[FIX] Matlab 2014a looks blurry on your Mac with Retina Display?

Matlab R2014a looks blurry on your Mac with Retina Display. This is because Matlab versions after 2013a use their own builtin Java instead the one that comes bundled with Apple’s OSX. Even though Mathworks is aware of that problem since 2013b they still did not fix it. Luckily there is an easy solution!

Download and install the new JAVA JRE: Java.com
reboot (possibly you can skip this)
Now download my starting app which starts Matlab with the new JAVA JRE
Alternative: create an AppleScript with this code and save it as app. Note that all the code needs to be in one line.
Use the app every time you want to start Matlab. You can simply drag it to your dock

FAQ

Mirror for the app download: Uploaded
the download is over 1mb because of the bundled Matlab Icon
You can check the Java version Matlab is using by typing the command: version -java
Note that the paths have to match in my example I used the default paths which are as following:

JAVA: /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin/Contents/Home\
MATLAB: /Applications/MATLAB_R2014a.app/bin/matlab

Inspiration for this post
Thanks to user feedback I realized that my wordpress theme destroys the code so I moved it to pastebin now
feel free to use my amazon affiliate link to express your feelings of eternal gratitude :)

Tags: 2014, 2014a, apple, blur, conflict, display, fix, java, jre, mac, matlab, R2014a, repair, resolution, retina, solution

31 thoughts on “[FIX] Matlab 2014a looks blurry on your Mac with Retina Display?”

mgunn on May 11, 2014 at 05:22 said:

If you add:
cd ~/MATLAB;
To the script, it will start nicely with the current working directory as ~/MATLAB instead of /

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floriko on May 11, 2014 at 09:50 said:

Thank you for your input. Your command returns the following on my computer:

floriko:~ floriko$ cd ~/MATLAB
-bash: cd: /Users/floriko/MATLAB: No such file or directory

Also make sure to delete the following from the script when you want to startup with a different directory:

& “; export MATLAB_USE_USERWORK=1”

Best,
Florian

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- mgunn on May 12, 2014 at 03:33 said:
  
  Ahhhh… so that’s what setenv MATLAB_USE_USERWORK 1 is for. I have some shell scripts which invoke matlab -nodisplay and it’s nice to have it start in the local directory, wherever that is… (i.e. I prefer a cd to userpath rather than export MATLAB_USE_USERWORK=1) Anyway, great script and it solved my problem! Running Matlab on the lower rez is borderline unbearable.
  
  (I forgot I had set my userpath to ~/MATLAB which is non-standard… my suggestion should have been cd ~/Documents/MATLAB I think?)
  
  Anyway, thanks!
  
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  - Dongeun Lee on May 17, 2014 at 14:32 said:
    
    Yes “~/Documents/MATLAB” is a standard setup. (By the way, changing directory is another nice idea.) And I also thank floriko for reflecting my comment on the script.
    
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Jake on June 14, 2014 at 04:47 said:

where should I add the cd ~/Documents/MATLAB in the script?
thanks

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Jake on June 14, 2014 at 04:54 said:

Figure it out already, great script. lol

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- Stan on October 22, 2014 at 20:25 said:
  
  how did you do it ?
  
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Chuck on June 27, 2014 at 22:19 said:

MATLAB is not blurry using this script, but does not finish initializing. I am using version 8.3.0.532 (R2014a). Any suggestions?

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Bob McAlister on July 1, 2014 at 08:23 said:

Perfect — works as expected!

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floriko on July 1, 2014 at 08:29 said:

Hi Chuck,

Sorry to hear you are experiencing trouble..Did you install the newest Java version first? Like explained in the instructions above..Just an idea.

