Aspect ratio (image)

This article is about aspect ratio of still images, films, and digital imagery. For yet another article on this subject, see display aspect ratio.
Common image aspect ratios
1:1
Square
1.20:1 (6:5)
Fox Movietone aspect ratio
1.25:1 (5:4)
Early television & large-format computer monitors
1.33:1 (4:3)
Traditional television & computer monitor standard
1.375:1 (11:8)
Academy standard film aspect ratio
1.41:1
√2:1 ~1.4142:1, ISO 216 paper sizes (A4)
1.43:1
IMAX motion picture film format
1.5:1 (3:2)
Classic 35 mm still photographic film
1.6:1 (16:10 or 8:5)
A common computer screen ratio.
1.6180:1 (16.18:10)
The golden ratio
1.6667:1 (5:3)
A common European widescreen std.; Native Super 16 mm film.
1.77:1 or 1.78:1 (16:9)
HD video std.; U.S. digital broadcast TV std.
2.35:1 or 2.39:1
A current widescreen cinema standard
2.414:1
The silver ratio

The aspect ratio of an image describes the proportional relationship between its width and its height. It is commonly expressed as two numbers separated by a colon, as in 16:9. For an x:y aspect ratio, no matter how big or small the image is, if the width is divided into x units of equal length and the height is measured using this same length unit, the height will be measured to be y units.

In, for example, a group of images that all have an aspect ratio of 16:9, one image might be 16 inches wide and 9 inches high, another 16 centimeters wide and 9 centimeters high, and a third might be 8 yards wide and 4.5 yards high.

Some common examples

The most common aspect ratios used today in the presentation of films in cinemas are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1.[1] Two common videographic aspect ratios are 4:3 (1.33:1),[lower-alpha 1] the universal video format of the 20th century, and 16:9 (1.77:1), universal for high-definition television and European digital television. Other cinema and video aspect ratios exist, but are used infrequently.

In still camera photography, the most common aspect ratios are 4:3, 3:2, and more recently being found in consumer cameras 16:9.[2] 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 Disc, 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 4:3, or 1.33:1.[3] A 4:3 ratio mimics human eyesight visual angle of 155°h x 120°v, that is 4:3.075, almost exactly the same.

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.

Cinema terminology

The motion picture industry convention assigns a value of 1.0 to the image’s height; an anamorphic frame (since 1970, 2.39:1) is often incorrectly described (rounded) as 2.40:1 or 2.40 ("two-four-oh"). After 1952, a number of aspect ratios were experimented with for anamorphic productions, including 2.66:1 and 2.55:1.[4] A SMPTE specification for anamorphic projection from 1957 (PH22.106-1957) finally standardized the aperture to 2.35:1.[4] An update in 1970 (PH22.106-1971) changed the aspect ratio to 2.39:1 in order to make splices less noticeable.[4] This aspect ratio of 2.39:1 was confirmed by the most recent revision from August 1993 (SMPTE 195-1993).[4]

In American cinemas, the common projection ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1. Some European countries have 1.66:1 as the wide screen 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 1.66:1). During that time, television, which had a similar aspect ratio of 1.33:1, became a perceived threat to movie studios. Hollywood responded by creating a large number of wide-screen formats: CinemaScope (up to 2.66:1), Todd-AO (2.20:1), and VistaVision (initially 1.50:1, now 1.66:1 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 U.S. 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.[5]

Movie camera systems

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 film) to show with the standard projectors available at theaters, and was then masked in the projector to the US standard of 1.85:1. The format was briefly revived by Lucasfilm in the late 1970s for special effects work that required 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 to standard four-perforation formats, in addition to increased lab costs of 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

4:3 standard

4:3 (1.33:1) (generally read as "Four-Three", "Four-by-Three", or "Four-to-Three") for standard television 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). When cinema attendance dropped, Hollywood created widescreen aspect ratios (such as the 1.85:1 ratio mentioned earlier) in order to differentiate the film industry from TV. However, since the start of the 21st century broadcasters worldwide are phasing out the 4:3 standard entirely, as manufacturers started to favor the 16:9/16:10 aspect ratio of all modern high-definition television sets, broadcast cameras and computer monitors.

