How to Fix Blurry Fonts in Windows 10?

If you use Windows 10 on a high-resolution display, you have probably faced the problem with blurry fonts in your system or some applications. It is extremely annoying thing to work with. Generally, the problem is observed on devices with resolution exceeding 200 DPI. We noticed the DPI scaling is not working as it was in Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Some sort of problems can appear if DPI value exceeds 120. As well it can happen if an application does not have DPI-Aware flag. The same situation can be faced in Windows 10.

Here you can see one of the examples of such blurry fonts problem:

In case if you are not satisfied with the font/display scaling, you can return to the “classic” scaling scheme for a specific application, or even for the whole system.

Windows Auto Blur Fix

Already in Windows 10 1803, the display settings were slightly improved. The existing ones was improved and new parameters have appeared, among them the ability to eliminate font blur for programs that do not work with scaling (or when this process does not work correctly).

To enable it, go to Windows Settings → System → Display → Advanced scaling settings and activate the “Let Windows try to fix apps so they’re not blurry” toggle switch.

Set Screen Resolution

Some users are facing with a similar problem due to a lack of experience working with the computer as a whole. Fortunately, this is easy to fix, and this experience can be obtained now.

The problem is that the standard resolution of the monitor may not be indicated on the system itself. Most often, this is due to incorrect operation of the video driver. Although Windows 10 can independently install all the drivers for such devices, you still need to visit the official website of the manufacturer of your video card and download the latest stable version of the driver for it.

Usually it looks like this: the ideal resolution for some kind of monitor, for example, 1920×1080 pixels. The system exposes a lower resolution for it, for example, 1024×768 pixels. Due to this, the image and text appear larger, but blurry.

In this case, you should manually set the screen resolution. If necessary, you can adjust the scaling of the image (when using very large monitors or TVs). Detailed information about the resolution of your display can be found on the manufacturer’s website, as well as from the Windows prompt near a specific value (recommended resolution).

To set the screen resolution in Windows 10:

Right-click on an empty area of the desktop → select “Display settings”.
Set the “Display resolution” parameter and, if necessary, size of text (scaling) in accordance with the recommended version of Windows.

Please note that if the maximum possible resolution does not improve the image, it is highly recommended to install the driver for graphics card from the manufacturer’s website.

Also, if you have several monitors or a TV+monitor and the duplication mode is turned on, the system sets the same resolution on both displays, even if it blurs the text on one of them. In this case, it is necessary to change the mode to “Extend screens” using the Win + P keyboard shortcuts and adjust the resolution for each display separately.

ClearType

It happens that the problem of the system video driver affects the performance of the ClearType function, which smooths the font. It is activated automatically by the system when using LCD screens.

In some cases (for example, due to improper operation of video card drivers), a problem with blurry text can be caused by incorrect operation of the ClearType font smoothing function, which is enabled by default in Windows 10 for LCD screens.

The solution to the problem is to disable this feature or to manually configure it. To do this, open the search panel, enter ‘clear type’ and run the proposed “Adjust ClearType text” option. Next, follow the simple instructions of the utility.

Eliminate the Blur Font for a Specific Application

If the blurry fonts problem appears only in one specific application (for example, in Mozilla Firefox internet browser), you can try to solve the problem of blurring font individually for this application.

Open the application properties (in our example firefox.exe);
Select the Compatibility tab;
Enable the Disable display scaling on high DPI settings;
Save the changes and restart your app.

Make sure that the problem is solved. If not resolved, go to the next step — decreasing the system DPI settings.

Reducing System DPI Settings in Windows 10

On many devices, blurring problems and poor readability fonts are observed in the system using the scaling 125% or higher. In this case, you should try to reduce the scaling settings (DPI) to 100%.

Open the modern control panel system settings;
Then, in the Display section, set the Change the size of text, apps and other items to the left (must be set to 100%);
Reboot your Windows 10.

If it does not work – go to the next solution.

Return the Old Scaling Method in Windows 10

Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 uses a new fonts scaling method and you can easily return the old scaling method previously used in Windows 8 RTM and Windows 7. In most cases, this will help to solve the problem of blurred and incorrect font displaying. Use these steps:

At first, create a file revert_classic_dpi.bat with the following text (see screenshot below):
REG ADD “HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop” /v DpiScalingVer /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00001018 /f
REG ADD “HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Win8DpiScaling /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001 /f
REG ADD “HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop” /v LogPixels /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000078 /f REG ADD “HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop” /v DpiScalingVer /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00001018 /f
REG ADD “HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop” /v Win8DpiScaling /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001 /f
REG ADD “HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop” /v LogPixels /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000078 /f
Then run revert_classic_dpi.bat as Administrator;
Reboot your Windows 10;
After all steps check if the problem is solved

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Cyril Kardashevsky

I enjoy technology and developing websites. Since 2012 I'm running a few of my own websites, and share useful content on gadgets, PC administration and website promotion.

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