> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/freerdp/freerdp/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# High DPI and scaling

> Configure display scaling, dynamic resolution, smart-sizing, and multi-monitor support in FreeRDP.

## Overview

FreeRDP supports several strategies for handling high-DPI displays and window resizing. The right approach depends on whether you want the remote session to adapt its resolution at runtime or whether you want the client to scale a fixed-resolution session to fit the window.

***

## Build requirements

Graphics scaling (required for `/smart-sizing` and high-DPI bitmap scaling) requires one of:

| Library             | CMake flag          | Notes                           |
| ------------------- | ------------------- | ------------------------------- |
| libswscale (FFmpeg) | `-DWITH_SWSCALE=ON` | Part of the FFmpeg libraries    |
| Cairo               | `-DWITH_CAIRO=ON`   | Widely available on Linux/macOS |

<Note>
  At least one scaling backend must be present for `/smart-sizing` to function. Dynamic resolution
  (`/dynamic-resolution`) does not require a scaling library because the remote session changes
  its own resolution rather than scaling bitmaps on the client.
</Note>

Example build with swscale:

```bash theme={null}
cmake -GNinja \
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DWITH_SWSCALE=ON \
  -B build -S .
cmake --build build --target install
```

***

## Dynamic resolution

With `/dynamic-resolution`, FreeRDP sends a display update to the server whenever the client window is resized. The server re-renders at the new resolution — no client-side bitmap scaling takes place.

```bash theme={null}
xfreerdp /dynamic-resolution /v:rdp.example.com
```

<Warning>
  `/dynamic-resolution` and `/smart-sizing` are mutually exclusive. Specifying both is an error.
</Warning>

Under the hood, enabling `/dynamic-resolution` sets both `FreeRDP_SupportDisplayControl` and `FreeRDP_DynamicResolutionUpdate`. The server must support the Display Control virtual channel (available in Windows 8 / Server 2012 and newer).

***

## Smart-sizing

With `/smart-sizing`, the remote session keeps its initial resolution and FreeRDP scales the received bitmaps to fit the client window. This works with any server version.

```bash theme={null}
# Scale to fit whatever window size is used
xfreerdp /smart-sizing /v:rdp.example.com

# Scale to a specific target size (width x height)
xfreerdp /smart-sizing:1920x1080 /v:rdp.example.com
```

When a target size is supplied, FreeRDP scales to that fixed size regardless of the window dimensions.

***

## Multi-monitor support

### Span all monitors

```bash theme={null}
xfreerdp /multimon /v:rdp.example.com
```

The `/multimon` flag sends the combined geometry of all connected monitors to the server. Use `/multimon:force` to send multimon information even if the server has not explicitly advertised support.

### Select specific monitors

```bash theme={null}
# Use monitors 0 and 2 (zero-indexed)
xfreerdp /monitors:0,2 /v:rdp.example.com
```

Up to 16 monitor IDs can be specified as a comma-separated list.

***

## Window size and DPI

For a fixed session resolution without multimon:

```bash theme={null}
# Set an explicit width and height
xfreerdp /w:2560 /h:1440 /v:rdp.example.com

# Set size as a percentage of the display
xfreerdp /size:50%h /v:rdp.example.com

# Full-screen mode
xfreerdp /f /v:rdp.example.com
```

***

## Recommended configurations

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="HiDPI laptop (single screen)">
    Use dynamic resolution so the session always matches the window exactly:

    ```bash theme={null}
    xfreerdp /dynamic-resolution /f /v:rdp.example.com
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Multiple monitors">
    Span the session across all monitors:

    ```bash theme={null}
    xfreerdp /multimon /v:rdp.example.com
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Fixed resolution with scaling">
    Connect at 1920x1080 and scale the output to fill the window:

    ```bash theme={null}
    xfreerdp /w:1920 /h:1080 /smart-sizing /v:rdp.example.com
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>