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Resolution/Aspect Ratios

Resolutions and aspect ratios are very important when considering to display a presentation or video on some form of electronic device.

Resolution determines the sharpness and clarity of the picture on your screen. It is measured in the number of horizontal pixels multiplied by the number of vertical pixels, the higher the number of pixels the better.

The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of the width of the image to its height, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon e.g. 4:3.

There are many aspect ratios in use in various media-related applications, in the television industry there are two common aspect ratios, 4:3 and 16:9.

4:3 refers to the aging standard definition format that is no longer used by broadcasters, it has been superseded by the 16:9 widescreen format, this is used for both standard and high definition video.

Although there are many different resolutions to choose from, here is a list of the most popular resolutions (and respective aspect ratio) used today:

• 720 x 576 (16:9) - The resolution of standard definition widescreen video.
• 1024 x 768 (4:3) - The default resolution of a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.
• 1366 x 768 (16:9) - The typical native resolution of a "HD Ready" Plasma / LCD.
• 1280 x 720 (16:9) - This is the High definition standard commonly known as 720p.
• 1280 x 800 (16:10) - A popular resolution found in widescreen laptops.
• 1920 x 1080 (16:9) - This is the High definition standard, referred to as 1080i/1080p.

This graph contains an accurate representation of many of the common resolutions in use today.

Please click the link below for a large version. 

resolutions-graph.jpg