16:9 standard

Main article: 16:9

16:9 (1.77:1) (generally named as "Sixteen-Nine", "Sixteen-by-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 5⅓ to 3 (= 16:9). Many digital video cameras have the capability to record in 16:9, 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 1.85:1 and 2.39:1[1] within the 16:9 DVD frame by hard matting or adding black bars within the image itself.

21:9

Main article: 21:9 aspect ratio

21:9 aspect ratio, true value of 64:27, is a near cinematic movie ratio.

Square video and vertical video

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. Square video was popularized by mobile apps Instagram and Vine and has since been supported by other major social platforms including Facebook and Twitter. 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). Vertical video (9:16) was popularized by Snapchat and is also now being adopted by Twitter and Facebook.

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, and d for diagonal length.

Distinctions

Further information: Pixel aspect ratio

This article primarily addresses the aspect ratio of images as displayed, which is more formally referred to as the display aspect ratio (DAR). In digital images, there is a distinction with the storage aspect ratio (SAR), which is the ratio of pixel dimensions. If an image is displayed with square pixels, then these ratios agree; if not, then non-square, "rectangular" pixels are used, and these ratios disagree. The aspect ratio of the pixels themselves is known as the pixel aspect ratio (PAR) – for square pixels this is 1:1 – and these are related by the identity:

SAR × PAR = DAR.

Rearranging (solving for PAR) yields:

PAR = DAR/SAR.

For example, a 640 × 480 VGA image has a SAR of 640/480 = 4:3, and if displayed on a 4:3 display (DAR = 4:3), has square pixels, hence a PAR of 1:1. By contrast, a 720 × 576 D-1 PAL image has a SAR of 720/576 = 5:4, but is displayed on a 4:3 display (DAR = 4:3), so by this formula it would have a PAR of (4:3)/(5:4) = 16:15.

However, because standard definition digital video was originally based on digitally sampling analog television, the 720 horizontal pixels actually capture a slightly wider image to avoid loss of the original analog picture. In actual images, these extra pixels are often partly or entirely black, as only the center 704 horizontal pixels carry actual 4:3 or 16:9 image. Hence, the actual pixel aspect ratio for PAL video is a little different from that given by the formula, specifically 12:11 for PAL and 10:11 for NTSC. For consistency, the same effective pixel aspect ratios are used even for standard definition digital video originated in digital form rather than converted from analog. For more details refer to the main article.

In analog images such as film there is no notion of pixel, nor notion of SAR or PAR, and "aspect ratio" refers unambiguously to DAR. Actual displays do not generally have non-square pixels, though digital sensors might; they are rather a mathematical abstraction used in resampling images to convert between resolutions.

Non-square pixels arise often in early digital TV standards, related to digitalization of analog TV signals – whose horizontal and vertical resolutions differ and are thus best described by non-square pixels – and also in some digital videocameras and computer display modes, such as Color Graphics Adapter (CGA). Today they arise particularly in transcoding between resolutions with different SARs.

DAR is also known as image aspect ratio and picture aspect ratio, though the latter can be confused with pixel aspect ratio.

Visual comparisons

Comparing two different aspect ratios poses some subtleties – when comparing two aspect ratios, one may compare images with equal height, equal width, equal diagonal, or equal area. More amorphous questions include whether particular subject matter has a natural aspect ratio (panoramas being wide, full-length images of people being tall), or whether a particular ratio is more or less aesthetically pleasing, for example the golden ratio (~1.618).

Televisions and other displays typically list their size by their diagonal. Given the same diagonal, a 4:3 screen has more area compared to 16:9. For CRT-based technology, an aspect ratio that is closer to square is cheaper to manufacture. The same is true for projectors, and other optical devices such as cameras, camcorders, etc. For LCD and plasma displays, however, the cost is more related to the area. Producing wider and shorter screens can yield the same advertised diagonal, but with less area.

The following compares crops of an image at 4:3 and 16:9 ratios, with different dimensions set equal. Note that either image (or both) can be cropped; one aspect doesn't necessarily show more detail than the other.

4:3 (1.33:1)
16:9 (1.77:1)
4:3 (1.33:1)
16:9 (1.77:1)
4:3 (1.33:1)
16:9 (1.77:1)
4:3 (1.33:1)
16:9 (1.77:1)

Previous and currently used aspect ratios

See list of common resolutions for a listing of computer resolutions and aspect ratios.
See list of film formats for a full listing of film formats, including their aspect ratios.
Comparison of several film aspect ratios with the heights forced to be equal.

