16:9 aspect ratio


16:9 is a widescreen aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9.
Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of digital television HDTV Full HD and SD TV. This has replaced the smallscreen.
16:9 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 ratio but converted when the international standards group introduced a wider ratio of 5⅓ to 3. 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 within the 16:9 DVD frame by hard matting or adding black bars within the image itself. However, it was used often in British TVs in the United Kingdom in the 1990s.

History

Dr. Kerns H. Powers, a member of the SMPTE Working Group on High-Definition Electronic Production, first proposed the 16:9 aspect ratio in 1984, when nobody was creating 16:9 videos. The popular choices in 1980 were: 4:3, 15:9, 1.85:1, 2.2:1 and 2.39:1.
Powers cut out rectangles with equal areas, shaped to match each of the popular aspect ratios. When overlapped with their center points aligned, he found that all of those aspect ratio rectangles fit within an outer rectangle with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and all of them also covered a smaller common inner rectangle with the same aspect ratio 1.78:1. The value found by Powers is exactly the geometric mean of the extreme aspect ratios, 4:3 and 2.4:1, √ ≈ 1.78:1 which is coincidentally close to 16:9. Applying the same geometric mean technique to 16:9 and 4:3 yields the aspect ratio, which is likewise used as a compromise between these ratios.
While 16:9 was initially selected as a compromise format, the subsequent popularity of HDTV broadcast has solidified 16:9 as perhaps the most important video aspect ratio in use. Most 4:3 and 2.39:1 video is now recorded using a "shoot and protect" technique that keeps the main action within a 16:9 inner rectangle to facilitate HD broadcast. Conversely it is quite common to use a technique known as center-cutting, to approach the challenge of presenting material shot to both an HD and legacy 4:3 audience simultaneously without having to compromise image size for either audience. Content creators frame critical content or graphics to fit within the 1.33 raster space. This has similarities to a filming technique called Open matte.
After the original 16:9 Action Plan of the early 1990s, the European Union has instituted the 16:9 Action Plan, just to accelerate the development of the advanced television services in 16:9 aspect ratio, both in PAL and also in HDTV. The Community fund for the 16:9 Action Plan amounted to €228 million.
In 2008, the computer industry started switching to 16:9 from 4:3 and 16:10 as the standard aspect ratio for monitors and laptops. A 2008 report by DisplaySearch cited a number of reasons for this shift, including the ability for PC and monitor manufacturers to expand their product ranges by offering products with wider screens and higher resolutions, helping consumers to more easily adopt such products and "stimulating the growth of the notebook PC and LCD monitor market". By using the same aspect ratio for both TVs and monitors, manufacturing can be streamlined and research costs reduced by not requiring two separate sets of equipment, and since a 16:9 is narrower than a 16:10 panel of the same length, more panels can be created per sheet of glass.
In 2011, Bennie Budler, product manager of IT products at Samsung South Africa, confirmed that monitors capable of 1920×1200 resolutions aren't being manufactured anymore. "It is all about reducing manufacturing costs. The new 16:9 aspect ratio panels are more cost-effective to manufacture locally than the previous 16:10 panels".
In March 2011, the 16:9 resolution 1920×1080 became the most common used resolution among Steam's users. The earlier most common resolution was 1680×1050.

Properties

16:9 is the only widescreen aspect ratio natively supported by the DVD format. Anamorphic DVD transfers store the information as 5:4 or 3:2 square pixels, which is set to expand to either 16:9 or 4:3, which the television or video player handles.
For example, a PAL DVD with a full frame image may contain a video resolution of 720×576, but a video player software will stretch this to 1024×576 square pixels with a 16:9 flag in order to recreate the correct aspect ratio.
DVD producers can also choose to show even wider ratios such as 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 within the 16:9 DVD frame by hard matting or adding black bars within the image itself. Some films which were made in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, such as the U.S.-Italian co-production Man of La Mancha and Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing, fit quite comfortably onto a 1.7:1 HDTV screen and have been issued as an enhanced version on DVD without the black bars. Many digital video cameras have the capability to record in 16:9.
Super 16 mm film is frequently used for television production due to its lower cost, lack of need for soundtrack space on the film itself, and aspect ratio similar to 16:9.

