MATLAB scaling issue on high-resolution (high DPI) displays

Hi there,

I have just installed MATLAB R2014a on my 13.3" laptop with a resolution of 3200*1800, running on Windows 8.1.

When I start MATLAB it opens in a scaled window, and menu bars and the editor windows are somewhat blurry. At some point (from one to 15 minutes) the window resizes and the scaling turns off. Editing windows and menu bars are now illegibly small due to the bad dpi support of MATLAB i presume. I have the feeling that the display change it is related to right-clicks, but am not sure about that.

Has anyone ever experienced similar problems? Does MATLAB support high-resolution displays and I haven't found the checkbox to click? Is there any option (I guess in Windows) to force scaling?

I could work on a blurry scaled screen, but not when the system changes unexpectedly.

Cheers, and thanks in advance.

[Christian Schultes]

Please have a look to this page about:

Applications using Bitmap Font gets effected with rendering issues if during Windows 7 Setup High DPI is deteted and DPI is set to 120 or higher

Windows 7 Setup High DPI - Fix It

[Héctor P[erez]

I found the solution to solve the smaller icons when you start simulink. Right click on matlab shortcut, go to "Open File Location", select "matlab.exe", right click, select "Properties", then "Compatibility", select "Override high DPI scaling behavior, scalling performed by:" and choose "System" on the menu immediately below. With those steps you can solve the same problem for whatever application.

[riad bendib]

thanks a lot mr hector

[Zeeshan Lodhi]

Mr hector !! You made my day !! Thank you alot

[joseph erlich]

thank you!

[Rouven Müller]

many thanks! Now I know the solution also for other applications. thanks!

[Freddy_Baez]

This works for MATLAB r2019b. Thanks, Mr. Hector!

[Freddy_Baez]

Hello everyone,

By the way, I did what Mr. Hector is saying and it work for the blurry Matlab, on my first screen (1), but remains blurry in the other (2).

Also, the tools like Simulink and Fuzzy are still looking blurry.

Is there any solution for this?

Setup:

MATLAB r2019b

Screen (1): https://www.alza.cz/23-6-philips-243v7qdsb-d5077323.htm

Screen (2): https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/laptops/lenovo/flex/flex-2-14/ -laptop-

[Sunita Khilar]

Many thanks. It was a great help.

Answer 1

[Bora Eryilmaz]

There is a workaround now available in R2015a release of MATLAB that partially resolves the issues with blurriness and sizing of the MATLAB Desktop on Windows platform. The workaround patch can be downloaded from Bug Report ID 1054442.

[Yang]

Hi Bora,

Is there any solution to Hidpi support of matlab in ubuntu. My thinkpad x1 carbon 3 runs 2560x1440 Hidpi screen and matlab looks really small but I can not find way to solve the problem.

Thanks!

[Dragos]

It says there "Run toggleHighDPISupport.", but how do you actually run it? Can't seem to execute it.

[Bora Eryilmaz]

After you download the zip file and unzip it to any desired location, you need to start MATLAB. Then navigate, in MATLAB, to the directory where you have the unzipped files. You should see a file called toggleHighDPISupport.p. Once you are in that directory, just type "toggleHighDPISupport" in the Command Window and press Enter to execute the file. Then restart MATLAB for the changes to take effect.

[Bora Eryilmaz]

@Yang. Unfortunately, this solution is for Windows systems only.

[Shuai Han]

Although it doesn't work perfectly on SIMULINK, but this is a wonderful solution. Thanks.

[Ashley Thornton]

Is there going to be a similar workaround made available for Linux any time soon?

[halil ibrahim Gündüz]

Hi Bora, when I used your solution, I had an error. Here is ERROR DIALOG window:

Error using open(line 162) Cannot edit the P-file "C:\Users\AdminDesktop\toggleHighDPISupport.p"

I cannot solve the problem of decreasing size and fonts and my works have been too effected too much badly :(

[Walter Roberson]

You should not click on the .p file, just cd to the directory that contains the file and then at the command line type

toggleHighDPISupport

[halil ibrahim Gündüz]

thanks Walter, I have done what you said.

[Walter Roberson]

Did that set of actions trigger the error about being unable to open the file, or did you have success ?

[Aicko Schumann]

Good that there is a workaround for some customers, but what about other platforms??? In my research community everybody uses Linux and Mathworks should provide a "workaround" or better a permanent patch for us, too. Presently, we cannot use Matlab on High Resolution Screens, because menu fonts are too tiny to be read comfortably. In 2016 all font sizes should be adjustable in the preferences menu!

[hanchao liu]

But there is a same problem in App Designer in MATLAB R2016b, apps is so blurry, both font and axes. Comparing to the small icon and font size of App Designer in R2016a, but apps looks better before. I think Mathworks needs to repair this problem as soon as possible.

