The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of its width to its height. It is expressed as two numbers separated by a colon, in the format width:height. Common aspect ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 in cinematography, 4:3 and 16:9 in television, and 3:2 in still photography. The 1:1 aspect ratio is used for square images, often seen on social media platforms like Instagram, and 21:9 is an "ultrawide" aspect ratio popular for gaming and desktop monitors.
Some common examples
The common film aspect ratios used in cinemas are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1. Two common videographic aspect ratios are 4:3 (1.3:1), the universal video format of the 20th century, and 16:9 (1.7:1), universal for high-definition television and European digital television. Other cinematic and video aspect ratios exist, but are used infrequently.
In still camera photography, the most common aspect ratios are 4:3, 3:2 (1.5:1), and more recently found in consumer cameras, 16:9. Other aspect ratios, such as 5:3, 5:4, and 1:1 (square format), are used in photography as well, particularly in medium format and large format.
With television, DVD and Blu-ray, converting formats of unequal ratios is achieved by enlarging the original image to fill the receiving format's display area and cutting off any excess picture information (zooming and cropping), by adding horizontal mattes (letterboxing) or vertical mattes (pillarboxing) to retain the original format's aspect ratio, by stretching (hence distorting) the image to fill the receiving format's ratio, or by scaling by different factors in both directions, possibly scaling by a different factor in the center and at the edges (as in Wide Zoom mode).
Practical limitations
In motion picture formats, the physical size of the film area between the sprocket perforations determines the image's size. The universal standard (established by William Dickson and Thomas Edison in 1892) is a frame that is four perforations high. The film itself is 35 mm wide (1.38 in), but the area between the perforations is 24.89 mm × 18.67 mm (0.980 in × 0.735 in), leaving the de facto ratio of 1.33:1.
With a space designated for the standard optical soundtrack, and the frame size reduced to maintain an image that is wider than tall; this resulted in the Academy aperture of 22 mm × 16 mm (0.866 in × 0.630 in) or 1.375:1 aspect ratio.[citation needed]
Cinema terminology
The motion picture industry convention assigns a value of 1 to the image's height; an anamorphic frame (since 1970, approximately 2.39:1) is often incorrectly described (rounded) as either 2.4:1 or 2.40:1. After 1952, a number of aspect ratios were experimented with for anamorphic productions, including 2.66:1 and 2.55:1. A SMPTE specification for anamorphic projection from 1957 (PH22.106-1957) finally standardized the aperture to 2.35:1. An update in 1970 (PH22.106-1971) changed the aspect ratio to 2.39:1 in order to make splices less noticeable. This aspect ratio of 2.39:1 was confirmed by the most recent revision from August 1993 (SMPTE 195–1993).
In American cinemas, the common projection ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1. Some European countries have 1.6:1[clarify] as the widescreen standard. The "Academy ratio" of 1.375:1 was used for all cinema films in the sound era until 1953 (with the release of George Stevens' Shane in 1.6:1). During that time, television, which had a similar aspect ratio of 1.3:1, became a perceived threat to movie studios. Hollywood responded by creating a large number of widescreen formats: CinemaScope (up to 2.6:1), Todd-AO (2.20:1), and VistaVision (up to 2.00:1) to name just a few. The flat 1.85:1 aspect ratio was introduced in May 1953, and became one of the most common cinema projection standards in the United States and elsewhere.
The goal of these various lenses and aspect ratios was to capture as much of the frame as possible, onto as large an area of the film as possible, in order to fully utilize the film being used. Some of the aspect ratios were chosen to utilize smaller film sizes in order to save film costs while other aspect ratios were chosen to use larger film sizes in order to produce a wider higher resolution image. In either case the image was squeezed horizontally to fit the film's frame size and avoid any unused film area.
Movie camera systems
The development of various film camera systems must ultimately cater to the placement of the frame in relation to the lateral constraints of the perforations and the optical soundtrack area. One clever wide screen alternative, VistaVision, used standard 35 mm film running sideways through the camera gate, so that the sprocket holes were above and below frame, allowing a larger horizontal negative size per frame as only the vertical size was now restricted by the perforations. There were even a limited number of projectors constructed to also run the print-film horizontally. Generally, however, the 1.50:1 ratio of the initial VistaVision image was optically converted to a vertical print (on standard four-perforation 35 mm movie film) to show with the standard projectors available at theaters, and was then masked in the projector to the United States standard of 1.85:1. The format was briefly revived by Lucasfilm in the late 1970s for special effects work that required a larger negative size (due to image degradation from the optical printing steps necessary to make multi-layer composites). It went into obsolescence largely due to better cameras, lenses, and film stocks available for standard four-perforation formats, in addition to increased lab costs for making prints in comparison to more standard vertical processes. (The horizontal process was also adapted to 70 mm film by IMAX, which was first shown at the Osaka '70 Worlds Fair.)
Super 16 mm film was frequently used for television production due to its lower cost, lack of need for soundtrack space on the film itself (as it is not projected but rather transferred to video), and aspect ratio similar to 16:9 (the native ratio of Super 16 mm is 15:9). It also can be blown up to 35 mm for theatrical release and therefore is sometimes used for feature films.
