution; the other is interpolated resolution.

That resolution is known as the camera's interpolated resolution. Interpolation creates new pixels from those that exist and inserts them in-between the existing pixels to increase the image's overall resolution.

See also: Interpolated, Print, Image, Resolution, Pixel