DORI Standard for CCTV, Explained: DORI and IEC 62676-4:2025 Levels

In modern video surveillance systems, it's not just about capturing "something," but how accurately the camera can represent reality. This is where the DORI standard comes into play, helping you define the image quality requirements based on your surveillance goals. With DORI, you can clearly determine which parameters are needed for detecting, recognizing, or identifying objects.

What Is DORI?

DORI stands for Detect, Observe, Recognize, and Identify. Described in the EN 62676-4:2015 standard, it specifies the number of pixels per meter (px/m) required to achieve each level of image quality:

• Detect: approximately 25 px/m
• Observe: approximately 62.5 px/m
• Recognize: approximately 125 px/m
• Identify: approximately 250 px/m

The higher the pixels per meter, the greater the level of detail captured.

DORI Zones and Color Visualization

To simplify planning and assessing image quality, CCTVDesignTool.com uses color-coded DORI zones. These colors help you quickly understand the level of detail you can achieve in different areas of the camera's field of view:

• GREEN (Detect – ~25 px/m): Objects are visible, but details are lacking. You can notice movement or presence, but not specifics.
• YELLOW (Observe – ~62.5 px/m): You can observe a person's behavior, silhouette, or the general context. This level allows for situational awareness but not facial recognition.
• ORANGE (Recognize – ~125 px/m): At this level, you can recognize whether a person is familiar — an employee, family member, or someone you've seen before.
• RED (Identify – ~250 px/m): The highest level of detail, allowing you to clearly identify a person, see distinct facial features, and even small details.

Why Is DORI Important?

DORI is a practical tool for designers, installers, and end-users of CCTV systems:

• Accurate Planning: Even during the design phase, you can determine at what distance from the camera you'll achieve the required image quality.
• Tailored to Your Needs: Depending on your goals — general observation, facial recognition, or full identification — you can select cameras, lenses, and placements that best meet those requirements.
• Time and Cost Savings: By knowing what results to expect upfront, you avoid costly trial-and-error installations and ensure the right solution from the start.

What Changed in IEC 62676-4:2025

In October 2025 the IEC published the second edition of IEC 62676-4. Europe adopted it as EN IEC 62676-4:2025, replacing EN 62676-4:2015. National standards bodies must adopt it by 30 November 2026 and withdraw conflicting versions by 30 November 2028, so you will see DORI in tenders alongside the new levels for a while.

The new edition replaces the 2014 pixel-density scale, whose middle four levels are DORI, with seven levels, commonly abbreviated OODPCVS. Each level is a pixel density at the target, in pixels per meter:

DORI Next to the 2025 Levels

Only two densities appear in both scales: 125 px/m (Recognize in DORI, Perceive in 2025) and 250 px/m (Identify in DORI, Characterize in 2025). DORI's 25 and 62.5 px/m have no 2025 level. There is no official name-for-name mapping, and vendors map the names differently, so match a requirement by its px/m figure, not by its name. JVSG and trade press (asmag, Source Security) describe the density needed to identify a person as rising from 250 to 500 px/m (Validate).

What It Means for Your Design

• A tender that cites EN 62676-4:2015 still means DORI. Our DORI calculator gives those four distances.

• A tender that names a 2025 level means a px/m figure from the table above. The DORI calculator shows the pixel density at any distance, so you can check a camera against it.

• CCTV Design Tool draws both DORI and OODPCVS zones on the floor plan.

Designing and Simulating in CCTVDesignTool.com

CCTVDesignTool.com is built to support designers, installers, and end-users with practical DORI tools:

• View DORI Zones on the Floor Plan: Simply choose a camera from our catalog and place it on your layout. The system automatically generates color-coded zones to show different image quality areas — instantly revealing where detection or identification is possible.
• Image Quality Simulation: See how a selected camera will perform in practice. Determine if it's sufficient for detection or if it can achieve full identification, helping you invest wisely in equipment.
• Compare Different Configurations: Experiment with various camera models, lenses, and placements. Select the solutions that best fit your needs and budget.

DORI is not just a theoretical concept — it's a practical guideline that streamlines the design and configuration of CCTV systems. By leveraging the color-coded DORI zones and features in our application, you can easily match equipment to requirements, ensuring maximum surveillance effectiveness — from basic detection to precise identification of individuals and objects.

Try it now for free!