Answer 2

[Rafiq Akhundzada]

1) Close Matlab. 2) In the Windows Explorer, navigate to the 'bin' directory for your Matlab installation. 3) Right click on 'matlab.exe' and select "Properties". 4) On the "Compatibility" tab, put a check mark on "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings". 5) Click Apply and the OK. 6) Start Matlab.

This works in Windows 8

[Chris Monaco]

While your solution didn't solve my problem completely...it got me 90% there.

Checking "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" did NOT work, however, the option above it, "Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution" DID work.

The resolution is not ideal...but it is at least now in a workable state until MathWorks fixes this.

[Maziyar]

Thanks for the answer, "Run in 640 x 480 screen resolution" also solved my problem on LENOVO Yoga2, 64 bits.

[Stefanie Schwarz]

For Windows 10 & 11 instructions, see: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/1950403-why-is-the-matlab-desktop-blurry-on-my-high-dpi-display-in-windows

Answer 3

[Petr Stastny]

go to display settings/advanced scalling setting/ turn on auto fix of blurry - restart matlab.

For me worked.

R2019b

Answer 4

[Sven André]

I have the same problem. I think some special touch-pad input changes the scale. But till now i haven't found out which gesture it is.

[Andreas]

I now found out that MATLAB never rescales before running the first code. Which, of course, is not helpful.

So far, I use this WORKAROUND:

• manually turn off scaling on high-res. displays via the compatibility options (right-click on the program file)
• increase font sizes of editing window, command window and workspace in the MATLAB preferences

But unfortunately this does not help with menu bars and menu icons.

[Oleg]

Yeah but, You can't change icon size and font in the ribbons...

Answer 5

[Andreas Hüwel]

I have Linux Debian 9 and just installed me matlab 2019a, and a 3k display. Matlab Workbench is absolutely tiny and unusable. It does not respond to the sytsem normal means of "scaling", refuses to cooperate with KDE/Plasma desktop. How to proceed? Why does it not adapt its icons and fonts to the screen resolution / dpi properties? I cannot work with this properly!

Answer 6

[Viqar Ahmad]

Same problem, using 2018b and 2019a with Fedora 30 and with Debian - and I found the answer here:

https://uk.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/406956-does-matlab-support-high-dpi-screens-on-linux

It worked a treat!

Answer 7

[Luke]

If you're using an NVIDIA graphics cards, open NVIDIA Control Panel and try the following steps:

1. Go into 'Manage 3D Settings'
2. Go to 'Programs Settings'
3. Find Matlab in the list or add it if it is not there.
4. Set Antialiasing - FXAA to OFF
5. Hit 'Apply'

This is what worked for me so I hope it works for all of you as well.

Answer 8

[Andreas]

I know this is bad style to bump a post up, but I really hope to get some answers from the community!

Answer 9

[Logan]

I have found that trying to play a video using implay will cause the scaling to break as well. Also on a 13.3" 3200x1800 laptop, win8.1

Answer 10

[Ramon]

I have the same issue except that the scaling switch only occurs when I attempt to highlight a block and right click on it. I haven't had a problem with this scaling problem occurring after a set of time like other users have; it only triggers when I perform the select+right click.

Restarting Matlab returns the scaling to the default values.

This issue is occurring on a Microsoft Surface Pro 1, Core I5-3317U, 128 GB running Windows 8.1 pro 64 bit.

Issue has only been tested in an environment where I have an external 1920x1080 monitor hooked up to my Surface thru a mini displayport adapter to hdmi cable to DVI adapter hookup.

Answer 11

[lucab]

I think I found a way to scale the MATLAB GUI. Simply launch the 64bit version in Program_Files/MATLAB/R2014b/bin/win64/MATLAB.exe. So far everything works as expected, but slightly blurred due to the scaling. See the attached screenshot.

BTW: this link could be useful to some: http://www.genericmaker.com/2014/05/force-dpi-scaling-on-windows.html. Did not work with matlab but, as explained above, I found another way.

Answer 12

[matteo]

@Bora I tried the workaround but it didnt work. I have matlab 8.4.0.150421 (R2014b) and it says " High DPI support is not available on this version of MATLAB." What can I do?

[Bora Eryilmaz]

Unfortunately the workaround only works for R2015a since it relies on code that only exists in this version of MATLAB. Currently there are no known workarounds for previous versions of MATLAB.

Answer 13

[Andrea]

Same problem, I couldn't find a solution. I use matlab 2014b on a windows 8.1. I have tried 'Disable display scaling on high DPI settings’ but doesn't work for me. I hope that MathWorks will find a solution for this bug also for earlier versions than 2015. This bug is really annoying.

Answer 14

[Christian Schultes]

I run in the same problem, but only with GUI which I did create with Matlab 2009. GUI's which I did create with Matlab 2011 do not have the scaling issue. So the question would be now, how to translate or convert the older GUI's? Anybody with a solution?

Answer 15

[Vikrant Shah]

Has this been addressed yet?