Difference between revisions of "Glossary:Widescreen resolution"

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Resolutions

Video settings

Hardware

For a list of games, see List of games that support widescreen resolution.

Widescreen resolutions are resolutions that are of a 16:9 (1.78:1; more common) or 16:10 (1.60:1; slightly less common) aspect ratio. The majority of computer monitors and TV's produced today are widescreen, and thus feature a native widescreen resolution. Widescreen resolutions can cause problems with older games that were built for a 4:3 (1.33:1) screen, resulting in either a stretched screen or black bars of unused screen space. Most games today will feature built in support for widescreen resolutions, while some games may require tweaking to force such a resolution.

If a full-screen game is rendered at the wrong aspect ratio, the effects vary based on the monitor. Some may stretch the image, while others may instead pillarbox. Use GPU scaling to override monitor behaviour.

A further 21:9 (2.37:1) aspect ratio exists. For more information on this, see ultra-widescreen.

Scaling behavior

Also known as widescreen behavior as it is often used to describe to how the field of view in a game changes in relation to the aspect ratio of the monitor, commonly in relation to wider aspect ratios than the game targets (so 4:3 games on a 16:9 monitor, or 16:9 games on a 21:9 monitor).

The most optimal, and preferred, scaling behaviors are Preserve Image Aspect (Hor+/Vert+) for modern high definition games, and Pixel-perfect for games that focuses on lower resolutions or retro-based art styles.

Older games from the 90s and early 2000s are typically designed for a 4:3 aspect ratio, while newer games are typically designed for a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Method	Description
Preserve Full Image Anamorphic Letterboxed Pillarboxed Aspect Ratio Fit	Stretches as large as possible, but maintains a fixed aspect ratio (usually 4:3 for older games and 16:9 for newer games) on resolutions of other aspect ratios by filling black bars as necessary in either pillarbox (vertical black bars on left and right) if the fixed aspect ratio is narrower or letterbox (horizontal black bars on top and bottom) if wider. A game designed for 16:9 will be letterboxed on a 4:3 or 16:10 monitor, while on a 21:9 monitor it will be pillarboxed.
Preserve Image Aspect Hor+ Vert+	Stretches as large as possible while maintaining aspect ratio, then increases the field of view to fit the screen resolution, allowing more of the game world to be visible. Some games may only increase the field of view vertically (Vert+) or horizontally (Hor+). A game designed for 16:9 will show more of the game world when played on a 21:9 (Vert+) and/or 16:10 (Hor+) monitor without losing any of the "reference" field of view it would have on a 16:9 monitor.
Preserve Aspect Only Vert- Hor- Fill	Stretches image to fill the whole screen, clipping parts of the screen that overlap in order to maintain aspect ratio, resulting in a cropped field of view. Some games may only crop vertically (Vert-) or horizontally (Hor-). A game designed for 16:9 will show less of the top and bottom of the original intended field of view on a 21:9 monitor.
Pixel-based	No scaling is applied, though similar to Preserve Image Aspect the field of view is extended to show more of the game world. Visible area depends on the resolution rather than the aspect ratio, with higher resolutions showing more of the game world at once. The game does not target any specific aspect ratio, instead it will show more additional information as necessary the higher the resolution is.
Pixel-perfect Integer-ratio scaling	Multiplies original resolution as large as possible while maintaining pixel-perfect rendering aspect below the screen resolution, then applies no scaling on resulting image. See Nonblurry (lossless, pixel-perfect) integer-ratio scaling for more information. A game designed for 4:3 640x480 and displayed on a 16:9 1920x1080 monitor will be scaled by a factor of 2 up to 1280x960, followed by being pillarboxed and letterboxed as necessary to reach the 16:9 1920x1080 resolution.
Stretch	Stretches as large as possible while ignoring aspect ratio differences. This resulting in vertically or horizontally stretched objects and other visual problems when stretched to non-targeted aspect ratios. A game designed for 16:9 will have vertically stretched objects (e.g. "thin" characters) on a 4:3 or 16:10 monitor, while on a 21:9 monitor those will instead be horizontally stretched (e.g. "fat" characters).
No Scaling	Does not scale the image at all, keeping default size in pixels, centering it in the middle of the screen. Extremely uncommon. A game designed for 4:3 800x600 will be in effect be letterboxed and pillarboxed without any form of scaling on higher resolutions and other aspect ratios.

Common resolutions

The below table lists common resolutions for 16:9 and 16:10 side-by-side, as well as what they're commonly known as.

An alternative way of referring to resolutions is by their vertical resolution, so 2160p refers to 3840x2160, while 1080p refers to 1920x1080.

Based on data gathered by the Steam Hardware & Software Survey.

16:9	16:10	Comment
3840 x 2160	3840 x 2400	Known as Ultra HD or 4K resolutions. For more information, see 4K Ultra HD.
2560 x 1440	2560 x 1600	Known as QHD (Quad High Definition) resolutions
1920 x 1080	1920 x 1200	Known as Full HD or 2K resolutions.
1600 x 900	1680 x 1050	1600x1000 (16:10) also exists, but 1680x1050 is more common.
1536 x 864	1440 x 900
1366 x 768 1360 x 768	-	Two common resolutions close to, but not exact, 16:9 ratio.
1280 x 720	1280 x 800	Known as HD Ready resolutions.

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 ! style="min-width: 175px" | Method !! Description
 |-
-| '''Preserve Full Image<br>Anamorphic'''<br>''Letterboxed''<br>''Pillarboxed''<br>''Aspect Ratio'' || Stretches as large as possible, but maintains a fixed aspect ratio (usually 4:3 for older games and 16:9 for newer games) on resolutions of other aspect ratios by filling black bars as necessary in either pillarbox (vertical black bars on left and right) if the fixed aspect ratio is narrower or letterbox (horizontal black bars on top and bottom) if wider.
+| '''Preserve Full Image<br>Anamorphic'''<br>''Letterboxed''<br>''Pillarboxed''<br>''Aspect Ratio''<br>''Fit'' || Stretches as large as possible, but maintains a fixed aspect ratio (usually 4:3 for older games and 16:9 for newer games) on resolutions of other aspect ratios by filling black bars as necessary in either pillarbox (vertical black bars on left and right) if the fixed aspect ratio is narrower or letterbox (horizontal black bars on top and bottom) if wider.
 ''A game designed for 16:9 will be letterboxed on a 4:3 or 16:10 monitor, while on a 21:9 monitor it will be pillarboxed.''
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 ''A game designed for 16:9 will show more of the game world when played on a 21:9 (Vert+) and/or 16:10 (Hor+) monitor without losing any of the "reference" field of view it would have on a 16:9 monitor.''
 |-
-| '''Preserve Aspect Only'''<br>''Vert-''<br>''Hor-'' || Stretches image to fill the whole screen, clipping parts of the screen that overlap in order to maintain aspect ratio, resulting in a cropped field of view. Some games may only crop vertically ('''Vert-''') or horizontally ('''Hor-''').
+| '''Preserve Aspect Only'''<br>''Vert-''<br>''Hor-''<br>''Fill'' || Stretches image to fill the whole screen, clipping parts of the screen that overlap in order to maintain aspect ratio, resulting in a cropped field of view. Some games may only crop vertically ('''Vert-''') or horizontally ('''Hor-''').
 ''A game designed for 16:9 will show less of the top and bottom of the original intended field of view on a 21:9 monitor.''