How to fix Google Chrome font scaling for High-DPI Displays
Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers. It has user-friendly interface and a lot of useful features. A lot of users around the globe choose Google Chrome to navigate the web. With high resolution displays growing in popularity, many programs are getting optimized for High DPI. Not all of them are working quite fine on High DPI displays and Google Chrome app is on this list. When Google presented the Chrome 54 update, the browser started to automatically identify the Dots Per Inch (DPI) configurations. This is the main reason why Chrome’s User Interface scaled up, particularly for those whose configurations are higher than 100%. This simple guide may help you to fix Google Chrome font scaling for High-DPI Displays.
The symptoms of bad scaling issue in Google Chrome are:
- Zoomed scale in Google Chrome – if zooming Google Chrome interface is your personal choice, then there is no problem. However, if you don’t choose Chrome to look like this, then you need to go check the Settings;
- Blurry Chrome scaling – Chrome looks blurry after scaling;
- Google Chrome scaling not working – you can’t adjust scaling in the settings;
In case you have such trouble on your Windows computer, you should these instructions in order to solve the issue.
Correct scaling configurations
In case you have Windows 10 OS on your computer, follow this guide:
- Do the right mouse click on the desktop and choose Display Settings;
- In the Settings menu you may adjust the current scaling of text, programs, applications and other items on the screen;
- Use the slider to modify the scaling. The level of scaling is set automatically to 100% on Full HD displays and other lower resolution displays. On a larger displays with high resolution, you may try to set the level up to 200%. The scaling will settle automatically as you move the slider;
- It is recommended to restart computer to complete the procedure.
In case you have Windows 7 OS on your computer, use this guide instead:
- Do the right mouse click on the desktop and choose Screen Resolution;
- In the Control Panel window, choose Make text and other items larger or smaller option;
- Use this feature to switch to another font size level;
- Push the apply button once you have finished with adjusting process, then restart your computer.
However, you can also try to set custom text size (DPI) configurations on this page before you leave it, if you need to. This feature will allow you to scale font size by making it bigger.
Fix Google Chrome’s settings to scale well
- Do the right mouse click on the Google Chrome desktop icon and choose Properties;
- Select the Compatibility tab. You will see the list of compatibility configurations;
- Find disable display scaling on high DPI settings and tick the box;
- You may try out some other features on this page, for instance you may try to disable desktop composition or run the program in a lower resolution;
- Once you have finished, Windows will enforce your compatibility settings;
- It is recommended to restart computer to complete the procedure.
Manifest files
In this method, you need to manage Windows’ configurations to prioritize external manifest files. You may do it by adding a key to the Windows Registry:
- Push the Windows key, then type in regedit.exe and press Enter;
- Confirm User Account Control notification;
- Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide from the side menu;
- Do the right mouse click on SideBySide and choose New > Dword (32-bit) value;
- Give it the following name – PreferExternalManifest;
- Do the double mouse click on the newly created Dword and put its value to 1;
- Close the Registry Editor and restart your computer to complete the procedure.
That’s all for now, thank you for your attention, we hope this guide was helpful and simple. If you know any other useful methods – feel free to share them in the comment section below.