How do I change plot size in RStudio without making plots blurry?

Question

When I run the chunk below in RStudio, I get a very blurry plot. Removing fig.width=6.5, fig.height=6 gives me back a nice, crisp plot. I've tried AGG, Cairo and Cairo PNG backends, and also switched on antialiasing.

How can I change the figure size in RStudio without making the plot blurry? [NB. I know I can save a crisp PNG to a file, but I'm looking to have a readable plot in the IDE.]

```{r fig.width=6.5, fig.height=6}
ggplot(data=data.frame()) + 
    scale_x_continuous(name = "rMZ", limits = c(-0.05, 1.15), breaks = seq(0,1,0.25)) +
    scale_y_continuous(name = "rDZ", limits = c(-0.05, 1.05), breaks = seq(0,1,0.25)) +
    coord_fixed() +
    # clockwise and anticlockwise arrows
    annotate(geom = "curve", 
      x = 1.03, y = 0.1, xend = 0.65, yend = 0.88,
      arrow = arrow(length = unit(0.05, "npc"), ends="both", type="closed"),
      linewidth = 1.8,
      curvature = 0.18
    ) +
    annotate("text", x = 0.61, y = 0.93, angle = 43, label="MORE SHARED\nENVIRONMENT", size = 3, fontface = "bold") +
    annotate("text", x = 1.03, y = 0.03, angle = 7, label="MORE GENETIC\nINTERACTION", size = 3, fontface = "bold")
```

For RMarkdown inline plots? Default DPI should be 72, have you tried higher values? {r fig.width=6.5, fig.height=6, dpi=300} — margusl
– margusl, Commented Apr 2 at 10:05
@margusl Yes, but I run into the issues in stackoverflow.com/questions/58379468/… (plot becomes huge). Fiddling with fig.retina doesn't seem to work. — Mohan
– Mohan, Commented Apr 2 at 10:10

Federico Magnani · Accepted Answer · 2025-04-02 09:49:55Z

0

In the "Plots" panel you have the "zoom" option, which detachs the plot window and allows you to visualize it full-screen. Usually, the resolution I get with this process is enough for my purposes. If you want to inspect the plot in the IDE, that's a good solution.

Additionally, if you want to quickly export the file, you can just take a screenshot of the full-screen plot.

This is your image, as an example.
I just ran "ggplot(data=data.frame()) + ..." without even specifying fig.width and fig.height.

edited Apr 2 at 9:49

answered Apr 2 at 9:43

Federico Magnani

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Comments

lailaps · Accepted Answer · 2025-04-02 13:22:31Z

I came up with a little workaround:

If the rmarkdown is not knitted, knitr::opts_knit$get("rmarkdown.pandoc.to") will be NULL, in this case

Save ggplot as SVG (Vector graphic): ggsave("plot.svg", plot = p, width = 12, height = 12) as temp_file
Use print(knitr::include_graphics(temp_file)) to display the svg-file in the chunk output within the RStudio IDE

else if rmarkdown.pandoc.to is given as HTML / PDF, then just use the normal plotting function.

Code

---
title: "Crisp Plot"
output: html_document
date: "2025-04-02"
---

```{r echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE}
library(ggplot2)

p <- ggplot(data = data.frame()) + 
  scale_x_continuous(name = "rMZ", limits = c(-0.05, 1.15), breaks = seq(0, 1, 0.25)) +
  scale_y_continuous(name = "rDZ", limits = c(-0.05, 1.05), breaks = seq(0, 1, 0.25)) +
  coord_fixed() +
  # clockwise and anticlockwise arrows
  annotate(geom = "curve", 
           x = 1.03, y = 0.1, xend = 0.65, yend = 0.88,
           arrow = arrow(length = unit(0.05, "npc"), ends = "both", type = "closed"),
           linewidth = 1.8,
           curvature = 0.18) +
  annotate("text", x = 0.61, y = 0.93, angle = 43, label = "MORE SHARED\nENVIRONMENT", size = 3, fontface = "bold") +
  annotate("text", x = 1.03, y = 0.03, angle = 7, label = "MORE GENETIC\nINTERACTION", size = 3, fontface = "bold")

if(is.null(knitr::opts_knit$get("rmarkdown.pandoc.to"))){
  size <- 12 # adjust as needed
  temp_file <- tempfile(fileext = ".svg")
  ggsave(temp_file, plot = p, width = size, height = size)
  print(knitr::include_graphics(temp_file))
  unlink(temp_file)
}else{
  p
}

```

which looks very crisp (The limiting factor here being the resolution of the snipping tool / screen)

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