Display resolution

lastmod 2024-03-28created 2016-01-0222 edits

Resolution (also called sharpness or image quality; North Korean term: dohyeong pyosi, hwamyeon haesangdo) is a term for the degree of fineness with which pictures, text, and the like are rendered on paper, a screen, and so on. It is mainly used when talking about image input/output devices such as monitors, televisions, printers, and scanners. For televisions, resolution uses the unit called the pixel (also called a line for CRTs), and is written as horizontal x vertical pixels (Symbol: px), based on how many black-and-white lines in total are displayed on the screen.

CIF

Common Intermediate Format

• Sub-QCIF (128×96)
• QCIF (176×144/220×176)
  • Quarter CIF. A resolution mainly used in 2000s feature phones that adopted color displays before the smartphone era.
• CIF (352×288)
  • Standard resolution for analog TV/video/video conferencing such as NTSC/PAL. Introduced in the H.261 standard, and also used as the PAL resolution in VCD, the representative medium for MPEG-1 video. (NTSC is 352×240)
• 4CIF (704×576)
• 16CIF (1408×1152)

CGA, EGA, HGC

• CGA (320×200/640×200)
  • Color Graphics Adaptor
• EGA (320×200/640×200/640×350)
  • Enhanced Graphics Adaptor
• HGC (640×400/720×348)
  • Hercules Graphics Card

VGA

Video Graphics Array

Graphics array resolutions (those ending in GA) are computer industry standards, starting with IBM's VGA and established as standards by VESA and others. (HD is a broadcasting industry standard)

XGA

eXtended Graphics Array

QXGA

Quad XGA

HXGA

Hyper XGA or Hex XGA

HD

With a 16:9 (≒1.77:1) aspect ratio, HD, FHD, QHD, UHD, and so on are the widely used formats as of 2018. FHD in particular is the most widely used format, to the point that it can be called the de facto standard among standards. HD is also written as 720p/720i, FHD as 1080p/1080i, WQHD as 1440p/1440i, UHD as 2160p, and QUHD (8K UHD) as 4320p.

A common pattern appears in how the names HD and UHD became established: both originally referred to much higher resolutions, became attached to lower resolutions through product manufacturers' marketing, and then, when technology advanced enough to release products at the original resolution, a name with F (Full) was attached again for differentiation.

For reference, PC monitors first switched in the late 2000s to 16:10 Wide XGA such as 1920x1200, for compatibility with 1600x1200, which was widely used as a high-resolution 4:3 monitor until the mid-2000s. But as the share of 16:9 monitors gradually grew, most switched again to 16:9 monitors after 2010.

LCD makers such as LG Display and Samsung Display semi-forcibly discontinued 16:10 panels and produced only 16:9 panels because of advantages in yield and cost, so monitor manufacturers had no choice but to follow, and it eventually became the de facto standard. Going from 16:10 to 16:9 reduces the pixel count from 1920x1200 to 1920x1080 and makes the panel itself smaller, which benefits display makers. Being able to unify TVs and monitors into products with the same resolution is another advantage. On top of that, they can claim to general consumers that it follows the Full HD standard. The same thing happened with smartphones: early Android phones (Nexus One, Nexus S, Galaxy A) used 5:3 WVGA (480 x 800), and from the Galaxy S II HD LTE onward the 16:9 HD ratio became the de facto standard. This standard aspect ratio started to break with the LG G6 in February 2017, and depending on how the sensors are moved out of the way, smartphone screen sizes and ratios proliferated as in the sections below.

What does 4K mean?

Resolution is a term that tells you how densely the small dots, i.e. pixels, are packed on a screen. Because pixels come together to form a single image, the more densely packed they are, the smoother and sharper it looks. 4K is a resolution with 3,840 pixels horizontally and 2,160 vertically, about 8.3 million pixels in total. The 'K' in 4K means Kilo (1000). In other words, a 4K TV is a TV with a horizontal resolution of about 4,000 pixels. Product specifications usually write it as 3840 x 2160.

See 4K resolution for details.

