<p>I'd say it's InterpolationMode.NearestNeighbor plus a minimum width/height threshold below you cannot scale down.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-10-29T13:11:09.267Z
2023-10-29T13:11:09.267Z
oelgoetz
<p>I was about to scale this image down to 64x64 pixels:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/jAk2Z.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/jAk2Z.jpg" alt="this"></a></p>

<p>The result I got on MS Paint on Windows 7 was surprisingly good (i.e. crisp edges):</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/RaQLu.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/RaQLu.png" alt="ms paint rescaled"></a> , whereas scaling it with GIMP resulted in <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/8rPmx.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/8rPmx.png" alt="cubic GIMP"></a> for cubic and <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/EQ33f.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/EQ33f.png" alt="lanczos3 GIMP"></a> for Lanczos3 interpolation, both of which look significantly worse to me. Linear and nearest-neighbor was obviously much worse still.</p>

<p>I have also written a small program to check all of the interpolation modes available <a href="https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.drawing.drawing2d.interpolationmode.aspx" rel="noreferrer">in the System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode enumeration</a>, to no avail. Unfortunately, most web search results on the topic of interpolation in MS Paint are still from the days before Vista, when nearest neighbor was the only option.</p>

<p>Does anyone know which interpolation algorithm the Windows 7 version of MS Paint uses?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-03-29T12:54:16.693Z
They may do some edge checking to maintain the crispness
ratchet freak
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-04T20:10:50.367Z
Related: [Image downscale algorithm](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31873215/image-downscale-algorithm)
Delgan
<algorithm><interpolation>
Which interpolation algorithm does MS Paint on Windows 7 use for image rescaling?
dialer
# Which interpolation algorithm does MS Paint on Windows 7 use for image rescaling?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-03-29)

I was about to scale this image down to 64x64 pixels:

[![this](https://i.sstatic.net/jAk2Z.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/jAk2Z.jpg)

The result I got on MS Paint on Windows 7 was surprisingly good (i.e. crisp edges):

[![ms paint rescaled](https://i.sstatic.net/RaQLu.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/RaQLu.png) , whereas scaling it with GIMP resulted in [![cubic GIMP](https://i.sstatic.net/8rPmx.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/8rPmx.png) for cubic and [![lanczos3 GIMP](https://i.sstatic.net/EQ33f.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/EQ33f.png) for Lanczos3 interpolation, both of which look significantly worse to me. Linear and nearest-neighbor was obviously much worse still.

I have also written a small program to check all of the interpolation modes available [in the System.Drawing.Drawing2D.InterpolationMode enumeration](https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.drawing.drawing2d.interpolationmode.aspx), to no avail. Unfortunately, most web search results on the topic of interpolation in MS Paint are still from the days before Vista, when nearest neighbor was the only option.

Does anyone know which interpolation algorithm the Windows 7 version of MS Paint uses?

**Tags:** algorithm, interpolation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: They may do some edge checking to maintain the crispness  
> **username_2**: Related: [Image downscale algorithm](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31873215/image-downscale-algorithm)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2023-10-29. Score: 0

I'd say it's InterpolationMode.NearestNeighbor plus a minimum width/height threshold below you cannot scale down.


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