Adjust your Windows 10 display settings for better scaling.
Adjust your Windows 10 display settings for better scaling.
You'll likely observe that Windows adjusts well overall, but third-party programs often lose clarity when opened. This happens because many Win32 apps fail to handle display scaling properly. To fix this individually, right-click the shortcut or .exe file, choose Properties, and go to the Compatibility tab. There you'll find an option to modify high DPI settings.
Unless the app is built for per-monitor scaling, Windows can only mimic it if it can't directly modify the code to enable support. The responsibility falls on the developer to provide this feature. This highlights both advantages and disadvantages of Windows Win32 applications. They offer developers extensive capabilities, but require some effort from the dev team. That’s why we now see UWP, which works differently. Security is tightened, yet many features are enabled for developers (such as ink/pen support, multi-touch, GPU acceleration, high-DPI, and per-monitor scaling). Unfortunately, since high-DPI isn’t typically a selling point for software creators, and per-monitor scaling is uncommon, expect limited developer support unless there’s strong demand. Currently, we’re slowly progressing toward basic high-DPI support due to the rise of high-resolution displays on laptops. In the upcoming Windows 10 update later this year, you’ll be able to maintain full display scaling at 100% while increasing text size everywhere. This change will impact most apps, except for those like Steam that use its own GUI framework. It could be a fun feature to experiment with, though users may notice buttons and sizes staying unchanged.