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Aspect Ratio

What is it?

  • The ratio of the width to the height of an image or a screen.

  • Aspect ratio calculations matter a lot depending on whether it is an image, design project or a digital video you are working with.

  • Here is example of display with 1920 x 1080 resolution have 16:9 aspect ratio.

1920 pixels

16 : 9

1080 pixels

1920 X 1080 Monitor (21.5 inches)

Aspect Ratio = 1920 : 1080 = 16 : 9

"Sixteen - Nine"

"Sixteen - by - Nine"

"Sixteen - to - Nine"

Named as :

Aspect Ratio of Display

  • There are the different aspect ratio of a display or an image/video you can find.

  • Some of the most common resolutions that can be used for each aspect ratio are the following:

Classic TV ( 4 :3 ) 

  • Some computer monitors and old TV used to employ the same aspect ratio.

1440 pixel

4 : 3

1080 pixels

Old Standard TV

Aspect Ratio = 1440 : 1080 = 4:3

Widescreen ratio ( 16:9 ) 

  • It is the international standard format of HDTV.

2560 pixels

1080 pixels

Widescreen Monitor (29 inches)

Aspect Ratio = 2560 : 1080 = 21 : 9

Cinemascope ratio ( 21:9 ) 

  • It is a near-cinematic movie ratio.

  • Commonly seen on higher-end monitors.

  • Called as UltraWide monitors.

2560 pixels

1080 pixels

21 : 9

UltraWide Monitor (29 inch)

Aspect Ratio = 2560 : 1080 = 21 : 9

Old Widescreen (16: 10 ) 

  • Until 2010, it was the most popular aspect ratio for widescreen computer displays.

  • For e.g.

1280 pixels

800 pixels

Old Dell Laptop (14.1 inches)

Aspect Ratio = 1280 : 800 = 16:10

  • e.g. 2 

1920 pixels

16:10

1200 pixels

Apple Widescreen Monitor  

Aspect Ratio = 1920 : 1200 = 16:10

Application

  • If you are working on a digital video, it is essential to initially compress the files of the digital video in order to get the accurate dimensions of the video.

  • In computer graphics, when resizing graphics, it is important to maintain the aspect ratio to avoid stretching the graphic out of proportion.

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