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Version 2.7.1.0
5 Feb 2025

VidRes

A video resolution switching application
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See the online documentation

VidRes is an easy to use utility that allows you to change most display settings interactively, or via shortcuts. It can change the display resolution permanently, for your current session, or just while you're using a specific program.

With today's high resolution screens, particularly with notebook computers with smaller displays, many program's controls appear small, making them difficult to use for the partially sighted. It can be advantageous for sight-impaired users who share a computer with others to be able to run some programs at lower resolution, giving a larger on-screen appearance.

With this aim in mind, VidRes allows you to create shortcuts to programs and have them automatically switch the display resolution to suit your needs. Users who can use the program at the default resolution can continue to run the program in the normal way.

For example, if you have your computer set to take advantage of the high resolution of your display, but find that a game or other application works better for you at a lower resolution, you can use VidRes to create a shortcut that will run the program and switch to the lower resolution. When you close the program, or switch back to your main desktop, VidRes will restore the display settings to their original values.

VidRes can change most display settings, including:

  • The resolution
  • Colour depth
  • The primary display in a multi-monitor desktop
  • The current display in an independent multi-display system.

Features

  • Interactive or command line (shortcut) usage.
  • Easy to use, includes a facility to create resolution switching shortcuts to run other programs from VidRes.
  • Straightforward, precise specification of resolution via individual command line parameters.
  • The ability to switch resolution, execute another application and automatically switch back to the original resolution when the application terminates or only change the resolution when the application's window is the maximized foreground window.
  • Multi-monitor desktop and independent multi-display are supported.

VidRes is free to use.

Example Command Line Usage

  • Set the resolution to 800x600:

vidres /H800 /V600

  • Set the resolution to 1152x864 with 256 colours:

vidres /H1152 /V864 /C256

  • Set the resolution to 1024x768 permanently (the other examples won't persist):

vidres /H1024 /V768 /U

  • Set the resolution to 640x480 while running an application:

vidres /H640 /V480 "/Xc:\path\appname.exe"

when appname.exe closes, the display will switch back to its original settings.

  • Set the resolution to 640x480 only while the specified application is the active maximized window:

vidres /H640 /V480 "/Xc:\path\appname.exe" /R

If you close appname.exe, run it non-minimized, or switch to a different window, the original resolution is restored. If you switch back to appname.exe the resolution will switch back again.

  • Switch the second monitor to be the primary display in a multi-monitor desktop configuration:

vidres /M1 /P

  • Switch the second monitor to be the sole desktop display of a multi-monitor configuration:

vidres /M1 /S

See the full command line options in the documentation.

Download

Supported Operating Systems

Windows 7 and later

Core functionality works on Windows 7 and later, except for the "Make Sole" functionality.

Complete zip package 5.16 MB (5,413,084 bytes)

VidRes is supplied as a zip file. Download it; open it; extract the files and run setup.exe.

 

 
 

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