Common resolutions

Common resolutions for 16:9 are listed in the table below:
WidthHeightStandard
256144
426240
640360nHD
768432
800450
848480
854480FWVGA
960540qHD
1024576
1280720HD
1366768WXGA
1600900HD+
19201080Full HD
20481152
25601440QHD
28801620
32001800QHD+
384021604K UHD
40962304
512028805K
768043208K UHD
15360864016K UHD

By country

In Europe

In Europe, 16:9 is the standard broadcast format for most TV channels and all HDTV broadcasts. Some countries adopted the format for analog television, first by using the PALplus standard and then by simply using WSS signals on normal PAL broadcasts.
CountryChannel
All channels.
Andorra Televisió.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
HRT 1**, 2**, 3**, 4**, 5, RTL Televizija*, RTL 2*, Nova TV*, Doma TV*, RTL Kockica* Sportska Televizija**.
Older programmes filmed in 4:3 are:
  • cropped
  • *transmitted in their original format.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels on digital terrestrial television Most subscription-based networks
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All three national stations broadcast in 16:9 with occasional 4:3 programmes. Local stations still use 4:3.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg, Luxe.tv.
All nationwide channels.
TRM, GMG Group, ProTV Chishinau, N4, Jurnal TV, TV8, NTV-Moldova.
Télé Monte Carlo & Monaco Info.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
16:9 is the national standard for television - almost all channels conform to this format.
All channels.
All channels.
Always on 16:9: Antena channels, RCS & RDS channels, Kiss TV, B1 TV, Telekom Sport, Look TV, Look Plus,Turner channels:, PRO channels, Kanal D
Always on 4:3: Realitatea TV, România TV
Always on 4:3 with 16:9 stretched: CNM channels, TVR regional channels, Prima TV.
All channels.
San Marino RTV.
All channels.
All nationwide channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All nationwide channels.
All terrestrial channels.

In Oceania

CountryChannel
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.

