9 solutions to blurry text problems in Windows 10

This is the golden age of sharp, high-resolution displays. So it’s very irritating to see Windows 10 presenting you with blurry text! Unless you’ve forgotten to wear glasses, DPIs usually display differently on Windows 10 and this creates character blurring. So, here’s how to fix the blurry font problem with Windows 10.

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Check your monitor settings

If the problems aren’t just with the Windows 10 text, but the whole image is blurry, you may just have a bad monitor settings configuration:

1. Right-click on the desktop and select Display settings.
2. Scroll down to Screen resolution.
3. Make sure the resolution marked as is selected Recommended.

Sometimes Windows incorrectly detects the correct resolution for your monitor, which can lead to blurry fonts. Check your monitor’s spec sheet to see what its native resolution is and make sure the right one is selected.

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Run the ClearType wizard

If your resolution is correct and you continue to see grainy text in Windows 10 and not just in specific applications, you may want to run the ClearType wizard. ClearType is a Windows feature that enhances the clarity of text on flat panel displays.

1. Open the menu Start.
2. Search for Edit ClearType text and April.
3. Make sure the option Enable ClearType has the box checked.
4. Select Forward and follow the instructions until the ClearType optimization process is complete.

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Turn on automatic correction

Windows has an automated feature that looks for problems with blurry text and fixes them automatically. If you see blurry text on Windows, this feature may have been disabled. Activate it:

1. Right-click on the desktop and select Display settings.
2. Under Scale & Layout, select Advanced scaling settings.
3. Under Fix scaling for apps, make sure that Let Windows try to fix apps so they aren’t blurry is activated.

You may need to restart the application that was showing the blurry fonts or even the entire computer for it to take full effect.

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Change the resolution to match the target display

If you see blurry text or a blurry image on an external display device such as a TV or projector, it could be because you are sending an image with the wrong resolution to that device.

If you’re simply mirroring your display on a projector, for example, the screen is likely to be blurry because the two devices don’t have the same native resolution.

If you need to use the mirror display mode, it is better to set the image resolution to that of the external display. Text and images will not display correctly on the integrated display, but they should still be usable.

If you don’t need to run the two displays in mirrored mode, it’s best to switch Windows to extended display mode and then make sure each display is running at its native resolution.

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Open an app on the target display

Sometimes text in an application blurs when you move it from one display to another. This can happen because the scaling for that app has been optimized for the display it was opened on and doesn’t adjust again for the other display.

A simple solution is to open the app on the target display where you want to use it. If you close it on the target display, it should automatically open again the next time you run it.

Adjust the DPI scaling

Blurred text may be the result of incorrect global text scaling settings. Windows attempts to resize the text so that it remains legible on high resolution screens. For example, if you’re using a 27-inch 4K display, the text would be nearly unreadable without the 20/20 vision.

1. Right-click on the desktop and select Display settings.
2. In Scale and Layout, search Change the size of text, apps, and other items.
3. Make sure the scaling value in the drop-down menu is set to 100% (recommended).

If the text isn’t comfortable to read with 100% scaling, increase the scaling one step at a time until you’re happy with how it looks. Note that some apps will not perform well or will not look right with too high scaling.

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Disable scaling for a specific app

If the fonts are not well defined in a specific Windows 10 application, it could be a flaw in the app compatibility settings. This is especially true if you are trying to run software on Windows 10 designed for an older version of Windows or lower resolution displays. To set per-application scaling settings:

1. Look for the app in the menu Start (or otherwise locate its link).
2. Right-click on the app and select the path to the open file.
3. Now right-click the app in its location and select Property.
4. In the application properties, go to the Compatibility tab.
5. Now, select Change high DPI settings.
6. Check the box with the label Use this setting to fix scaling issues for this program instead of the one in Settings.
7. Check the box Override high DPI scaling behavior.
8. In Resizing performed by: to select Application.
9. Select OK.

Restart the application and check if you still see blurry.

Activate / deactivate font smoothing

Windows has several performance options that affect the appearance of text on the screen. One of these is character smoothing, where the edges of characters are smoothed to make them appear less pixelated. What you perceive as blurry text on Windows 10 may be a lack of font smoothing, so it’s worth checking if it’s enabled.

1. Open the menu Start.
2. Search for Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows, then select it.
3. In the card Visual effects , you can select Adjust to get the best look or you can specifically check the box next to Smooth the edges of the screen fonts.
4. Select OK.

If it was actually a font smoothing issue, this should have fixed the Windows 10 blurry font issue.

Update Windows and apps

Scaling issues that cause Windows 10 blurry text issues are sometimes the result of a Windows bug or compatibility issues between specific versions of Windows and certain applications. For example, if your text is suddenly blurry after a Windows update, you may need to update your graphics drivers or roll back the update until the problem is resolved.

If you’re running software that isn’t designed for Windows 10 or hasn’t been updated in a long time, you can also try getting the latest version of that software to see if it’s a little sharper after the update.