Aspect ratio releases

Original aspect ratio (OAR)

Original Aspect Ratio (OAR) is a home cinema term for the aspect ratio or dimensions in which a film or visual production was produced – as envisioned by the people involved in the creation of the work. As an example, the film Gladiator was released to theaters in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio. It was filmed in Super 35 and, in addition to being presented in cinemas and television in the Original Aspect Ratio of 2.39:1, it was also broadcast without the matte, altering the aspect ratio to the television standard of 1.33:1. Because of the varied ways in which films are shot, IAR (Intended Aspect Ratio) is a more appropriate term, but is rarely used.

Modified aspect ratio (MAR)

Modified Aspect Ratio is a home cinema term for the aspect ratio or dimensions in which a film was modified to fit a specific type of screen, as opposed to original aspect ratio. Modified aspect ratios are usually either 1.33:1 (historically), or (with the advent of widescreen television sets) 1.77:1 aspect ratio. 1.33:1 is the modified aspect ratio used historically in VHS format. A modified aspect ratio transfer is achieved by means of pan and scan or open matte, the latter meaning removing the cinematic matte from a 1.85:1 film to open up the full 1.33:1 frame. Another name for it is "prescaled" aspect ratio".

Problems in film and television

A windowboxed image

Multiple aspect ratios create additional burdens on filmmakers and consumers, and confusion among TV broadcasters. It is common for a widescreen film to be presented in an altered format (cropped, letterboxed or expanded beyond the original aspect ratio). It is also not uncommon for windowboxing to occur (when letterbox and pillarbox happen simultaneously). For instance, a 16:9 broadcast could embed a 4:3 commercial within the 16:9 image area. A viewer watching on a standard 4:3 (non-widescreen) television would see a 4:3 image of the commercial with 2 sets of black stripes, vertical and horizontal (windowboxing or the postage stamp effect). A similar scenario may also occur for a widescreen set owner when viewing 16:9 material embedded in a 4:3 frame, and then watching that in 16:9. Active Format Description is a mechanism used in digital broadcasting to avoid this problem. It is also common that a 4:3 image is stretched horizontally to fit a 16:9 screen to avoid pillar boxing but distorts the image so subjects appear short and fat.

Both PAL and NTSC have provision for some data pulses contained within the video signal used to signal the aspect ratio (See ITU-R BT.1119-1 – Widescreen signaling for broadcasting). These pulses are detected by television sets that have widescreen displays and cause the television to automatically switch to 16:9 display mode. When 4:3 material is included (such as the aforementioned commercial), the television switches to a 4:3 display mode to correctly display the material. Where a video signal is transmitted via a European SCART connection, one of the status lines is used to signal 16:9 material as well.

Still photography

Common aspect ratios in still photography include:

Many digital still cameras offer user options for selecting multiple image aspect ratios. Some achieve this through the use of multi-aspect sensors (notably Panasonic), while others simply crop their native image format to have the output match the desired image aspect ratio.

1:1

is the classic square image, and is available as a choice in some digital still cameras, and harkens back to the days of film cameras when the square image was popular with photographers using twin lens reflex cameras. These medium format cameras used 120 film rolled onto spools. The 6 × 6 cm image size was the classic 1:1 format in the recent past. 120 film can still be found and used today.

4:3

Is used by most digital point-and-shoot cameras, Four Thirds system, Micro Four Thirds system cameras and medium format 645 cameras. The 4:3 digital format popularity was developed to match the then prevailing digital displays of the time, 4:3 computer monitors.

The next several formats have their roots in classic film photography image sizes, both the classic 35 mm film camera, and the multiple format Advanced Photo System (APS) film camera. The APS camera was capable of selecting any of three image formats, APS-H ("High Definition" mode), APS-C ("Classic" mode) and APS-P ("Panoramic" mode).

3:2

is used by classic 35 mm film cameras using a 24 mm × 36 mm image size, and their digital derivatives represented by DSLRs. Typical DSLRs come in two flavors, the so-called professional "full frame" (24 mm × 36 mm) sensors and variations of smaller, so called "APS-C" sensors. The term "APS" is derived from another film format known as the APS and the "-C" refers to "Classic" mode, which exposed images over a smaller area (25.1 mm × 16.7 mm) but retaining the same "classic" 3:2 proportions as full frame 35 mm film cameras.