In Asia

Japan's Hi-Vision originally started with a 5:3 ratio but converted when the international standards group introduced a wider ratio of 5 to 3.
CountryChannel
All channels.
SA TV.
All channels.
CCTV channels 1-15, CCTV-5+, CCTV News. Older contents in 4:3 and news contents are stretched on SD variants of these channels as stretching on SD channels is common.
All major channels since digital television broadcasting started in 2007.
All HD channels. Most SD channels are still broadcasting in 4:3, either fullscreen on letterboxed.
16:9 native*: Kompas TV, BeritaSatu TV**, CNN Indonesia**, MetroTV, Trans7, Trans TV, CNBC Indonesia**, NET., Jawa Pos TV, DAAI TV, MyTV
16:9 with inner 4:3***: RCTI, SCTV, Indosiar
4:3, upscaled/stretched to 16:9****: TVRI, MNCTV, antv, GTV, tvOne, iNews, rtv
*Channels that are primarily broadcast in 16:9 sometimes are filled by 4:3 content which are either stretched or pillarboxed.
**Only on digital cable/satellite
***Channels in this category broadcast in 16:9 HDTV along with inner 4:3 SDTV. Due to their visibility, some contents are either pillarboxed and windowboxed. Contents wider than 16:9 are usually letterboxed. They're usually stretched in SDTV mode. HD versions are limited to pay-TV services.
****These channels are still using 4:3 configuration. Stretched when broadcasting in 16:9 format. Some channels have limited original 16:9 video contents.
Note: Nationwide TV channels listed above are classified according to their original configuration, sorted chronologically according to TV configuration update. Configuration for exclusively digital and local channels are may vary. Local version of nationwide channels may be different to their national version.
All channels.
All main channels, including but not limited to Hot&Yes.
Japan pioneered in its analogue HDTV system in 16:9 format, started in the 1980s. Currently all main channels have digital terrestrial television channels in 16:9 while being simulcast in analogue 4:3 format. Many satellite broadcast channels are being broadcast in 16:9 as well.
All channels.
All channels.
LBCI.4:3 Shows are stretched
National Broadcasting Network. It is in HD and has no 4:3 content
Future Television.
All channels.
MNB & MN2, TM Television, TV5, TV6, TV8, Channel 25, Эx Орон, SBN, ETV, MNC, Eagle News TV, Edutainment TV, Star TV, SPS, Sportbox and SHUUD TV.
All channels.
Kantipur Television Network
AP1 TV
News 24
TV Filmy
All channels.
All HD channels. Most SD channels are still broadcasting in 4:3, either in fullscreen or letterboxed
16:9 native*: PTV, ABS-CBN HD***, S+A HD ***, ANC ***, Kapamilya Channel ***, CNN Philippines, One PH,*** One News***, Hope Channel Philippines, 3ABN, Hope International, INCTV, Net 25
4:3 upscaled/stretched to 16:9**: ETC, 2nd Avenue, all BEAM's subchannels, Light Network, UNTV, Ang Dating Daan TV, SMNI, all ABS-CBN terrestrial channels, 5, 5 Plus, GMA 7
*channels that are squeezed/letterboxed to 4:3 on analog terrestrial transmissions nor no letterbox on widescreen-produced programs.
**channels that are originally broadcasting in 4:3 on analog terrestrial, but upscaled or stretched to 16:9 for digital terrestrial television, cable and satellite.
***16:9 versions available on pay-TV services only.''
All Al Jazeera Sports channels, Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera English, Qatar TV HD, all Alkass channels.
All channels.
All MediaCorp channels, however 16:9 contents look squashed on older 4:3 sets. Also, all 4:3 contents including news clips are stretched as stretching is common.
All major channels currently feature 16:9 aspect ratio.
Colombo TV.
All channels.
TTV HD, CTV HD, CTS HD, FTV HD, PTS HD, TVBS.
All channels.
All channels.
All of VTC's channels, VTV channels, HTV channels and K+'s channels, most of local channels.

In the Americas

CountryChannel
All channels.
All channels.
Always on 16:9: PAT, ATB.
Often on 16:9: Bolivia TV.
Almost all channels.
Almost all channels.
All channels
All channels, except Citytv
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
Free-to-air television: Las Estrellas, FOROtv, Canal 5, NU9VE, Televisa Regional, Azteca Uno, Azteca 7, a+, adn40, Imagen Televisión, Excélsior TV, Canal Once, Canal 22, Una Voz con Todos, Teveunam, Milenio Televisión, Multimedios Televisión, Teleritmo, and some local stations broadcast HD signal.
Pay television: U, Golden, Golden Edge, TL Novelas, Bandamax, De Película, De Película Clásico, Ritmoson Latino, TDN, TeleHit, Distrito Comedia, Tiin, Az Noticias, Az Clic!, Az Mundo, Az Corazón, Az Cinema, 52MX, TVC, TVC Deportes, Pánico, Cinema Platino, Cine Mexicano.
All channels.
Almost all channels on free-to-air television,. SD feeds are usually letterboxed and downscaled to 4:3.
All nationwide channels. Some regional networks still broadcast in 4:3.
All HD channels. SD feeds are usually letterboxed and downscaled to 4:3.
All channels.
All channels.

In Africa

CountryChannel
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
ERTU Channel 1, ON E, ON Drama, ON Sport, ON Sport 2, DMC, DMC Drama, CBC, CBC Drama, CBC Sofra, Extra News, Al Nahar One, Al Nahar Drama, Al Nahar Sport, TeN, Al Hayah, Al Hayah 2, Al Hayah Musalsalat.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
Libya 24.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
Al Aoula.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
16:9 is the standard broadcast format for most digital channels and all HDTV broadcasts all main channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.
All channels.