What is aspect ratio?
An aspect ratio is the ratio between the width and height of a film image. The number denoting width comes first, and the height portion of the aspect ratio is always written as 1. A motion picture’s aspect ratio often appears on the back of the DVD or video box. An example would be 1.85:1. This means that the size of the original theatrical presentation of that film is 1.85 times as wide as it is high. Prior to the early 1950s, almost all motion pictures had the aspect ratio 1.33:1. This ratio was recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and became known as Academy Standard. When television standards were being developed in 1941, the National Television Standards Committee, or NTSC, decided that 1.33.1 would be the aspect ratio for television sets and broadcasting in the United States. This aspect ratio is also written as 4×3 and is the aspect ratio of all non-widescreen television sets. Technically, the Academy Standard aspect ratio is really 1.37:1, but it is still commonly
The concept is simple enough: aspect ratio is the fractional relation of the width of a video image compared to its height. The two most common aspect ratios in home video are 4:3 (also known as 4×3, 1.33:1, or standard) and 16:9 (16×9, 1.78:1, or wide-screen). All the older TVs and computer monitors you grew up with had the squarish 4:3 shape–only 33 percent wider than it was high. On the other hand, 16:9 is the native aspect ratio of most HDTV programming; it is 78 percent wider than it is tall, or fully one-third wider than 4:3.