18:9(2:1)

A proprietary resolution adopted, following Google's reference, starting with LG Electronics' LG G6 and LG Q6 and Google's Pixel 2 XL. It is a simple aspect ratio (2:1) made by drastically reducing the top and bottom bezels of the smartphone. This trend did not last long: as notch displays became popular, even more extremely tall aspect ratios became popular depending on how much the sensor area intrudes.

• 2160 x 1080 LG Q6, LG Q7, Google Pixel 3
• 2880 x 1440 LG G6, Google Pixel 2 XL, LG V30, LG V35

18.5:9, 19:9, 19.3:9, 20:9

A proprietary resolution adopted by Samsung Electronics starting with the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note8, as it removed hardware keys and added soft keys. The resolution keeps growing taller: 18.5:9 for the 2017 Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note8, 19:9 for the 2019 Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note10, and 20:9 from the 2020 Galaxy S20 onward. By around 2100 it'll be a stick. Unusually, though, the Galaxy Note20 Ultra uses a somewhat awkward 19.3:9 ratio. As the display covers the area formerly occupied by bezels, and the various sensors and cameras move under the display even if it means punching holes, the display expanded a few more times and the aspect ratio keeps changing.

• 18.5:9 HD (1480 x 720)
  • Galaxy A6
• 18.5:9 FHD (2220 x 1080)
  • Galaxy A8(2018)
  • Galaxy A8+(2018)
  • Galaxy A8 Star
  • Galaxy A9(2018)
• 18.5:9 QHD (2960 x 1440)
  • Galaxy S8
  • Galaxy S8+
  • Galaxy S9
  • Galaxy S9+
  • Galaxy Note8
  • Galaxy Note9
• 19:9 HD (1520 x 720)
  • Galaxy A10e
• 19:9 FHD (2280 x 1080)
  • Galaxy S10e
  • Galaxy Note10
• 19:9 QHD (3040 x 1440)
  • Galaxy S10
  • Galaxy S10+
  • Galaxy S10 5G
  • Galaxy Note10+
• 19.3:9 QHD (3088 x 1440)
  • Galaxy Note20 Ultra
• 20:9 HD (1600 x 720)
  • Galaxy A21s
• 20:9 FHD (2400 x 1080)
  • Galaxy A70
  • Galaxy A80
  • Galaxy A90
  • Galaxy A21
  • Galaxy A31
  • Galaxy A41
  • Galaxy A51
  • Galaxy A71
  • Galaxy Note20
  • Galaxy S20 FE
• 20:9 QHD (3200 x 1440)
  • Galaxy S20
  • Galaxy S20+
  • Galaxy S20 Ultra

19.5:9 (13:6)

A resolution ratio introduced by the series forming a family look starting with Apple's iPhone X. It is actually 19.488:9, but the industry also calls it 19.5:9 for convenience. The Infinity-U/Infinity-V displays used in the 2019 Galaxy A series models and the Galaxy M series are also 19.5:9, just in the 720p and 1080p families. From 2018, companies such as LG, Huawei, and Xiaomi began using this ratio in their flagship models.

• 2436 x 1125 - HDR AMOLED
  • iPhone X
  • iPhone XS
  • iPhone 11 Pro
• 2340 x 1080 - FHD SUPER AMOLED
  • Galaxy A40
• 3120 x 1440
  • LG G7 ThinQ - HDR IPS LCD
  • LG G8 ThinQ - HDR AMOLED
• 2340 x 1080 - HDR AMOLED
  • LG V50S ThinQ
• 3120 x 1440 - HDR AMOLED
  • LG V40 ThinQ
  • LG V50 ThinQ
• 2688 x 1242 - HDR AMOLED
  • iPhone XS Max
  • iPhone 11 Pro Max
• 1792 x 828 - IPS TFT-LCD
  • iPhone XR
  • iPhone 11
• 2340 x 1080 - FHD SUPER AMOLED
  • Galaxy A9 Pro
  • Galaxy A30
  • Galaxy A50
  • iPhone 12 mini

20.5:9

A resolution ratio LG Electronics began using in smartphones released in 2020, applied to the LG V60 ThinQ, LG VELVET, and LG WING.

