Monitor Resolutions and Ratios

Author:	Brian Dill
Created:	2006-12-17
Updated:	2006-12-17
Show Until:	2007-02-17

The Standard Ratios

There are two basic industry standard aspect ratios for monitors and televisions. The "standard" 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 where these numbers represent width:height. Basically every TV and monitor made up until the 1990's was the standard 4:3 ratio.

Standard
4:3 ratio
4 / 3 = 1.33_

Widescreen
16:9 ratio
16 / 9 = 1.77_

So the $64,000 question is "Which is better?"

The answer - as it is in most cases - is "it depends"

If a TV or monitor's primary job is viewing widescreen movies or other widescreen content, then a widescreen monitor will suite you best. If you mostly view standard TV or mostly surf the web then a standard ratio monitor will be more efficient.

Monitor Resolution Settings

Width	Height	Ratio*	# Pixels	Notes
640	480	1.3333_	307,200	Basic VGA
800	600	1.3333_	480,000
1024	768	1.3333_	786,432	Commonly used resolution for CRT
1152	864	1.3333_	995,328
1280	720	1.7777_	921,600	"Medium" Hi-Def resolution capable of 720p but not 1080
1280	768	1.6666_	983,040
1280	960	1.3333_	1,228,800
1280	1024	1.25	1,310,720	Common res for 19" LCD
1360	768	1.770833_	1,044,480	765 would give the true 1.77_ wide-screen ratio, but close enough.
1400	1050	1.3333_	1,470,000
1440	900	1.6	1,260,000	Common "widescreen" res for 19" LCD, but not 1.77_ ratio. A height of 810 would give it a 1.77_ ratio
1440	1080	1.3333_	1,555,200
1600	1200	1.3333_	1,920,000
1680	1050	1.6	1,764,000
1920	1080	1.7777_	2,073,600	True high-def TV 16:9 ratio & 1080 horizontal lines

* an underscore(_) indicates repeating value.

Standard vs. Widescreen

	Standard 4:3		Widescreen 16:9
Diagonal	Width	Height	Width	Height
1	0.800	0.600	0.871575537	0.49026124
4	3.20	2.40	3.49	1.96
7	5.60	4.20	6.10	3.43
13	10.40	7.80	11.33	6.37
15	12.00	9.00	13.07	7.35
17	13.60	10.20	14.82	8.33
19	15.20	11.40	16.56	9.31
20	16.00	12.00	17.43	9.81
21	16.80	12.60	18.30	10.30
25	20.00	15.00	21.79	12.26
27	21.60	16.20	23.53	13.24
32	25.60	19.20	27.89	15.69
40	32.00	24.00	34.86	19.61
42	33.60	25.20	36.61	20.59
50	40.00	30.00	43.58	24.51
60	48.00	36.00	52.29	29.42
66	52.80	39.60	57.52	32.36
29.372	23.50	17.62	25.60	14.40
34.318	27.45	20.59	29.91	16.82

A 32" standard ratio TV in letterbox is equivalent to a 29.372" widescreen TV.
(standard 4:3 ratio diagonal x 0.9179) = widescreen 16:9 diagonal equivalent.

A 42" widescreen TV in 4:3 mode is equivalent to a 34.318" standard TV.
(widesreen 16:9 ratio diagonal x 0.8171) = standard 4:3 diagonal equivalent.


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Monitor Resolutions and Ratios

The Standard Ratios

Monitor Resolution Settings

Standard vs. Widescreen

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