diff --git a/src/arg_desc.jl b/src/arg_desc.jl
index ba0b1200..2aa07029 100644
--- a/src/arg_desc.jl
+++ b/src/arg_desc.jl
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@ const _arg_desc = KW(
 :overwrite_figure         => "Bool.  Should we reuse the same GUI window/figure when plotting (true) or open a new one (false).",
 :html_output_format       => "Symbol.  When writing html output, what is the format?  `:png` and `:svg` are currently supported.",
 :inset_subplots 		  => "nothing or vector of 2-tuple (parent,bbox).  optionally pass a vector of (parent,bbox) tuples which are the parent layout and the relative bounding box of inset subplots",
+:dpi 					  => "Number.  Dots Per Inch of output figures",
 
 # subplot args
 :title                    => "String. Subplot title.",
diff --git a/src/args.jl b/src/args.jl
index 857fa660..82dd16b5 100644
--- a/src/args.jl
+++ b/src/args.jl
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ const _plot_defaults = KW(
     :html_output_format          => :auto,
     :inset_subplots              => nothing,   # optionally pass a vector of (parent,bbox) tuples which are
                                                # the parent layout and the relative bounding box of inset subplots
+    :dpi                         => DPI,        # dots per inch for images, etc
 )
 
 
diff --git a/src/backends/pyplot.jl b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
index cc0ce89f..b62d1f68 100644
--- a/src/backends/pyplot.jl
+++ b/src/backends/pyplot.jl
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ supported_args(::PyPlotBackend) = merge_with_base_supported([
     :match_dimensions,
     :clims,
     :inset_subplots,
+    :dpi,
   ])
 supported_types(::PyPlotBackend) = [
         :path, :steppre, :steppost, :shape,
@@ -1013,7 +1014,7 @@ function _before_layout_calcs(plt::Plot{PyPlotBackend})
     fig[:clear]()
     fig[:set_size_inches](px2inch(w), px2inch(h), forward = true)
     fig[:set_facecolor](py_color(plt[:background_color_outside]))
-    fig[:set_dpi](DPI)
+    fig[:set_dpi](plt[:dpi])
     
     # resize the window
     PyPlot.plt[:get_current_fig_manager]()[:resize](w, h)
@@ -1278,7 +1279,7 @@ for (mime, fmt) in _pyplot_mimeformats
             # figsize = map(px2inch, plt[:size]),
             facecolor = fig.o["get_facecolor"](),
             edgecolor = "none",
-            dpi = DPI
+            dpi = plt[:dpi]
         )
     end
 end