Why Xiaomi screenshots are bad quality – we’ll discuss 7 main reasons

You took a screenshot of your Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 or POCO X5 Pro, but instead of a clear image, you got a blurred picture of artifacts? The problem of poor quality screenshots on Xiaomi devices is more common than it seems. In some cases, system settings are to blame, in others, hardware limitations or firmware errors MIUI. This article will help you understand why this happens and how to return screenshots to their original clarity.

We analyzed user reviews, technical specifications and official Xiaomi recommendations to highlight the features of the site. 7 From the commonplace errors in settings to the hidden parameters of the developer, here you will find solutions for all versions. MIUI (from 12 before 15) and popular models: Redmi 10/11/12, POCO F4/X5, Mi 11/12/13 And so we're going to focus on the hidden compression parameter of screenshots in the MIUI, which is activated by default on 70% device.

1.Squeeze screenshots by default in MIUI

The main reason for the poor quality of screenshots on Xiaomi is the automatic compression of images, which is included in the MIUI firmware to save space. By default, the system saves screenshots in.jpg format with compression of up to 80-85%, which leads to:

• 🔍 Loss of details (blurred small texts, icons)
• 🎨 Artifacts (colored spots on gradients)
• 📉 Decrease in permission (e.g. with 2400×1080 before 1200×720)

This feature appeared in MIUI 12 and is retained in all subsequent versions, including MIUI 15. the manufacturer motivates this by "storage optimization", but for users who care about quality (for example, for work with design or documents), such compression becomes a problem.

To disable compression, follow the following steps:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Additional → Special Opportunities → Functions Laboratory.
3. Find the Quality of Screenshots (or the Screenshot Format in the new versions).
4. Choose No Compression (PNG) or Maximum Quality (JPG 100%).

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If your version of MIUI does not have the option "Function Lab", try to enter the "screenshot" request in the search for settings - sometimes the option is hidden in other sections.

2. Limitations of hardware accelerator (GPU)

On Xiaomi devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors (for example, Redmi Note 11 Pro+ with Snapdragon 695) or Mediatek Dimensity (POCO X5 Pro), screenshots can get blurred due to the peculiarities of the graphics accelerator.

This problem is particularly noticeable in the following scenarios:

• 🎮 During games (such as Genshin Impact or Call of Duty Mobile)
• 📺 When watching high-resolution video (4K HDR YouTube)
• 🔄 With fast switching between applications

Decisions:

1. Turn off hardware acceleration for individual applications: Settings → Annexes → Application management → [Select the application] → Additionally. → Turn off hardware acceleration
2. Enable the Developer Mode and activate Debugging by GPU (Show screen updates: Settings → The phone. → Version. MIUI (press 7 times) → Back to Settings → Additionally. → For developers → Debugging by GPU

3. Incorrect screen resolution settings

Many users don’t know that Xiaomi allows you to change the screen resolution manually – and this directly affects the quality of screenshots. For example, if you set HD+ (1600×720) resolution instead of native FHD+ (2400×1080), screenshots will automatically scale down, losing details.

How to check and correct:

1. Go to Settings → Display → Screen resolution.
2. Choose the maximum resolution available for your model (usually FHD+ or 2K for flagships).
3. Restart the device – sometimes changes are only applied after the reboot.

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If your model supports you 2K-permission, but screenshots are still blurry, try switching to FHD+ — Sometimes the screen drivers are more stable in this mode.

4. Display drivers issues after MIUI update

After major MIUI updates (e.g., 13-on-14 or 14-on-15), users often encounter display driver bugs that affect the quality of screenshots.

• 🖼️ Screenshots are saved with a green or purple tint
• 🔳 There are horizontal stripes on monotonous sections
• 📏 The screenshot resolution does not match the actual screen resolution

This is due to the incompatibility of new versions of SurfaceFlinger (the Android graphics rendering system service) with display drivers from the screen manufacturer (for example, Samsung AMOLED or BOE LCD).

Decisions:

1. Reset the display settings: Settings → Display → Reset the display settings
2. Retraction to the previous version MIUI (If the problem has occurred after the update: Make a backup of the data|Download the full firmware package (Fastboot)|Make sure the battery is charged >50%|Connect your phone to your PC-->
3. Clean the graphic stack cache through ADB: adb shell pm clear com.android.systemui adb shell su -c "echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches"

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If after updating the screenshots turned green, try to turn on and off the Read mode in the display settings – this sometimes resets the color profile.

5. Conflict with shells and launchers

Installing third-party launchers (Nova Launcher, Hyperion, Smart Launcher) or themes (MIUI Themes) can lead to conflicts when you capture the screen, because these applications intercept the control of the rendering interface, and when the system takes a screenshot, it does not see the original screen buffer, but a modified launcher.

Signs of conflict:

• 🎭 Screenshots show an old version of the interface (e.g. icons from a previous theme)
• 🔄 Interface elements overlap with each other
• 🖌️ Colors are distorted (for example, black background becomes gray)

How to fix it:

1. Temporarily return to the standard MIUI Launcher launcher and check the quality of the screenshots.
2. Turn off all active themes in Settings → Themes.
3. For Nova Launcher, turn off the Use option GPU-acceleration in the launcher settings.

6. Lack of RAM (RAM)

If your Xiaomi has a lot of applications running at the same time, the system may not have time to process the request for a screenshot due to a lack of RAM. In this case, the screenshot is saved with artifacts or in lower resolution. Especially relevant for budget models with 4-6 GB of RAM (Redmi 9A, POCO M4 Pro).

Signs of RAM shortage:

• 🐢 Screenshot is saved with a delay (1-2 seconds)
• 🗑️ The image shows fragments of other applications
• 🔄 After the screenshot, the device “hangs” for a few seconds.

Decisions:

1. Close all background apps before creating a screenshot (use the "Clear" button in the multitasking menu).
2. Activate Performance Mode: Settings → Battery and Performance → Performance Mode
3. Disable interface animation (this will reduce the load on RAM): Settings → Additional → For developers → The scale of the window animation (Off)

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On devices with 4 GB of RAM (for example, Redmi 9), high-quality screenshots are better done in airplane mode – this will free up the memory occupied by communication modules.

7. Damage to the file system or media cache

If screenshots are saved with distortion regardless of settings, the problem may lie in damage to the media cache or /data partition file system.

• ⚡ Unexpected power outage during file recording
• 🔄 Interrupted update MIUI
• 📱 Installation of unofficial firmware (for example, Xiaomi.eu)

Diagnostics and solutions:

1. Clear the media cache: Settings → Applications → Management of applications → Media storage → Storage → Clear the cache
2. Check the file system with ADB: adb shell su -c "e2fsck -f /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/userdata" Attention: this command requires root rights and can lead to data loss in case of errors!
3. Reset the settings of the Gallery app: Settings → Applications → Gallery → Storage → Reset the settings

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If screenshots are saved in.png format but open as corrupted, try renaming the file to.jpg – sometimes MIUI misassigns the extension.

FAQ: Frequent questions about screenshots on Xiaomi