• FHD (2460 x 1080)
  • LG V60 ThinQ
  • LG VELVET
  • LG WING

21:9

A variant resolution made by stretching the HD aspect ratio (16:9) further horizontally to 21:9. Some vendors call it 'Ultrawide' or 'Cinewide', emphasizing that it is wider than regular wide (16:9). Because it uses 21:9 (= 2⅓:1 ≒ 2.33:1), almost the same ratio as the 2.35:1 often used in films, it is advantageous for racing and FPS games, music videos, and watching movies, and is used for specialized work that needs high horizontal resolution.

Conversely, for an office computer used mainly for ordinary web surfing or document work, or for design work, a fatal drawback is that the wider horizontal screen cuts off the top and bottom while the left and right can sit endlessly idle. In addition, depending on the work, some programs cannot make use of 21:9, so care is needed when buying. In games too, some games do not support 21:9 resolution at all, and some cannot make proper use of 21:9. Even when supported, graphics or UI may look stretched, so support is lacking compared with aspect ratios of 16:9 or lower. So if you are buying a monitor for gaming, check whether the games you play support 21:9. As of 2020, almost all recently released games, unless they are indie games, support resolutions of 21:9 or wider.

That said, some people actually choose monitors of this resolution for web surfing or office use: as a substitute for a dual 4:3 office monitor setup. People who used dual monitors (literally placing two monitors side by side and setting them to extended mode to use them like one wide monitor) because their work involves opening many windows, such as programmers or people in securities and finance, sometimes use it in place of dual monitors. In fact, even in ordinary office jobs you rarely open just one window, so using a secondary screen is more convenient. It takes advantage of the fact that placing two 4:3, i.e. 12:9, monitors side by side horizontally gives 24:9. As for splitting the screen, since Windows 7 there is a feature where dragging a window and bumping it against the left/right edge of the screen splits the monitor horizontally in two and resizes automatically, and the Windows+arrow key shortcut does this too... For example, a browser window on the left, a word processor on the right, and then Ctrl CV, used like that. If you think of it as a substitute for dual monitors, among commonly sold monitors there is no resolution better suited to office work than this, as long as the price is low.

• 21:9
  • WFHD (2560x1080)
  • WQHD (3440x1440)
  • WUHD (5120x2160)
• 12:5 (24:10)
  • ? (2880x1200)
  • WQHD+ (3840x1600)
  • ? (5760x2400)
  • ? (7680x3200)
  • ? (8640x3600)
  • ? (11520x4800)

For reference, the New Chocolate, the last generation of feature phones released by LG Electronics, had an 800x345 (2.32:1) resolution, (almost) a 21:9 ratio. In the smartphone era, however, there was no device with a resolution close to 21:9 for a long time, until Sony's Xperia 1 finally adopted this resolution (3840×1644) in 2019.

Recently this ultrawide resolution has gained a cult following among gamers. Tastes differ and not many games support it, but it has the advantage of letting you see a vast screen.

32:9

After the 21:9 ratio was well received for work because of its spacious working environment, this resolution goes further and merges the double monitor setup often used at work into a single monitor. There is no formal standard, but Samsung, which first made this resolution, denoted it by adding D, meaning Double, to the HD standard resolution names, and LG Electronics has joined in, so adding D is expected to become the de facto standard. It is the same as using a double monitor, but there seems to be steady demand for double resolution thanks to the advantage of no bezel in the middle and the convenience of cabling and management. Once UHD becomes widespread, DUHD is also likely to appear.

• DFHD (3840x1080)
• DQHD (5120x1440)

Samsung Electronics unveiled the CHG90, a 49-inch 32:9 gaming monitor with 3840×1080 DFHD. It is equivalent to two 27-inch FHD monitors joined together. It is also reportedly developing a 44-inch 32:10 monitor with 3840×1200 resolution, made by joining two 24.7-inch 1920×1200 WUXGA panels.

LG Electronics unveiled a 49-inch 32:9 monitor with 5120x1440 DQHD resolution. This too is equivalent to two 27-inch QHD monitors joined together.

Digital cinema

Usually has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 or 2.39:1, wider horizontally than 16:9 (≒1.77:1). As of 2013, almost all movie theaters do digital screening, and the format used in digital cinema is 4K as defined by DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives).

