Menubar fonts unreadably small in Linux?

This is a question which has been asked before, but to which I haven't been able to find a satisfactory response. I'm using Matlab R2016b on Linux, with a HiDPI screen (2560x1440) on a laptop - so a lot of pixels squeezed into a small space. And the standard menu fonts are tiny - so tiny that I have to squint carefully to read them.

I understand this to be in some way related to the Java system that Matlab uses for its GUI, but I have no idea how to increase the size of the menubar/toolbar fonts and icons. It's not included in Matlab's preferences; from my reading I believe that these are picked up somehow from the underlying OS. Or more accurately, from the underlying Java engine.

Currently, if I want to use Matlab with readable menus, I have to change my desktop resolution to a lower one, which of course affects every other application. So I'm hoping there's a better way?

Thanks!

[Davide]

Same problem here on a 3200x1800 screen with R2017a.

[Walter Roberson]

Unfortunately, there were no relevant changes in R2017a.

(I have no information about what the technical challenges are.)

[Dmitry Boltyanskiy]

The same problem.

[Héctor M. Feliciano Rivera]

Starting 2017b, Matlab supports high DPI display:

https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/406956-does-matlab-support-high-dpi-screens-on-linux#answer_325831

[john]

This is actually fixable with the following post:

Important to restart Matlab to see the effect pon the toolstrip for example

MATLAB supports High DPI screens on Linux starting from R2017b.

Tuning a high-DPI Linux system requires two steps:

1. Setting the MATLAB scale factor.
2. Calibrating the system's DPI

The MATLAB scale factor affects MATLAB desktop and the size/position of windows.

The system DPI determines the scale and font size of axes and labels.

The two tuning steps are described below:

STEP 1: To set the MATLAB scale factor, please execute the following commands in the MATLAB Command Window:

>> s = settings;

>> s.matlab.desktop.DisplayScaleFactor

>> s.matlab.desktop.DisplayScaleFactor.PersonalValue = 1.5

Here the scale factor has been set to 1.5.

STEP 2: To calibrate the system's DPI to match the scale factor, please use the following terminal commands:

% xdpyinfo | grep resolution

resolution: 96x96 dots per inch

% xrandr --dpi 144

The DPI value chosen should be the resolution found with "xdpyinfo" multiplied by the MATLAB scale factor that was set. In the example, 96 × 1.5 = 144.

MATLAB must be restarted after Step 2.

[Ton]

I have a similar problem on Matlab R2025b running on Ubuntu 25.10. The fonts in the desktop (menus, filelist, etc.) are INCREDIBLY small, and not only on a high resolution (external) screen, but also on the standard 1080p laptop screen. I tried the solution mentioned by John, but changing the personal value of the DisplayScaleFactor and calibrating the DPI as suggested (plus restarting Matlab) does not have any effect on this at all.

I have to add that I am not an experienced Linux user, and that this is the first time I have tried to run Matlab on Linux, so I may well have made a trivial rookie mistake...

[Devansh Royal]

I have the same issue as Ton on Ubuntu 25.10 with Matlab R2025b

Answer 1

[Prasad Mendu]

Unfortunately the Linux version of MATLAB does not support high DPI screens on Linux yet. Refer this documentation page for more information

http://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/creating_guis/dpi-aware-behavior-in-matlab.html

The possible workarounds mentioned below may help improve the visual appearance:

(a) You can increase font sizes of text in the different windows. However, the icon or font size of the toolbar cannot be changed.

(b) You can switch the high DPI monitor to a lower screen resolutions of 1920x1080 or as preferred. Follow the steps below to change the screen resolution:

1. Go to the OS Display control setting window

2. Click on the "Display" tab. A slider menu with the title "Scale for menu and title bars:" should be set to either 0.5 or 1. Click Apply.

3. Click on the "Reduce Resolution" tab and set it to 1920 x 1080 (16:9). Click Apply.

(c) You can connect a lower resolution monitor.

[Kenneth Hendrickson]

Dear MathWorks:

This is the wrong answer. The correct answer is to fix the problem. Please do so.

Thank you.

