<p dir="auto">My screen resolution is 2k, dpi zoom 200%</p>
<p dir="auto">For example:</p>
<p dir="auto">This is the picture displayed after running<br>
<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13817254/34868256-1503d3f6-f7be-11e7-8a36-fb02a26f6b65.png"><img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13817254/34868256-1503d3f6-f7be-11e7-8a36-fb02a26f6b65.png" alt="image" style="max-width: 100%;"></a></p>
<p dir="auto">And this is an image saved with dpi = 300<br>
<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13817254/34868338-62a03b7c-f7be-11e7-9419-6d13a2578a3a.png"><img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/13817254/34868338-62a03b7c-f7be-11e7-9419-6d13a2578a3a.png" alt="image" style="max-width: 100%;"></a></p>
<p dir="auto">My point is that gui applications are not ideal for displaying on high-resolution screens.</p>
<h3 dir="auto">Bug report</h3>
<p dir="auto">The plots done with "TkAgg" backend look blurry on retina screen of my Mac Book Pro. The plots look good when I'm using the default "MaxOSX" backend. It would be nice to have retina-friendly output for "TkAgg" since I'm using the plots into a tkinter GUI app.</p>
<p dir="auto"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/880411/35893090-7fe4f9f6-0c00-11e8-9dad-a9dac766b3c5.png"><img width="449" alt="matplotlib plots: tkagg vs osx" src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/880411/35893090-7fe4f9f6-0c00-11e8-9dad-a9dac766b3c5.png" style="max-width: 100%;"></a></p>
<p dir="auto"><strong>Code for reproduction</strong></p>
<div class="highlight highlight-source-python notranslate position-relative overflow-auto" dir="auto" data-snippet-clipboard-copy-content="import matplotlib
matplotlib.use('TkAgg') # Remove this to compare with MacOSX backend
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

f = plt.figure(figsize=(6, 4))
a = f.add_subplot(111)
a.plot([1,2,3,4])
plt.show()"><pre class="notranslate"><span class="pl-k">import</span> <span class="pl-s1">matplotlib</span>
<span class="pl-s1">matplotlib</span>.<span class="pl-en">use</span>(<span class="pl-s">'TkAgg'</span>) <span class="pl-c"># Remove this to compare with MacOSX backend</span>
<span class="pl-k">import</span> <span class="pl-s1">matplotlib</span>.<span class="pl-s1">pyplot</span> <span class="pl-k">as</span> <span class="pl-s1">plt</span>

<span class="pl-s1">f</span> <span class="pl-c1">=</span> <span class="pl-s1">plt</span>.<span class="pl-en">figure</span>(<span class="pl-s1">figsize</span><span class="pl-c1">=</span>(<span class="pl-c1">6</span>, <span class="pl-c1">4</span>))
<span class="pl-s1">a</span> <span class="pl-c1">=</span> <span class="pl-s1">f</span>.<span class="pl-en">add_subplot</span>(<span class="pl-c1">111</span>)
<span class="pl-s1">a</span>.<span class="pl-en">plot</span>([<span class="pl-c1">1</span>,<span class="pl-c1">2</span>,<span class="pl-c1">3</span>,<span class="pl-c1">4</span>])
<span class="pl-s1">plt</span>.<span class="pl-en">show</span>()</pre></div>
<p dir="auto"><strong>Actual outcome</strong></p>
<p dir="auto">The plots and toolbar look blurry on "TkAgg" backend.</p>
<p dir="auto"><strong>Expected outcome</strong></p>
<p dir="auto">The plots and toolbar look sharp, just like on "MaxOSX" backend.</p>
<p dir="auto"><strong>Matplotlib version</strong></p>
<ul dir="auto">
<li>Operating system: MacOS 10.13.2</li>
<li>Matplotlib version: 2.1.2</li>
<li>tkinter.TkVersion: 8.5</li>
<li>Matplotlib backend (<code class="notranslate">print(matplotlib.get_backend())</code>): TkAgg</li>
<li>Python version: 3.6.4</li>
</ul>
<p dir="auto">I've installed python from <a href="https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/" rel="nofollow">https://www.python.org/downloads/mac-osx/</a>, clicking on Download menu and selecting Python 3.6.4 for MacOS.</p>
<p dir="auto">If I create a tkinter app, other elements like labels, menus are sharp as well, only the plot is blurry. This indicates that tkinter is capable of showing sharp graphics, the question is how to do it.</p>