In the present work, a method for the characterization of iron ore sinter, based on digital microscopy and image analysis is proposed. Iron ore sinters are multi-phase materials, with heterogeneous macro and micro structure. In general, the main phases are: hematite, magnetite, ferrites and silicates, besides pores. Employing an automated optical microscope, individual high magnification images were obtained, covering the full cross section of the samples. Likewise, and covering the same area, low magnification mosaic images were obtained. Mosaics provide a powerful qualitative view of the whole sample, and a quantitative evaluation of the main phases, albeit with limited resolution. A quantitative comparison of phase fractions between the mosaic and the high magnification images was performed through an automatic image processing and analysis routine, also developed in the present work. While finer phases, such as silicates, could only be discriminated at the best employed optical resolution, the main phases, such as hematite, were identified at all resolutions. For hematite, magnetite, and ferrites, the largest relative error in area fraction was 12%, when comparing images acquired with the 5X and 20X objective lenses, for three different samples. Results for silicates were less accurate, with relative errors up to 44%. A comparison with x-ray diffraction results, employing the Rietveld method, was also performed. These results indicate that digital microscopy provides a flexible method for the characterization of these materials, allowing the combination of global qualitative information with local quantitative data.