How to Find the Highest Quality Images for PowerPoint Slideshow

PowerPoint slideshows are a great way to present information, elevator pitches, academic work, and more. Images help illustrate your text and bullet points, making presentations “pop” and adding interest. Finding the highest quality images for PowerPoint slideshows is easy when you follow the steps below.

Steps to Find and Insert High Quality Images for PowerPoint

Step 1. Find a reputable resource for free, high-quality images. Unsplash is one option, which offers both free and premium images.

Another option is Pixabay, which is also a resource for copyright-free music and sound effects.

You could also use Pexels, where you can find both high-quality images and videos.

Step 2. The highest quality images for PowerPoint slideshows need to be at a resolution that’s the same as or higher than the screen resolution of the device you’re going to present them on. This is to avoid problems like pixelation or blurred images. Check your resolution by heading to System > Display. The example below shows that the resolution is set to 1920 by 1080 pixels.

Step 3. To choose an image in this resolution or higher, head to your chosen resource and search for a relevant image.

Step 4. Change the filters to only include free images (unless you’re happy to pay) and include any other requirements, such as a particular orientation.

Step 5. Choose an image that’s relevant to your PowerPoint slideshow. Check the download options. You should have the choice to download it in several resolutions. Pick a resolution that’s at least the same as the screen resolution you discovered earlier. In this instance, medium quality offers a resolution of 1920 by 1280, which is more than adequate. Choosing a higher resolution will mean the image takes up more space on your hard drive/cloud storage, and it will increase the overall size of your presentation. Click the chosen option to immediately download the image.

Step 6. Open your PowerPoint slideshow.

Step 7. Click where you want your image to be and then click on Insert on the top menu.

Step 8. Select Pictures, then Insert Pictures From, and choose This Device.

Step 9. Navigate to Downloads and select the image you just downloaded. Click Open.

Step 10. Use the Picture Format screen to edit the image as required.

Step 11. When you’ve completed your slideshow, run it on the device you intend to show it on. That way, you can quickly assess if there are any image issues, such as pixelation. If you discover that some images are of too low a resolution to be useful, simply follow the above steps to source higher resolution photos or images. To test the slideshow, look for the Start From Beginning button above the main taskbar or press F5.