FAQ: Maximum PowerPoint Resolution

What is the possible maximum PowerPoint resolution for slideshows?

We have 2 products that can be used to display a PowerPoint presentation or slideshow on a video wall of multiple television screens.  iPoint and Dynamic Wall can handle this. The information below counts for both implementations.

You can change the size of your slides or slideshow via the Design menu, Slide Size button.

From the pop up menu, choose the option Custom Slide Size…

Look at the default dimension of a (default) wide screen slide.  This is 13.333 inch by 7.5 inch. Typically an inch in PowerPoint counts 96 dots. So 96 dots per inch or 96 dpi.

Follow my calculations: 7.5 times 96 dpi = 720 dpi, and 13.333 times 96 dpi = 1,280 dpi.

This completely fits with a wide screen aspect ratio of 16 by 9, or 1280 by 720 pixels.

There is a limit of 56″ in height and 56” in width that you can use in PowerPoint. Those are limits that we cannot change or exceed.

When we bring this back to pixels, then we have the following calculation: 56 times 96 dpi = 5,376 pixels.

Conclusion: Maximum PowerPoint resolution. The maximum size of a PowerPoint slide, presentation or slide show is 5,376 by 5,376 pixels.

What if the sum of your video wall exceeds those 5,376 pixels? Not immediately a bad setup. You can perfectly display 5,376 pixels on a e.g. 8,000 pixels video wall. You will loose some quality but that can barely be seen. If you start showing one pixel over 2 pixels on your screen, nobody will notice. Theoretically you are losing quality, but visually you will not notice it that hard.

By the way, did you know that you can enter your pixels values here as well, instead of using in or cm (for centimeters)? Just enter the value 1280px on this textbox and it will be translated automatically into 13.333 in or 15 cm.