What is aspect ratio?
- Aspect ratio specifies the ratio of width to the height. Video, still pictures and the devices used to display this have the aspect ratio like 3:2, 4:3, 16:9....
- The number before the colon represents the width and the number after the colon represents height.
Aspect Ratio | Uses | TVs | |
4:3 | 1.33:1 | Standard Channels | Old TVs |
16:9 | 1.77:1 | HD Channels | The majority of HDTVs |
21:9 | 2.35:1 | Most movies | Most theaters |
Types:
Original Aspect Ratio:
- It is the aspect ratio in which the video/image is produced.
- The cameras has some common presets of the aspect ratio to match with the display devices.
- It is the aspect ratio which is assigned to the video/image in order to fit the screen and it is different from the original aspect ratio dimensions.
- Various photo/video editors provide the option to change the aspect ratio of the image/video.
What happens if the aspect ratio of content does not match that of the display screen?
- If the aspect ratios do not match we observe black bars either above and below or left and right as shown below.
- While printing the paper aspect ratio must match the content's aspect ratio. If not matched the content will be cropped and printed effecting the actual content.
4x6 or 3:2 Aspect RatioHere's the original image taken by a camera with a 3:2 sensor. In this case, a 4x6 print will not get cropped in any way since the dimensions of the sensor match the dimensions of the print. |
5x7 or 7:5 aspect ratioHere's what happens to this same image when I want to print it at 5x7. Since the 5x7 ratio is not the same as 3:2 parts of the left and right of the image are going to get cut off in the final print. |
8x10 or 5:4 aspect ratioThe 8x10 size. In this case you can see the extreme cropping that happens when you try to print a 3:2 image 8x10. Sometimes content may be lost. |