Line art pixelated in GIMP but not in Windows Photos viewer

[slowdownthere]

Hi Everyone! I'm going crazy figuring out why my seemingly high-res 300dpi images are appearing pixelated in GIMP but sharp in Windows Photos viewer. The pixelation carries through in printing, resulting in a print that is fuzzy and not crisp like the print from Windows Photos.

Attached is an example. The PNG image I'm working on was downloaded from web, 2000x2000 pixels. I've zoomed in to show the dramatic differences from just importing the same image into GIMP. GIMP image size is 2000x2000, 300 ppi, and print size is 8.5x11in. The PNG exported version from GIMP is equally pixelated and is apparent in Windows Photos from the start. 

If Windows Photos was sufficient to print as is, I wouldn't be here. But I want to make changes to the image in GIMP. Can anyone help identify the issue? I'd really appreciate any expertise since I work with black line art mainly and the right image is just not acceptable.

[Ofnuts]

At 2000x2000, 300 ppi, the real print size is 6.7".

Gimp is an editor, when you zoom in it shows bigger pixels, because you want to see the actual pixels (so, at 400% zoom, a pixel is displayed as a 4x4 square). Photos is a browser, when you zoom in it shows a bigger image, and it scales up the image by interpolating pixels, so the lines are not pixelated but become blurry.

If you need a bigger image in Gimp, you can scale up the image (Image > Scale image, Scale tool, etc...) and unless the interpolation methd is set to None (typically, NoHalo in Gimp 2.10) then you will see something similar to what Photos does.

For some context about what the image size means, see this.

[slowdownthere]

(02-11-2022, 07:47 AM)Ofnuts Wrote: At 2000x2000, 300 ppi, the real print size is 6.7".

Gimp is an editor, when you zoom in it shows bigger pixels, because you want to see the actual pixels (so, at 400% zoom, a pixel is displayed as a 4x4 square). Photos is a browser, when you zoom in it shows a bigger image, and it scales up the image by interpolating pixels, so the lines are not pixelated but become blurry.

If you need a bigger image in Gimp, you can scale up the image (Image > Scale image, Scale tool, etc...) and unless the interpolation methd is set to None (typically, NoHalo in Gimp 2.10) then you will see something similar to what Photos does.

For some context about what the image size means, see this.

Thanks so much for the input! The issue I was having with the blurriness translated into print as well, with images printed from GIMP being significantly more pixelated that the print coming from Photos. I've tried your suggestions but have not had luck with the printed outcome unfortunately. Will try in Inkscape since some have reported better success with that. 

Thanks again!