Pixels on Target

The number of pixels captured for each license plate is more important than the distance to the target. Many customers successfully capture license plates from almost a mile away. To increase pixels on target, adjust your camera’s zoom and resolution.

If your camera supports optical zoom or you can choose lenses, zoom the field of view to the area where plates will appear. The screenshots below compare a camera with a wide field of view to a camera zoomed into the area of the license plates. Both can work if pixel width is sufficient, but recognition will be more accurate in the zoomed example.

1

Zoom to the plate area

If available, use automatic optical zoom or select a lens to narrow the field of view to where license plates will be captured. Zooming increases pixels on target and improves recognition accuracy.

2

Adjust resolution carefully

Increasing camera resolution raises pixels per plate but also increases processing time. If CPU resources are limited, too-high resolution may reduce overall accuracy. We recommend setting camera resolution no higher than 720p, while ensuring plates still have enough pixels to be detected.

3

Test and iterate

If the camera is sufficiently zoomed, try decreasing resolution — it may counterintuitively improve accuracy by reducing processing load while keeping sufficient pixels per plate. Always validate performance after changes.

Technical thresholds and guidance:

• USA plates: readable at widths greater than 75 pixels.

• European plates: readable at widths greater than 90 pixels.

• Pixel width beyond 250 pixels will not noticeably increase accuracy.