Abstract: A high-resolution background-oriented schlieren (BOS) technique, which utilizes a high-resolution camera and a microdot background pattern, is proposed and used to measure the pressure field of an underwater shock wave in a microtube. The propagation of the shock wave subsequently reaches a concave water–air interface set in the microtube resulting in the ejection of a focused microjet. This high spatial-resolution BOS technique can measure the pressure field of a shock front with a width as narrow as the order of only 101μm with a peak pressure as large as almost 3 MPa. This significant breakthrough has enabled the simultaneous measurement of the pressure impulse of the shock front and the velocity of the microjet tip. As a result, we have experimentally observed the linear relation between the velocity of the microjet tip and the pressure impulse of the shock front for the cases without secondary cavitation in the liquid bulk. Such relation was theoretically/numerically predicted by Peters et al. (J Fluid Mech 719:587–605, 2013). This study demonstrated the capability of the proposed high-resolution BOS technique as a microscale contactless pressure measurement tool for underwater shock waves and potentially other micro- and nanofluids. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]