High DPI Scaling

Today, there seems to be a lot of Windows Laptops and Tablets with High DPI screens. Windows uses it's own scaling software to make apps look sharp and not blurry on those High DPI screens. The thing is, it's doesn't work with every app. That's why Microsoft has it's own API for developers to use and a lot of big name apps use it like Google Chrome. However, iTunes doesn't use it and what users of High DPI screens get is a blurry UI.

What the UI looks like on High DPI displays: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-pPM9X0Ojr3ckVwY2gtbTJMRXM/view?usp=sharing

Notice how iTunes looks blurry against the Explorer window. That's because Windows Explorer has High DPI support, whereas iTunes doesn't.

I can understand Apple not caring about the UI being blurry, however it's not just the UI that's blurry. Movies and TV Shows played in iTunes are blurry too. In my screenshots you can see the same 1080p video being played from the iTunes and the default Windows video player. Notice how the iTunes player is blurrier than the Windows one (Zoom all the way in at the top right corner and look at the lamp on the desk).

iTunes Screenshot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-pPM9X0Ojr3QUpzV2E1b0swVDQ/view?usp=sharing

Windows Player Screenshot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-pPM9X0Ojr3cm9lWnFDc1NMTFE/view?usp=sharing

This is because since iTunes isn't scaled properly, Windows displays iTunes at smaller resolution and stretches it to fit the screen. So it is actually playing 1080p videos not in 1080p. It may not seem like that big of a difference, but becuase 1080p video are bigger in size, you might as well download them at 720p considering there is no quality difference at all.

The only solution to this is for Apple to update iTunes for Windows with High DPI Scaling support. Microsoft has written articles on how to include this in your apps, I suggest you use this in your next iTunes update Apple so people who bought 1080p content on their laptop get it in full 1080p quality.

Microsoft Article: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ee308410(v=vs.85).aspx