When discussing DSLR's and their non-SLR derivatives, the term APS-C has become an almost generic term. The two major camera manufacturers Canon and Nikon each developed and established sensor standards for their own versions of APS-C sized and proportioned sensors. Canon actually developed two standards, APS-C and a slightly larger area APS-H (not to be confused with the APS-H film format), while Nikon developed its own APS-C standard, which it calls DX. Regardless of the different flavors of sensors, and their varying sizes, they are close enough to the original APS-C image size, and maintain the classic 3:2 image proportions that these sensors are generally known as an "APS-C" sized sensor.

The reason for DSLR's image sensors being the flatter 3:2 versus the taller point-and-shoot 4:3 is that DSLRs were designed to match the legacy 35 mm SLR film, whereas the majority of digital cameras were designed to match the predominant computer displays of the time, with VGA, SVGA, XGA and UXGA all being 4:3. Widescreen computer monitors did not become popular until the advent of HDTV, which uses a 16:9 image aspect ratio.

16:9

16:9 is another format that has its roots in the APS film camera. Known as APS-H (30.2 mm × 16.7 mm), with the "-H" denoting "High Definition", the 16:9 format is also the standard image aspect ratio for HDTV. 16:9 is gaining popularity as a format in all classes of consumer still cameras which also shoot High Definition (HD) video. When still cameras have an HD video capability, some can also record stills in the 16:9 format, ideal for display on HD televisions and widescreen computer displays.

3:1

is another format that can find its roots in the APS film camera. Known as APS-P (30.2 × 9.5 mm), with the -P" denoting "Panorama", the 3:1 format was used for panorama photography. The APS-P panorama standard is the least adhered to of any APS standard, and panoramic implementation varies with by manufacturer on different cameras, with the only commonality being that the image is much longer than it is tall, in the classic "panorama" style.

Common print sizes in the U.S. (in inches) include 4×6 (1.5), 5×7 (1.4), 4×5 and 8×10 (1.25), and 11×14 (1.27); large format cameras typically use one of these aspect ratios. Medium-format cameras typically have format designated by nominal sizes in centimeters (6×6, 6×7, 6×9, 6×4.5), but these numbers should not be interpreted as exact in computing aspect ratios. Print sizes are usually defined by their portrait dimensions (tall) while equipment aspect ratios are defined by their landscape dimensions (wide, flipped sideways). A good example of this a 4×6 print (6 inch wide by 4 inch tall landscape) perfectly matches the 3:2 aspect ratio of a DSLR/35 mm, since 6/2=3 and 4/2=2.

For analog projection of photographic slides, projector and screen use a 1:1 aspect ratio, supporting horizontal and vertical orientation equally well. In contrast, digital projection technology typically supports vertically oriented images only at a fraction of the resolution of landscape-oriented images. For example, projecting a digital still image having a 3:2 aspect ratio on a 16:9 projector employs 84.3% of available resolution in horizontal orientation, but only 37.5% in vertical orientation.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Repeating decimal notation

References

  1. 1 2 3 The 2.39:1 ratio is commonly labeled 2.40:1, e.g., in the American Society of Cinematographers' American Cinematographer Manual (Many widescreen films before the 1970 SMPTE revision used 2.35:1).
  2. ↑ "Panasonic Introduces 2 New Cameras". India: Tech Tree.
  3. ↑ Burum, Stephen (2004). American Cinematographer Manual (9th ed.). ASC Press. ISBN 0-935578-24-2.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "ALEXA Anamorphic De-squeeze". Arri. 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2014-06-21.
  5. ↑ "Anamorphic Now" (PDF). Film and Digital Times (53): 24–31. April 2013. Retrieved 2014-06-21.
  6. ↑ Scott Eyman, The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and the Talkie Revolution, 1926–1930, New York, Simon & Schuster (1997), p. 222.
  7. ↑ Arne Nowak (October 2010). "Digital Cinema Technologies from the Archive's Perspective" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  8. ↑ Goddard, Louis. Philips discontinuing super-wide Cinema 21:9 TVs due to lack of demand. The Verge. 2012-08-28. Retrieved 2013-03-18.

External links

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