Tips for improving your desktop applications for higher-DPI displays (WinForms/WPF)

Modern monitors are big and sharp, and if you are developing applications for them, you need to pay attention. On Windows, a high-DPI displays works best with applications that are marked to be high-DPI compatible. Older desktop applications without this setting can look blurry instead on such displayes. A few small changes go a long way for WinForms and WPF.

To make your .NET application look better, follow these steps:

1) Declare DPI awareness in the app manifest:

<!-- app.manifest -->
<asmv3:application xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
  <asmv3:windowsSettings>
    <!-- for Windows 10 -->
    <dpiAwareness>PerMonitorV2</dpiAwareness>
    <!-- for older Windows 7/8 -->
    <dpiAware>true/pm</dpiAware>
  </asmv3:windowsSettings>
</asmv3:application>

2) For WinForms: enable DPI-based autoscaling and avoid hardcoded sizes:

// in your form constructor
this.AutoScaleMode = AutoScaleMode.Dpi;
// prefer layout panels and Anchor/Dock over fixed pixel coordinates

3) For WPF: it is DPI-aware by default, but you improve clarity with layout rounding:

<Window
  UseLayoutRounding="True"
  SnapsToDevicePixels="True">
  <TextOptions.TextFormattingMode>Display</TextOptions.TextFormattingMode>
</Window>

4) Use vector imahes (WPF) or multiple image scales (WinForms) and test on mixed-DPI multi-monitor setups. Avoid drawing text to bitmaps; let the framework render text.

Small tweaks like these keep your application's user interface crisp and clear even on 125%–300% scaling without rewriting the code.