• 2K standard (2048×1080, 1.90:1)
• 2K SCOPE(2048×858, 2.39:1)
• 2K FLAT(1998×1080, 1.85:1)
• 4K standard (4096×2160, 1.90:1)[39]
• 4K SCOPE(4096×1714, 2.39:1)
• 4K FLAT(3996×2160, 1.85:1)
• IMAX Digital(5616×4096, 1.37:1)

Python constant variables

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# {name: (aka, width, height, aspect ratio)}

HIGH_DEFINITION_MAP = {
    "NHD": ("nHD", 640, 360, (16, 9)),
    "QHD": ("qHD", 960, 540, (16, 9)),
    "HD": ("HD", 1280, 720, (16, 9)),
    "HD PLUS": ("HD+", 1600, 900, (16, 9)),
    "FHD": ("FHD", 1920, 1080, (16, 9)),
    "WQHD": ("WQHD", 2560, 1440, (16, 9)),
    "QHD PLUS": ("QHD+", 3200, 1800, (16, 9)),
    "UHD 4K": ("4K UHD", 3840, 2160, (16, 9)),
    "UHD PLUS 5K": ("5K UHD+", 5120, 2880, (16, 9)),
    "UHD 8K": ("8K UHD", 7680, 4320, (16, 9)),
}

VIDEO_GRAPHICS_ARRAY_MAP = {
    "QQVGA": ("QQVGA", 160, 120, (4, 3)),
    "HQVGA 240 160": ("HQVGA", 240, 160, (3, 2)),
    "HQVGA 256 160": ("HQVGA", 256, 160, (16, 10)),
    "QVGA": ("QVGA", 320, 240, (4, 3)),
    "WQVGA 384 240": ("WQVGA", 384, 240, (16, 10)),
    "WQVGA 360 240": ("WQVGA", 360, 240, (3, 2)),
    "WQVGA 400 240": ("WQVGA", 400, 240, (5, 3)),
    "HVGA": ("HVGA", 480, 320, (3, 2)),
    "VGA": ("VGA", 640, 480, (4, 3)),
    "WVGA 768 480": ("WVGA", 768, 480, (16, 10)),
    "WVGA 720 480": ("WVGA", 720, 480, (3, 2)),
    "WVGA 800 480": ("WVGA", 800, 480, (5, 3)),
    "FWVGA": ("FWVGA", 854, 480, (16, 9)),
    "SVGA": ("SVGA", 800, 600, (4, 3)),
    "DVGA": ("DVGA", 960, 640, (3, 2)),
    "WSVGA 1024 576": ("WSVGA", 1024, 576, (16, 9)),
    "WSVGA 1024 600": ("WSVGA", 1024, 600, (128, 75)),
}

EXTENDED_GRAPHICS_ARRAY_MAP = {
    "XGA": ("XGA", 1024, 768, (4, 3)),
    "WXGA 1152 768": ("WXGA", 1152, 768, (3, 2)),
    "WXGA 1280 768": ("WXGA", 1280, 768, (5, 3)),
    "WXGA 1280 800": ("WXGA", 1280, 800, (16, 10)),
    "WXGA 1360 768": ("WXGA", 1360, 768, (16, 9)),
    "FWXGA": ("FWXGA", 1366, 768, (16, 9)),
    "XGA PLUS": ("XGA+", 1152, 864, (4, 3)),
    "WXGA PLUS": ("WXGA+", 1440, 900, (16, 10)),
    "WSXGA": ("WSXGA", 1440, 960, (3, 2)),
    "SXGA": ("SXGA", 1280, 1024, (5, 4)),
    "SXGA PLUS": ("SXGA+", 1400, 1050, (4, 3)),
    "WSXGA PLUS": ("WSXGA+", 1680, 1050, (16, 10)),
    "UXGA": ("UXGA", 1600, 1200, (4, 3)),
    "WUXGA": ("WUXGA", 1920, 1200, (16, 10)),
}

