Whats the difference between pan & scan, full-frame, widescreen and letterbox movies?
All of these terms refer to the aspect ratio of a movie, which is defined as its width-to-height relationship. Your television has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (4:3), but many movies are 1.85:1 and even 2.35:1. If you’re watching these “wider” movies in their original aspect ratio, which doesn’t match that of the TV you’re watching it on, you’ll see black bars at the top and bottom of the picture. How tall the bars are depends on how wide the movie is: a 1.85:1 movie will have much shorter black bars than a 2.35:1. This format is referred to as “letterbox.” Some people call 2.35:1 or wider movies “widescreen,” then call the narrower movies “letterbox.” Unfortunately, there’s no standard for how these two terms are used. But when you see them on DVD packaging, know that you’ll see the black bars at the top and bottom of the picture.
They refer to the aspect ratio of a movie, which is defined as its width-to-height relationship. Your television has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (4:3), but many movies are 1.85:1 and even 2.35:1. If you’re watching these “wider” movies in their original aspect ratio, which doesn’t match that of the TV you’re watching it on, you’ll see black bars at the top and bottom of the picture. How tall the bars are depends on how wide the movie is: a 1.85:1 movie will have much shorter black bars than a 2.35:1. This format is referred to as “letterbox.” Some people call 2.35:1 or wider movies “widescreen,” then call the narrower movies “letterbox.” But when you see them on DVD packaging, it implies that you’ll see the black bars at the top and bottom of the picture.
