Projects
Resolution Limit of the Eye
How many pixels can we see?
Maliha Ashraf(1), Alexandre Chapiro(2), Rafał K. Mantiuk(1)
(1)University of Cambridge, (2)Reality Labs
Spatial sensitivity and resolution limits for various colour directions across the visual field. The measured resolution limit in pixels-per-degree (ppd) at each eccentricity across the sample (N = 18), with median (open circles), 95% Confidence Intervals (CIs; error bars), and mean (horizontal bars). Numbers next to the violins indicate median ppd values of the observed data. Dashed lines represent the model fit. The edges of the shaded violin plot areas indicate the 95th percentile of thresholds.
Abstract
As large engineering efforts go towards improving the resolution of mobile, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) displays, it is important to know the maximum resolution at which further improvements bring no noticeable benefit. This limit is often referred to as the retinal resolution, although the limiting factor may not necessarily be attributed to the retina. To determine the ultimate resolution at which an image appears sharp to our eyes with no perceivable blur, we created an experimental setup with a sliding display, which allows for continuous control of the resolution. The lack of such control was the main limitation of the previous studies. We measure achromatic (black-white) and chromatic (red-green and yellow-violet) resolution limits for foveal vision, and at two eccentricities (10° and 20°). Our results demonstrate that the resolution limit is higher than what was previously believed, reaching 94 pixels per degree (ppd) for foveal achromatic vision, 89 ppd for red-green patterns, and 53 ppd for yellow-violet patterns. We also observe a much larger drop in the resolution limit for chromatic patterns (red-green and yellow-violet) than for achromatic patterns. Our results provide quantitative benchmarks for display development, with implications for future imaging, rendering, and video coding technologies.
Interactive display resolution calculator
Explore how screen size and viewing distance affect perceived resolution:
Open Calculator →Application in Foveated Rendering
Eccentricity-dependent filtering has been applied to the simulated image, whichemoves invisible details to improve coding performance. When the gaze is centred on the red backpack in the image, the degradation of high-frequency details in the periphery will not be noticeable to the human eye.
Click the image below to toggle between the simulated and the original image. Please zoom the page on the screen such that the red rectangle in the bottom-left corner of the simulated image is approximately the size of a credit card and view the image from 50 cm away.
Materials
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Paper:
Resolution limit of the eye — how many pixels can we see?
Maliha Ashraf, Alexandre Chapiro, Rafał K. Mantiuk
Nature Communications, 16(9086), 2025 [doi] - Code and data: [GitHub] [Zenodo]
- Supplementary material