QUAD_EXTENDED_GRAPHICS_ARRAY_MAP = {
    "QWXGA": ("QWXGA", 2048, 1152, (16, 9)),
    "QXGA": ("QXGA", 2048, 1536, (4, 3)),
    "WQXGA 2560 1600": ("WQXGA", 2560, 1600, (16, 10)),
    "WQXGA 2880 1800": ("WQXGA", 2880, 1800, (16, 10)),
    "QSXGA": ("QSXGA", 2560, 2048, (5, 4)),
    "WQSXGA": ("WQSXGA", 3200, 2048, (25, 16)),
    "QUXGA": ("QUXGA", 3200, 2400, (4, 3)),
    "WQUXGA": ("WQUXGA", 3840, 2400, (16, 10)),
}

HYPER_EXTENDED_GRAPHICS_ARRAY_MAP = {
    "HXGA": ("HXGA", 4096, 3072, (4, 3)),
    "WHXGA": ("WHXGA", 5120, 3200, (16, 10)),
    "HSXGA": ("HSXGA", 5120, 4096, (5, 4)),
    "WHSXGA": ("WHSXGA", 6400, 4096, (25, 16)),
    "HUXGA": ("HUXGA", 6400, 4800, (4, 3)),
    "WHUXGA": ("WHUXGA", 7680, 4800, (16, 10)),
}

STANDARD_DISPLAY_RESOLUTIONS_MAP = (
    (160, 120, (4, 3)),
    (320, 200, (8, 5)),
    (640, 200, (16, 5)),
    (640, 350, (64, 35)),
    (640, 480, (4, 3)),
    (720, 348, (60, 29)),
    (800, 600, (4, 3)),
    (1024, 768, (4, 3)),
    (1152, 864, (4, 3)),
    (1280, 1024, (5, 4)),
    (1400, 1050, (4, 3)),
    (1600, 1200, (4, 3)),
    (2048, 1536, (4, 3)),
    (2560, 2048, (5, 4)),
    (3200, 2400, (4, 3)),
    (4096, 3072, (4, 3)),
    (5120, 4096, (5, 4)),
    (6400, 4800, (4, 3)),
)

WIDESCREEN_DISPLAY_RESOLUTIONS_MAP = (
    (240, 160, (3, 2)),
    (320, 240, (4, 3)),
    (432, 240, (9, 5)),
    (480, 270, (16, 9)),
    (480, 320, (3, 2)),
    (640, 400, (8, 5)),
    (800, 480, (5, 3)),
    (854, 480, (427, 240)),
    (1024, 576, (16, 9)),
    (1280, 720, (16, 9)),
    (1280, 768, (5, 3)),
    (1280, 800, (8, 5)),
    (1366, 768, (683, 384)),
    (1366, 900, (683, 450)),
    (1440, 900, (8, 5)),
    (1600, 900, (16, 9)),
    (1680, 945, (16, 9)),
    (1680, 1050, (8, 5)),
    (1920, 1080, (16, 9)),
    (1920, 1200, (8, 5)),
    (2048, 1152, (16, 9)),
    (2560, 1440, (16, 9)),
    (2560, 1600, (8, 5)),
    (3200, 2048, (25, 16)),
    (3840, 2160, (16, 9)),
    (3200, 2400, (4, 3)),
    (5120, 2880, (16, 9)),
    (5120, 3200, (8, 5)),
    (5760, 3240, (16, 9)),
    (6400, 4096, (25, 16)),
    (7680, 4320, (16, 9)),
    (7680, 4800, (8, 5)),
)

Well-known screen resolutions good for games

• Common Game Resolutions
• [Recommended] Supporting multiple resolutions in 2D games - Bigosaur.com

The list is as follows.

• 16:9
  • 2560x1440
  • 1920x1080
  • 1366x768
  • 1280x720
• 16:10
  • 1920x1200
  • 1680x1050
  • 1440x900
  • 1280x800
• 4:3
  • 1024x768
  • 800x600
  • 640x480

See also

• Aspect ratio

Favorite site

• Wikipedia (en) description of Display resolution
• Wikipedia (en) Graphics display resolution
• Wikipedia (en) List of common resolutions
• Wikipedia (en) Display aspect ratio
• [Recommended] Resolution/List - Namuwiki

Mobile

• Smartphone/Screen size - Namuwiki
• Galaxy S10+ - Namuwiki