The simple-looking Raspberry Pi board can do extraordinary jobs if configured properly. We run our Raspberry Pi headless most of the time, and the monitor is not necessarily attached. So, the resolution is automatically set to low by Pi. A low screen resolution of the Raspberry Pi doesn’t raise any issues till you run bigger applications. So, you can change the resolution of your Raspberry Pi whenever required.
We can manually change the resolution of Raspberry Pi using a desktop interface or terminal commands. In this simple guide, we will be discussing both of these two different methods for changing Raspberry Pi resolution.
How To Change Raspberry Pi Resolution Using Desktop Interface?
Turn on your Pi. Click on the Raspberry Pi icon given on the top left of the taskbar and open the applications menu. Scroll down to the Preferences tab and click on screen configuration from the given list of options. Now explore the configure tab and click on the Screens option.
You will be shown the name of the display along with a pop-out menu. Click on the resolution and choose the size for your display. Once you have selected the desired resolution, you will be shown a preview in the configuration editor.
Check In the box to apply the resolution changes. Reboot your device to see the newly applied resolution
Adjusting Frequency and Orientation Of the Display
You can adjust the frequency and orientation of your display in the screen configuration menu. Goto screen configuration menu and navigate to configure tab.
Select screens, choose your display and click on Frequency or Orientation from the pop-out menu. Here you adjust the frequency timing and orientation of the display accordingly.
Check out the small box to save the changes.
How To Change Raspberry Pi Resolution Using Terminal Commands?
Using the terminal, there are two methods that you can use to adjust the screen resolution in the Raspberry Pi. The first one uses the Raspberry Configuration tool, and the second is modifying the boot/config.text file. We will perform both of these methods one by one.
Setting Raspberry Pi Resolution by Modifying the boot/config.text File
To modify the boot/config.text file Launch the terminal and run the following command: sudo nano /boot/config.text.
Now you have chosen between CEA and DMT HDMI groups. These are display standards used by TVs and monitors, respectively. CEA is known as Consumer Electronics Association and is represented by no. 1. DMT is known as Display Monitor Timings and is represented by no. 2.
Both these display standards have different settings for the resolution.
Now find the line #hdmi_group= within the file and replace it with hdmi_group=1 for CEA standard and hdmi_group=2 for DMT standard.
Once done with choosing HDMI groups, we will set up the resolution. To select the resolution, we need to modify the hdmi_mode variable in the config file. Below are 2 tables depicting the values of both the display standards.
CEA Display Modes
| hdmi_mode | Resolution | Aspect Ratio | Refresh Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 640×480 | 4:3 | 60hz |
| 2 | 720×480 | 4:3 | 60hz |
| 4 | 1280×720 | 16:9 | 60hz |
| 16 | 1920×1080 | 16:9 | 60hz |
| 16 | 1920×1080 | 16:9 | 60hz |
| 16 | 1920×1080 | 16:9 | 60hz |
| 95 | 3840×2160 | 16:9 | 30hz |
| 97 | 3840×2160 | 16:9 | 60hz |
DMT Display Resolution Modes
| hdmi_mode | Resolution | Aspect Ratio | Refresh Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 480p | 4:3 | 60hz |
| 9 | 800×600 | 4:3 | 60hz |
| 16 | 1024×768 | 4:3 | 60hz |
| 85 | 1280×720 | 16:9 | 60hz |
| 35 | 1280×1024 | 5:4 | 60hz |
| 51 | 1600×1200 | 4:3 | 60hz |
| 82 | 1920×1080 | 16:9 | 60hz |
After you have selected the mode no. for the resolution, enter it into the boot configuration file by finding and replacing hdmi_mode= no.
Now save the file by pressing CTRL+X followed by Y and ENTER key. Reboot your Raspberry Pi to apply the resolution changes by giving the command sudo reboot
This is how you set up a resolution in Raspberry Pi.
Changing Raspberry Pi Resolution Using Raspi Config Tool
This method isn’t too long and can be easily followed. Start with opening raspi-config too by giving the command sudo raspi-config.
In the config tool, scroll down to the advanced options and press enter to open the options menu. To select the resolution, click on the resolution option. This will show you multiple options to select your desired screen resolution.
Select a resolution for your display and reboot the system to apply the changes. Once restarted, you should see a new screen resolution.
How Can I Speed Up My Slow Raspberry Pi?
Here are some guidelines you can follow to speed up your Raspberry Pi:
- Always use accessories such as a Power cable from the Raspberry Pi official as they are most suited for your Pi board.
- In Raspberry Pi, RAM is shared with a graphics card. So when using Pi as a server, reduce the amount of RAM you share with GPU. This will help in enhancing performance.
- Always disable modules such as HDMI and Bluetooth that are least required. This will save you an ample amount of power.
Conclusion
Screen resolution can be changed using multiple methods, including the interface and terminal commands. Both these methods are written above in a simple layman language. Having enough resolution of Pi ensures glitch-free performance while using bigger applications. I hope you loved reading this article.