Best,
Florian

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- Chuck on October 17, 2014 at 16:13 said:
  
  Hi Florian,
  I recently have been able to start MATLAB after waiting several minutes for the software to initialize. I get the following Warning, but everything seems to work okay. Have you seen this before? Here is the Warning:
  
  Warning: Executing startup failed in matlabrc.
  This indicates a potentially serious problem in your MATLAB setup, which should be resolved as soon
  as possible. Error detected was:
  MATLAB:dir:pathnameTooLong
  Pathname
  ‘/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Resources/Deploy.bundle/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/JavaPlugin2_NPAPI.plugin/Contents/Resources/English.lproj’
  is too long.
  
  In matlabrc at 192
  
  Thanks,
  Chuck
  
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  - floriko on October 17, 2014 at 16:40 said:
    
    Hi Chuck,
    
    sorry I have never seen this error before. I would try reinstalling Java and Matlab, probably a clean reinstallation is a good idea.
    
    Maybe you are lucky and it is fixable by manually moving the files to a shorter directory…The error points that this incredibly long pathname is indeed too long.
    
    Best,
    Florian
    
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Adrian on July 7, 2014 at 19:47 said:

WOOOOOOOOWWWWW BEESTTTTT SOLUTION…..FIRST TIME SOMETHING REALLY WORKS WITHOUT ANY AFFORD…. :D

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Chris on July 23, 2014 at 08:51 said:

Florian,

I’ve been using your script for a while but suddenly I have a couple of problems:
– I cannot search on the documentation browser (the search field is not selectable)
– I cannot modify the publish settings (I get about 15 lines of java errors and nothing else)

I am on OS X 10.9.4 with Java 1.7.0_65-b17.

Both problems happen every time I use your shortcut but never when I use the installation-provided .app file.

Do you have any thoughts on what causes it and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance,
Chris

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floriko on July 23, 2014 at 09:51 said:

Hi Chris,

unfortunately not – especially without knowing the java errors you get. But from what you describe it sounds like an error caused by your java package maybe caused by a silent update?

So I would try reinstalling/resetting Java and potentially downgrading to the last version, which was working for you. But that’s just a wild guess.

Best,
Florian

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act on July 30, 2014 at 11:24 said:

This works even when using Yosemite PB. Just remember changing ProductVersion to 10.90 under /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist

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H on August 21, 2014 at 01:15 said:

it works! thanks bro

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Steven on September 24, 2014 at 04:40 said:

Hey, great script thank you! I’m still having a problem with changing the Matlab startup folder. As far as I can tell, the script I have does not contain & “; export MATLAB_USE_USERWORK=1″. Where can I add “~/Documents/MATLAB” in the script to make that my starting directory?

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- floriko on October 7, 2014 at 14:35 said:
  
  the comments above from user mgunn might help you to figure it out. best, florian
  
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Katie Castagno on September 26, 2014 at 15:56 said:

Thank you so much!!!!!

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Sabbir on September 30, 2014 at 16:18 said:

Best and easiest solution so far. Thank you so much.

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troguy on October 2, 2014 at 18:42 said:

Thank you thank you thank you, worked a treat

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Max on October 10, 2014 at 11:36 said:

Nice! Works like a charm!

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Eduardo on October 15, 2014 at 08:09 said:

Thanks

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katjos on October 18, 2014 at 07:59 said:

Thanks a lot!! You also fixed my problem with Yosemite… Wonderful!!!

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Fosa on October 20, 2014 at 23:49 said:

Crashes every time i open reference page in help! What can i do to prevent that??

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- floriko on October 21, 2014 at 13:11 said:
  
  Please provide more detail about the crash – this way it is hard to help you.
  
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Fosa on October 26, 2014 at 16:36 said:

Ok on example: i am in matlab, everything is fine. I type in the command window ‘help exit’. When i press ” Reference page for exit” i get error: Matlab has encountered an internal problem and needs to close.” It also asks to send feedback etc. Anyone else with the same problem?

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- Jusa on October 28, 2014 at 19:56 said:
  
  I’ve having exactly the same problem with the Matlab help. As long as I use help only on the command window Matlab works normally, but it crashes always when launching the GUI-based help (doc).
  
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John on April 30, 2015 at 22:25 said:

Thanks, great geeking. Worked like a charm.

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