Mouse DPI Analyzer — Measure Your Real DPI.
Find out what your mouse's DPI actually is, not just what the box claims. Tell the tool a distance, drag your mouse exactly that far across your pad, and it divides the pixels your cursor moved by the distance to compute your real DPI. Works best with pointer acceleration off and browser zoom at 100%.
Ready to drag
Press and drag your mouse the target distance, then release
Online DPI analyzer.
DPI is dots per inch: the pixels your cursor travels for one inch of hand movement. Drag a known distance and we solve for it.
Set up an accurate DPI measurement
- Turn off pointer accelerationOn Windows, disable "Enhance pointer precision" in mouse settings; on macOS, acceleration is on by default and hard to fully remove. Acceleration changes cursor distance with speed, which wrecks the math.
- Set browser zoom to 100%Zoom multiplies CSS pixels and will throw the DPI off by exactly the zoom factor. Press Ctrl+0 (Cmd+0) to reset it before measuring.
- Measure the physical distance with a rulerPut a real ruler on your mousepad and drag the mouse between two marks. The more accurately you move the exact distance, the closer the DPI.
- Drag slowly and straightA slow, deliberate drag along one axis keeps the movement clean. Fast flicks and diagonal wobble add error, especially if any acceleration remains.
How to use the DPI analyzer
- 1Enter the distance you'll drag. Pick a value and switch between centimetres and inches. A longer drag (say 5 cm or 2 inches) averages out error better than a short one.
- 2Confirm acceleration is off. Tick the box once you've disabled "Enhance pointer precision" (or the macOS equivalent). This is the single biggest source of a wrong reading.
- 3Press, drag exactly that far, release. Line your mouse up with a ruler on the pad, press inside the panel, drag the target distance, and let go. The big number is your computed DPI.
- 4Run it a few times. Average two or three drags for a reliable figure, then compare with the polling rate test to characterise the rest of your sensor settings.
How the DPI analyzer works
DPI — dots per inch, sometimes called CPI (counts per inch) — is how many pixels your cursor moves for every inch you slide the mouse. So the definition itself is the method: move the mouse a known physical distance, count the pixels the cursor travelled, and divide. If dragging one inch moves the cursor 800 pixels, your mouse is 800 DPI. This tool sums the cursor's pixel movement during your drag and divides by the distance you entered, converted to inches.
The wrinkle is display scaling. The browser reports movement in CSS pixels, but a HiDPI screen packs two or more device pixels into each CSS pixel. The tool reads your device pixel ratio and multiplies by it to recover real device pixels, which is what "DPI" normally refers to. That works cleanly at 100% browser zoom and standard OS scaling — but custom scaling factors or zoom will still shift the result, which is why it's an estimate.
The biggest enemy of accuracy is pointer acceleration. When "Enhance pointer precision" is on, the cursor moves farther when you move the mouse faster, so the same physical inch produces a different pixel count every time. Turn it off and the relationship becomes linear and repeatable, and the measurement matches your mouse's actual DPI far more closely. Even then, average a few runs — hand precision and the exact drag distance introduce a little noise.
When to measure your DPI
Matching sensitivity across mice
Switching mice and want the same feel? Measure both and match DPI so your muscle memory carries over.
Verifying a DPI setting
Set 800 in your software but it feels off? Measure to confirm the mouse is really running at the DPI it claims.
Setting up for FPS games
Competitive shooters are tuned around a known DPI and in-game sensitivity. Knowing your true DPI lets you copy a pro's exact eDPI.
A mouse with no software
Cheap or borrowed mice often don't expose their DPI anywhere. This is the only way to find out what it actually is.
After a firmware or driver change
Updates can reset sensor settings. A quick measurement confirms your DPI survived.
Calculating eDPI
eDPI = DPI × in-game sensitivity. You can't compute it without knowing your real DPI first.
DPI glossary
- DPI
- Dots per inch — the pixels a cursor moves per inch of mouse travel. The core sensitivity number for a mouse.
- CPI
- Counts per inch — the technically correct term for the same thing. Manufacturers mostly market it as DPI.
- eDPI
- Effective DPI: your mouse DPI multiplied by your in-game sensitivity. The number players actually compare.
- Pointer acceleration
- An OS feature that moves the cursor farther when you move the mouse faster. It must be off for an accurate DPI reading.
- Device pixel ratio
- How many physical pixels a display packs into one CSS pixel. HiDPI screens are 2 or more; the tool corrects for it.
- Native DPI steps
- The DPI values a sensor supports directly (e.g. 400/800/1600). Values between them are interpolated and slightly less precise.
Frequently asked questions
How can a website measure my mouse DPI?
By turning the definition of DPI into a measurement. You tell it a real-world distance and drag your mouse exactly that far; the browser reports how many pixels the cursor moved; dividing pixels by inches gives dots per inch. The tool also multiplies by your display's device pixel ratio to convert the browser's CSS pixels into real device pixels. It's genuinely measuring your DPI — just indirectly, which is why accuracy depends on your setup.
Why is my measured DPI not exactly 800 (or whatever I set)?
A few reasons stack up. Pointer acceleration makes cursor distance depend on speed; browser zoom above or below 100% scales pixels; non-standard OS display scaling shifts the device-pixel conversion; and you can't drag a perfectly exact distance by hand. Turn acceleration off, reset zoom to 100%, drag a longer distance against a ruler, and average two or three runs — you should land within a few percent of your real DPI.
Do I really need to turn off pointer acceleration?
Yes, if you want a meaningful number. With acceleration on ("Enhance pointer precision" on Windows), the cursor covers more pixels when you move fast and fewer when you move slowly, so the same physical inch never produces the same pixel count. That makes DPI impossible to pin down. With it off, movement is linear and the measurement becomes repeatable.
What's the difference between DPI and eDPI?
DPI is a hardware setting — pixels per inch of mouse movement. eDPI (effective DPI) is DPI multiplied by your in-game sensitivity, and it's what players actually compare because two people can reach the same feel with different DPI and sensitivity combinations. To calculate your eDPI you first need your true DPI, which is exactly what this tool gives you.
Does a higher DPI mean a better mouse?
No. DPI is just sensitivity — how far the cursor moves per inch. Very high DPI (16000+) is a marketing number most people never use; the majority of gamers play between 400 and 1600 DPI and adjust in-game sensitivity to taste. What matters more is a consistent sensor without jitter or acceleration, which this measurement helps you verify by being repeatable across runs.
Will this work on a laptop trackpad?
Not meaningfully. A trackpad has no fixed dots-per-inch relationship — it uses gestures and its own acceleration curves, so dragging a physical distance doesn't map to a constant pixel count. The DPI analyzer is designed for a real mouse on a surface. For trackpad behaviour, the scroll test and mouse test are more useful.