Guide to Aspect Ratios: 8 Film and TV Aspect Ratios

An aspect ratio describes the width and height of a screen or image. An aspect ratio consists of two numbers separated by a colon, the first number denoting the image’s width and the second its height. For example, an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 means the image's width is 1.33 times the size of its height. To eliminate decimals in this ratio, you can write it as 4:3 instead.

There have been many different aspect ratios throughout the history of film and television, but today, four ratios are common, with a few classic ratios making a comeback.

1. 1. 4:3 or 1.33:1. The earliest films were presented in a 4:3 ratio, and until the advent of widescreen HDTV, 4:3 was the normal ratio for standard-definition television sets. Today, the 4:3 aspect ratio primarily serves artistic purposes, such as mimicking a style of filmmaking before the widescreen aspect ratio became the norm.
2. 2. 16:9. The standard size for high definition widescreen televisions and most computer monitors, 16:9 is the most common aspect ratio used today. It is generally associated with video shot for TV and the Internet since film aspect ratios are typically wider in order to achieve a more cinematic look. Outside of movie theaters, most viewers watch content on 16:9 screens, so unless you're shooting content that will be shown theatrically, shooting in the 16:9 ratio is a wise decision.
3. 3. 1.85:1. One of the two standard aspect ratios in modern cinema, 1.85:1 is regarded as the normal widescreen format and is actually quite similar in size to 16:9. It is slightly wider than 16:9, meaning content you shoot in 1.85:1 and display on widescreen televisions and computer monitors will appear with thin black bars on the top and bottom of the screen. Though this ratio is most common for feature films, many TV shows striving for a cinematic look also shoot in 1.85:1.
4. 4. 2.39:1. Known as anamorphic widescreen format, 2.39:1 is the widest aspect ratio common in modern cinema. It creates an aesthetic customarily associated with premium dramatic feature films, and its wide field of view makes it the ratio of choice for shooting scenic landscapes.
5. 5. 2.76:1 (70mm). Today, auteur directors like Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, and Paul Thomas Anderson have propelled the reemergence of the 70mm film format, which has a humongous aspect ratio of 2.76:1 (and is often projected on gigantic IMAX screens). 70mm initially rose to prominence in the late 1950s, partially due to its use in the Best Picture-winning film Ben-Hur, but the format gradually faded out of use. Now, just like in the 1950s, Hollywood is using 70mm to lure audiences back to the theater by providing them with a unique experience that can't be duplicated at home on TV.
6. 6. 1.37:1 (Academy ratio). Only slightly wider than the 4:3 ratio used throughout the silent film era, Academy Ratio became the standard film ratio in 1932 when talking pictures became the norm. Contemporary filmmakers like Andrea Arnold and Paul Schrader still occasionally use this ratio.
7. 7. 2.59:1 to 2.65:1 (Cinerama). To compete with the exploding popularity of television in the early 1950s, film distributors decided they needed to create an added incentive for the public to go to the theater. This resulted in the creation of Cinerama, a super widescreen format involving three standard 35mm film cameras that simultaneously project a film onto a curved screen.
8. 8. 2.35:1 to 2.66:1 (Cinemascope). Debuting in 1953, Cinemascope was a super widescreen format developed by the head of research at 20th Century Fox. Since it used anamorphic lenses for the first time, Cinemascope only required one projector, which made it much less complex than Cinerama. Soon after the emergence of Fox’s Cinemascope, Paramount introduced its own widescreen format called VistaVision, but it couldn't compete with less expensive anamorphic systems like Cinemascope and soon became obsolete.

Letterboxing and pillarboxing are methods of preserving a film’s aspect ratio even when it is presented on a screen with a different ratio. When there is a discrepancy between capture and display aspect ratios, black bars (or mattes) may appear on the screen. Black bars on the top and bottom of the screen are called "letterboxing" and appear when the filmed content has a wider aspect ratio than the display. Black bars on the left and right of the screen are called "pillarboxing" and occur when the filmed content has a taller aspect ratio than the display.

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