Magnific Upscaling for Print: Sizes, DPI and Settings

Most AI images are made at screen sizes. A typical image model delivers somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 pixels on the long side, which looks sharp on a laptop and soft on an A2 poster. Upscaling closes the gap, but only if you upscale by the right amount, in the right mode, at the right point in your workflow. This guide gives you the arithmetic, a size table and a routine that avoids paying for more pixels than the printer can use.

Pixels, not DPI, decide sharpness

A file's DPI or PPI value is just a label until you print. What matters is how many pixels you have for each inch of paper. The rule of thumb used across the print industry, and repeated in Midjourney's documentation on print, is about 300 pixels per inch for prints viewed up close and around 150 for large posters seen from a few steps away.

So the sum is always the same:

1. Print width in inches × target PPI = pixels needed. (Centimetres ÷ 2.54 gives inches.)
2. Pixels needed ÷ your image's width = the scale factor required.
3. Round up to the next available factor.

Example: an A3 print is about 11.7 inches wide. At 300 PPI that is about 3,500 pixels. From a 1,456-pixel-wide image you need about 2.4x, so 4x is the factor to choose, or 2x if you accept around 250 PPI.

Print sizes at a glance

Always confirm the printer's own requirements: some ask for a specific PPI, bleed and colour profile, and a few will not accept files below a minimum resolution.

Which mode and factor

Magnific offers two upscaler modes. Its documentation describes Precision as faithful super-resolution that preserves content, edges and small text without inventing elements, and Creative as prompt-guided upscaling that adds or infers detail. For print the choice depends on whether the image is finished.

• Approved artwork, photos, products, anything with text: Precision. In the API its controls are sharpen, smart grain and ultra detail.
• Soft AI images and renders that need real texture at size: Creative, with the image's original prompt and a preset that matches the subject, such as portraits, illustration or 3D renders.

The API lists scale factors of 2x, 4x, 8x and 16x, and says that higher factors take longer. A good routine for big prints is a Creative pass at 2x to add texture, a review at 100%, and then Precision for the remaining enlargement so the approved detail is not reinvented. The detailed comparison is in Precision vs Creative.

Cost follows the output size: Magnific's documentation says pricing is based on the output image area, so an 8x upscale costs considerably more than a 4x. Do the sum first and only buy the pixels the print needs.

When upscaling is not the answer

Some images will not survive a large enlargement however good the upscaler. A composition with tiny faces in a crowd, fine lettering or a busy pattern gives the model too little information at the start. In those cases it is usually better to regenerate the image at a larger native size, or to recompose with the important subject larger in frame, and then upscale less. Likewise, a billboard seen from across a road needs far fewer pixels per inch than an art print: ask the printer what they really need before paying for 16x.

Prepare the file before upscaling

1. Finish the image. Retouch, crop to the print ratio and colour-correct before upscaling. Every edit after upscaling is slower and costs more.
2. Crop to the print ratio first. A2 and the other A sizes are about 1:1.41. Cropping after upscaling throws away pixels you paid for.
3. Use the original file. Magnific notes that converting PNG to JPEG or resizing before upscaling reduces quality.
4. Remove text you will replace. Set final typography in a layout tool after upscaling; AI-generated lettering rarely survives enlargement.

Checks before you send it to print

• View at 100% and inspect faces, hands, edges and any repeated pattern. Creative passes can add tiny artefacts that only show at size.
• Look for halos along high-contrast edges; lower sharpening if you see them.
• Set the PPI value in your editor without resampling, so the file reports the right print size.
• Convert to the colour profile the printer asks for and soft-proof if you can.
• Order a small test print or a crop at full scale for anything expensive.
• Record the mode, factor, engine, preset and sliders with the file, so a matching print or reprint is possible later.

For slider-by-slider detail see Magnific upscaler settings explained, and for upscaling inside Midjourney before you reach Magnific, how to upscale in Midjourney.

Try it

botanical illustration of ferns and wild garlic, fine ink linework, delicate watercolour washes, textured cotton paper, archival print quality

Use it as the Creative prompt on a 1,024-pixel botanical illustration, at 2x with the art and illustration preset, then take the result to 4,096 pixels with Precision. That gives you about 13.6 inches at 300 PPI, enough for an A3 print. Compare the linework at 100% after each pass.