Do not imagine that the screen resolution is just a standard and that only a few unique values are available for it. As the number of devices connected to the Internet is growing steadily, the number of devices manufacturers is getting bigger and the same happens with the types of displays.
Because it’s very simple to test by the websites you surf, the screen resolution adds an important point in your fingerprinting on the internet.
Related to screen resolution, 4 parameters are very important in the fingerprinting browser:
1. Screen Resolution
It represents the number of pixels which your screen displays horizontally and vertically. For example, the 1280×720 pixel resolution is the HD resolution found on many mobile phones. This translates to displaying 1280 pixels (colored dots) on the long side of the screen and 720 pixels on the short side.
2. Available resolution
It’s the maximum resolution that an application in your device can handle on the display. For example, with Windows 7 operating system, the available resolution is given by the total screen resolution minus the taskbar thickness.
3. Color Depth
It represents the number of bits used to display the color of a pixel (in binary code). If this number is higher, more colors can be displayed on your device and the image will be more real.
4. Pixel ratio
It’s the real size of a pixel, displayed relative to the size of a physical pixel. The value can be changed from your browser’s settings, operating system’s settings or by zooming in your browser.
But can a device be identified on the internet using only this information?
A pixel can send you to jail?
Everything is relative. If your screen resolution is one of the most commonly used (eg. Full HD, HD, 1366×768, etc.), if you have not modified the pixel ratio either from the browser or from the operating system and its value is 1/1, if you have not modified the thickness of the taskbar in windows, if your video card is one that is commonly used (so you do not have a strange value for the color depth variable) and if the used website has a large number of visitors, then you will be lost among these visitors and you will not be identified from the screen resolution data only. There are many conditions above and if all from these conditions are not met, you will be easily identified and easily tracked on the internet.
It’s always a good idea to hide yourself in the crowd, to not stand out. To do this, you will have to dress in the clothes of the crowd, be like them. When the details that your computer sends to the internet are exotic you will be easy to identify in the crowd and you can be tracked. For this reason you have to be very careful with minor details, as it seems to be the resolution your screen. This, along with many other details that your browser sends to the internet while you’re browsing, will create a unique fingerprint for you and you need to get rid of this fingerprint as quickly as possible.
How do you test and what values is good for screen resolution?
The display resolution can be tested in your operating system’s settings, which are different from one operating system to another. Much simpler, faster and with a much more complex result you can check your screen resolution, available resolution, color depth and pixel ratio on our browser fingerprinting test page.
Just open the page and at the bottom you will see all these important details along with many other details about your device and your browser.
To check if your screen resolution is either a standard or an exotic one, you can do this on w3schools.com