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Browser Screensaver

Screen Resolution Test

What your browser knows about your display, and what it does not. Both the reported figure and the likely native resolution are shown, because they are usually different numbers.

Press F for fullscreen, Esc to exit.

What the screen resolution test shows

Web pages are told the screen size in CSS pixels, not physical ones. On any scaled display those are not the same: a 3840 × 2160 monitor running at 200% scaling reports 1920 × 1080, and every site that shows you one number and calls it your screen resolution is showing you that one.

Multiplying by the device pixel ratio usually recovers the real figure, and that is what the first number here does. It is not guaranteed — fractional scaling and browser zoom both change the ratio — which is why both numbers are shown and labelled.

Reading the numbers

The likely native resolution is CSS pixels multiplied by the pixel ratio, which is the panel’s real resolution on most setups. The reported figure is what web pages actually receive. The window size is your browser viewport, which is what a responsive layout responds to.

Change your browser zoom and watch the pixel ratio move: zoom is included in that figure, which is exactly why the derived native resolution can be wrong if you are zoomed in.

What this test cannot tell you

The browser cannot read your monitor’s specification. Everything here is derived from what the operating system reports to the page, filtered through scaling and zoom — so treat the native figure as a well-reasoned inference, not a fact.

Questions

Why does this show a smaller resolution than my monitor?

Because web pages are told the screen size in CSS pixels, and display scaling divides the real number. A 4K monitor at 200% scaling reports 1920 × 1080. The first figure here multiplies that back out by the pixel ratio, which recovers the real one on most systems.

What is device pixel ratio?

How many physical pixels make up one CSS pixel. It is 1 on an unscaled monitor, 2 on most HiDPI laptop screens, and often a fraction on Windows at 125% or 150%. Browser zoom is folded into it too.

Does browser zoom affect these numbers?

Yes — zoom changes the pixel ratio, which changes the derived native resolution. Set zoom back to 100% before trusting the first figure.

Is the screen resolution test free?

Yes — free, with no account, no download and no limit. It is a web page, so it runs on any device with a modern browser.

Do I need to be fullscreen?

For anything involving the whole panel, yes. Press F, or the fullscreen button. On a desktop browser F11 also hides the browser toolbars, which matters for the tests where a bright strip at the top of the screen would affect what you are looking at.