Image scaling
changing the resolution of a digital image
In computer graphics and digital imaging, image scaling is the resizing of a digital image. In video technology, the magnification of digital material is known as upscaling or resolution enhancement.
When scaling a vector graphic image, the graphic primitives that make up the image can be rendered using geometric transformations at any resolution with no loss of image quality. When scaling a raster graphics image, a new image with a higher or lower number of pixels must be generated. In the case of decreasing the pixel number (scaling down), this usually results in a visible quality loss. From the standpoint of digital signal processing, the scaling of raster graphics is a two-dimensional example of sample-rate conversion, the conversion of a discrete signal from a sampling rate (in this case, the local sampling rate) to another.
Mathematical
Image scaling can be interpreted as a form of image resampling or image reconstruction from the view of the Nyquist sampling theorem. According to the theorem, downsampling to a smaller image from a higher-resolution original can only be carried out after applying a suitable 2D anti-aliasing filter to prevent aliasing artifacts. The image is reduced to the information that can be carried by the smaller image.
In the case of up sampling, a reconstruction filter takes the place of the anti-aliasing filter.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Image scaling” as changing the resolution of a digital image. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as changing the resolution of a digital image. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q440296. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Image scaling” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.