Current video standards
1:1
Square displays are rarely used in devices and monitors. Nonetheless, video consumption on social apps has grown rapidly and led to the emergence of new video formats more suited to mobile devices that can be held in horizontal and vertical orientations. In that sense, square video was popularized by mobile apps such as Instagram and Vine and has since been supported by other major social platforms including Facebook and X. It can fill nearly twice as much screen space compared to 16:9 format (when the device is held differently while viewing from how video was recorded).
4:3
4:3 (1.33:1) (generally read as Four-Three, Four-by-Three, or Four-to-Three) for standard television for fullscreen aspect ratio 1.33:1 has been in use since the invention of moving picture cameras, and many computer monitors used to employ the same aspect ratio. 4:3 was the aspect ratio used for 35 mm films in the silent era. It is also very close to the 1.375:1 Academy ratio, defined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a standard after the advent of optical sound-on-film. By having TV match this aspect ratio, movies originally photographed on 35 mm film could be satisfactorily viewed on TV in the early days of the medium (i.e. the 1940s and the 1950s).
With the adoption of high-definition television, the majority of modern televisions are now produced with 16:9 displays instead. Apple's iPad series of tablets continue to use 4:3 displays (despite other Apple products typically using widescreen aspect ratios) to better suit use as an e-reader; however, the 2018 iPad Pro 11-inch, and future mid-sized iPads without home buttons, use a 1.43:1 aspect ratio, designed to fit into a similar area as the prior designs which had home buttons.
14:9
14:9 (generally named as Fourteen-by-Nine, Fourteen-Nine, and Fourteen-to-Nine) is the aspect ratio mainly used when the 4:3 programs are cropped.
16:10
16:10 (8:5) is an aspect ratio mostly used for computer displays and tablet computers. The width of the display is 1.6 times its height. This ratio is close to the golden ratio "" which is approximately 1.618. LCD computer displays using the 16:10 ratio started to appear in the mass market from 2003. By 2008, 16:10 had become the most common aspect ratio for LCD monitors and laptop displays. Since 2010, however, 16:9 has become the mainstream standard, driven by the 1080p standard for high definition television and lower manufacturing costs.
In 2005–2008, 16:10 (1.6:1) overtook 4:3 as the most sold aspect ratio for LCD monitors. At the time, 16:10 also had 90% of the notebook market and was the most commonly used aspect ratio for laptops. However, 16:10 had a short reign as the most common aspect ratio. Around 2008–2010, there was a rapid shift by computer display manufacturers to the 16:9 aspect ratio and by 2011 16:10 had almost disappeared from new mass market products. According to Net Applications, by October 2012 the market share of 16:10 displays had dropped to less than 23 percent.
Notably, Apple used 16:10 for all of its MacBook models until 2021, when the 5th-generation MacBook Pro switched to a taller aspect ratio of approximately 1.54:1. The MacBook Air switched to the same aspect ratio with its 5th generation in 2022. Both aspect ratios are designed to maintain the 16:10 ratio for standard content, with extra area at the top of the display to house the front camera notch and the macOS menu bar.
16:9
16:9 (1.78:1) (generally named as Sixteen-by-Nine, Sixteen-Nine, and Sixteen-to-Nine) is the international standard format of HDTV, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television PALplus. Japan's Hi-Vision originally started with a 5:3 (= 15:9) ratio but converted when the international standards group introduced a wider ratio of 5+1⁄3 to 3 (= 16:9). Many digital video cameras have the capability to record in 16:9 (= 42:32), and 16:9 is the only widescreen aspect ratio natively supported by the DVD standard. DVD producers can also choose to show even wider ratios such as 1.66:1, 1.75:1, 1.77:1 and 1.78:1 within the 16:9 DVD frame by hard matting or adding black bars within the image itself. The 16:9 aspect ratio was used often in British TVs in the United Kingdom in the 1990s, and is also used in smartphones, laptops, and desktops.
1.85:1
Equivalent to integer ratio of 37:20. When cinema attendance dropped, Hollywood created widescreen aspect ratios in order to differentiate the film industry from TV, with one of the most common being the 1.85:1 ratio.
2.00:1
The 2.00:1 aspect ratio was first used in the 1950s for the RKO Superscope format.
Since 1998, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro has advocated for a format named "Univisium" that uses a 2.00:1 format. Univisium has gained little traction in the theatrical film market, but has recently been used by Netflix and Amazon Video for productions such as House of Cards and Transparent, respectively. This aspect ratio is similar to the 1.90:1 standard acquisition formats mandated by these content platforms and is not necessarily a creative choice.
Moreover, some mobile devices, such as the LG G6, LG V30, Huawei Mate 10 Pro, Google Pixel 2 XL, OnePlus 5T and Sony Xperia XZ3, are embracing the 2.00:1 format (advertised as 18:9), as well as the Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy Note 8, Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy Note 9 with a slightly similar 18.5:9 format. The Apple iPhone X also has a similar screen ratio of 19.5:9 (2.16:1).
2.39:1
Anamorphic format is the cinematography technique of shooting a widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film or other visual recording media with a non-widescreen native aspect ratio. When projected the image is then stretched back into the original proportions.
Obtaining height, width, and area of the screen
Often, screen specifications are given by their diagonal length. The following formulae can be used to find the height (h), width (w) and area (A), where r stands for ratio, written as a fraction of x by y, and d for diagonal length.
Distinctions
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