T-shirt print sizes in pixels for DTF and DTG

Print sizes in pixels#

Pixels are the print size in inches multiplied by the DPI. Use the 300 DPI column unless your printer says otherwise.

Every size here is one supplier's number, not a standard. Ninja Transfers puts a typical adult full front at 10 to 12 inches wide and 10 to 14 tall, inside Printful's 12 × 16 area. Blanks and presses vary, so check the garment and your printer's maximum before you fix a size.

Pixels = inches × DPI#

Multiply each side of the print in inches by the DPI. A 12 × 16 inch front at 300 DPI is 12 × 300 by 16 × 300, which is 3600 × 4800 px. A 3.5 inch sleeve is 1050 px across at 300 DPI, and 525 px at 150.

To go the other way, divide. A 3600 px wide file at 300 DPI prints 12 inches wide; the same pixels labeled 150 DPI would print 24 inches wide.

The DPI stored in a file is a label that tells the RIP what physical size to open it at. It adds no detail. Change the label without adding pixels and the print gets smaller, not sharper.

Printful's DTF guide³ and Gelato's DTG guide⁴ both say a new resolution value alone won't improve the print.

What DPI and format DTG and DTF need#

DTG prints ink straight onto the garment, over a white underbase on colored garments.^5,6 DTF prints onto film, which is backed with white ink and adhesive powder and heat-pressed onto the garment. Printful's DTF guide says the two need much the same file.

Each supplier sets its own rules; these were checked in October 2026. Building at 300 DPI, at the finished size, meets every resolution rule in the table.

Two disagreements are worth knowing. Printful's help center recommends 300 DPI for its DTF products, while its DTF file guide accepts 150 to 300. Ninja Transfers says it can resize a 300 DPI file to the size you order; DTF Transfers Now prints exactly the size you upload and resizes nothing.

Upscaling a small upload adds no detail#

A photo holds the detail its camera captured, and no more. Stretch a 1000 px wide photo across a 10 inch print and it prints at 100 DPI.

Resample it to 3000 px and the software invents the in-between pixels from their neighbors. The file now says 300 DPI; the print is no sharper. DTF Transfers Now and Gelato both say enlarging a low-resolution image does not improve the print.

Printify says it automatically enhances low-resolution files before production, and still recommends high-resolution designs.

The fix is upstream: a minimum upload size worked out from the print size. A photo meant to fill a 10 inch wide print needs at least 1500 px across at 150 DPI, and 3000 px at 300 DPI.

In Pixel Wrangler that minimum is one store-wide number under Settings → Image Upload Limits, checked against both width and height, 300 px by default. A minimum high enough for a full front also turns away smaller photos meant for a left chest. There is no low-resolution warning, so any upload above the minimum is accepted.

Transparency: what soft edges do#

Printful separates full transparency, which prints nothing, from semi-transparency: pixels that are partly see-through.¹¹ Those come from drop shadows, glows and fades, and from the soft anti-aliased edge around text and cut-out photos.

Neither method prints semi-transparent pixels the way a screen shows them. On DTG, Printful says the printer spreads ink to cover the missing information, leaving gaps where the white base shows, especially on dark fabric. On DTF, Printful says soft edges come out rough and blotchy, because the tiny dots of ink are too small to adhere.

The usual fix is solid color with hard edges. For a fade on DTG, Gelato suggests a halftone, a pattern of solid dots, in place of lowered opacity. Printful warns that small dots and thin lines can peel on DTF, so agree the dot size with your printer before you build one.

A white background is not empty: DTF prints white ink, so a white box prints around the artwork (DTF Transfers Now). On a black garment, Gelato's advice is to leave the black parts of a design transparent. Black ink over the white underbase reads as gray.

RGB, not CMYK#

Every supplier we checked that names a color mode asks for RGB. Printful and Gelato name the sRGB profile, and DTF Transfers Now says converting to CMYK first tends to dull bright colors. Printful and Gelato both warn that neon and very saturated screen colors print less vividly than they look.

Pre-flight checklist#

Run it on any DTG or DTF file, whoever made it.

• Pixels at least the print size in inches × DPI, at 300 DPI or your printer's minimum.
• The file opens at the right size in inches.
• The background is transparent. Check it over a dark color for a white box or a faint edge.
• No semi-transparent pixels you didn't mean: shadows, glows, fades, soft cut-out edges. Printful's check is to hide the background layer and look for the checkerboard showing through the design.
• RGB, not CMYK.
• On dark garments, black that should read as the fabric is left transparent.
• A transparent PNG, or vector art if your DTF supplier takes it. Not a JPEG, and not a PDF on a white background.
• On a gang sheet, the layout fits the film width: 22 inches at both DTF suppliers we checked.
• One test print, pressed, before the run.

How Pixel Wrangler's files are set up#

Pixel Wrangler is the Shopify product customizer for custom apparel, built by the team behind Threadheads, who print in-house on DTG and DTF.

When an order is paid, each print file set up in the template renders and attaches to the Shopify order. That is usually one file per side, or several sides on one file. A print file whose sides the shopper left blank is skipped, so a front-only design arrives with no back file.

The PNG is transparent, with the artwork only; PDF and JPEG are flattened onto white. Files are RGB, and the DPI (300 by default) is written into the file. The settings and file naming are in Sides and output files and Print-ready files.

What our files don't do today#

• One size per template. Every print file in a template shares one width, height and DPI. The print presets are 10 × 12, 14 × 16, 16 × 18 and 18 × 20 inches; 12 × 16 is typed in inches. A sleeve on a 12 × 16 inch template renders on a 12 × 16 inch page, so open the sleeve file on a test order first.
• No trim. Each file is the full page, with transparent space around the artwork. A 3 inch name on a 12 × 16 inch page arrives as a 12 × 16 inch file.
• No gang sheets. Files come one per print file for each order line. Nesting them onto a sheet stays with your gang-sheet software.
• No vector output. Every file is raster. The PDF is the same render placed on a page, with no vectors and no spot colors.
• Soft edges can halo. Soft shadows and anti-aliased edges render as half-opacity pixels, and there is no hard-edge option. Leave Text Shadow off on DTG and DTF templates, and keep shadows and glows out of the stickers and backgrounds you supply.
• Detail stops at four times the canvas. Each side renders at up to four times its canvas size. Placed any larger on the page, it is upsampled, which adds pixels but not detail. Check large prints and 600 DPI files at 100% on a test order.

Template changes apply to designs added to the cart after you save them. Regenerate re-renders an order's files from the design and settings it was ordered with. It fixes a failed render once the missing font or asset is back, not a wrong size. That is why the test order comes first.