[Darragh Geraghty]

This is appalling. Installing Matlab on Linux is already enough of a pain. Now the solution to the font on the ribbon being too small is 'connect anothet monitor'.

Stop creating stupid bells and whistles that nobody cares about and fix the fundamental problems you workshy layabouts.

[federico brivio]

Totally agree with Darragh, I found deeply insulting when professional give riddicolous answer to problem about THEIR code.

[Josef Andersson]

Same here. fix it matlab

[bas jacobs]

Spot on, Kenneth, there is a growing mismatch between what Matlab has to offer and what the professional community has come to expect from their tools based on a standard that has been set by freely available and often open source solutions.

[Ben Galton-Fenzi]

Im also having these issues with incredibly small fonts on the toolbar GUI - please provide a fix.

[Minsu Zhang]

It would be great if you can solve this problem!

[Dante]

Seeing as High DPI displays are here to stay, it would be nice if this was resolved.

[Walter Roberson]

@Darragh Geraghty @federico brivio @Josef Andersson @bas jacobs @Dante

Has Linux itself solved the problem that it is constructed from weakly designed and conflicting user interface management layers?

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/n05z7k/why_is_hidpi_support_on_linux_still_so_bad/

[bas jacobs]

@Walter Roberson

You've got to be kidding me. There is a plethora of tools out there that manages high DPI displays on linux just fine. As an example, VS Code manages to handle high dpi displays perfectly, and is available for free. So please, Mathworks, solve this trivial problem like so many others have done.

[Walter Roberson]

@bas jacobs

That is a long-winded way of saying, "No, Linux is still a mess of incompatible display technologies."

[bas jacobs]

@Walter Roberson

The thing with linux is, that anybody who wants and is capable can write their own display manager with graphical environment. Because of that, you'll always be able to identify places where things don't really work in the most optimal way.

That said, as a user of Fedora (with the Gnome display environment), I do not recognise what is put forward in the rant you linked to at all: I have a single central way to control the scaling, and it is accessible from the OS'es configuration menu. I do however recognise that Matlab featurewise is lagging behind on free and open source tools such as VS Code combined, for instance, with the Python ecosystem, and its inability to handle high DPI displays on linux is just an example of that. So even if it is true and some parts of Linux's graphical subsystems may pose a bit of a difficulty for the poor developers over at the Mathworks, it is certainly possible to provide a decent UI experience, as is evidenced by numerous examples.

I understand that Microsoft is a heavyweight software house, but I cannot believe that they can offer an IDE for free that is just a lot better than the IDE that is bundled with Matlab, which costs an arm and a leg to use.

[Walter Roberson]

https://www.investopedia.com/how-microsoft-makes-money-4798809

Microsoft earns a bundle on cloud computing, and on its business process software such as Office 365.

[bas jacobs]

Exactly, and not on IDE's which they make available for free. Yet they manage to do a decent job at it, including the part where high DPI displays are involved, even in the niches of the Linux ecosystem. In shrill contrast, the Mathworks has Matlab as one of their main products which they charge a lot of money for, and they don't even manage to get High DPI display support right for a single dominant Linux distribution.

Bottom line, Mathworks, please, fix the problem. Thank you.

[Daniel]

Lame Mathworks. 2024a betas till unable to display a readable help window, way too small Ctrl + + doesn't work on Fedora linux, but Ctrl + - does, which means reducing font size is irreversiblly smaller!

Answer 2

[zuyuan]

Hi guys,

I have solved this problem.

use the following command in MATLAB:

s = settings;

s.matlab.desktop.Zoom.PersonalValue = 200;

This command will scale the entire MATLAB app, include the menubar.

I have a 32 inch monitor with resolution of 3840*2160, and set the ‘PersonalValue’ to 200 is suitable for me, you can also try other values that you like.

My PC is Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS, MATLAB verison is 2025a.

[Devansh Royal]

Thank you so much! Worked like a charm for the MATLAB app on my Ubuntu 25.10 pc for 2025b. Is there a similar command for simulink?

[zuyuan]

After I input the command mentioned above, then I open simulink, the menubar is already scaled as in matlab itself, it works on my PC.