Aspect Ratios As Fast As Possible

4:3, 16:9, 21:9...where did common aspect ratios come from, and what the heck is "anamorphic widescreen," anyway?

[themasstermwahahahah]

21:9 movie; 16:9 video, games, phones, TV; 4:3 photo, tablet; 3:2 laptop

[Xamimus]

Update for everyone:
16:9 - TVs
4:3 - Some iPads and older TVs
16:10 or 3:2 - Newer laptops
~21:9 or 32:9 - Ultrawide monitors
~18:9, ~19:9 or 20:9 - Popular in phones

[KarlNikolai]

@2:50 Dota 2 using a controller? Too pro dude.

[keithnaylor]

Correction - The first CinemaScope movies were in 2.55:1. It was later when they became 2.35:1, while retaining the CinemaScope title, in time to be replaced by Panavision.
Also three strip Cinerama morphed into single strip Cinerama by using an anamorphic lens on 70mm film. This created a super wide image of 2.76:1 used for such epics as Ben Hur, Its a Mad Mad Mad World, Khartoum, Battle of the Bulge, Mutiny on the Bounty, and The Greatest Story Ever Told,
KAN 4.19 UK

[TheAOPower]

16:10 for me is the way to go when it comes to video editing/photoshop work, and in gaming i find it superior to 16:9 (although I've yet to use a 21:9 monitor)

[LazerLord]

I really wish 16:10 or other, taller aspect ratios would be used on laptops (and monitors) more often. 4:3 content on a 16:10 monitor has very small black bars when compared to 16:9. The really wide stuff just seems too claustrophobic for me; too narrow to get any real work done. If you go to a normal text-based web page and look on either side of the screen, you'll see that nearly a third of your screen is doing pretty much nothing. Too bad taller monitors aren't the norm, and are, therefor, expensive.

Then again, maybe I'm just picky :P

[solidn]

He mentioned "No Mans Sky", before it was even released LOL

[smithatkinson]

16:9 is the best for almost everything, but for gaming 21:9 clearly stand out above everything else

[phanisai]

"Speaking of satisfaction...have you ever wanted to learn somthing?" That transition was smooth

[ray]

Couple of things (I can tell Linus has never worked with an actual 35mm projector before :) )... Animorphic Lens, yep, that was the name of the lens, but we call it 'cinemascope' oddly enough, because at the time it was only used in cinema :)

The basic principle was simple, stretch and squash, if you actually look at the 35mm film, the 2.35:1 ratio movie has been squashed on the width and stretched on the height, putting the animorphic lens in front of it (not as easy as it sounds as you then have to focus that too, so you basically focused the regular lens then put the a-lens in front and sharpened the image) reversed the procedure.

With regards to 16:10 ratio, LCD monitors had that almost a decade ago, the resolution was created to deal with 4:3 ratio images (games and movies/shows) on a widescreen monitor, it meant that the monitors resolution was closer to the original ratio.

You also have Letterbox (1.85:1).

Also, a long long time ago, you had the IMAX experience, which was a 75mm film on a curved screen.

[Prohdsht]

i prefer 4:3 over over 16:9 everything looks smaller and further in gaming

[XzTS-Roostro]

When we got our plasma, I it was months later I learned about aspect-ratio. Prior then I set it to display 4:3 for the analouge feed and Full|Normal for the Digital feed. When I had it on an analog channel, my uncles thought the settings were messed up, but I had to explain it to them, plus despite that it has an HDTV integrated digital tuner, we weren't getting HD programming at the time. My mom thought getting an HDTV would mean everything you watch is automatically in High Definition, however, I had to explain that it's only true if you're using the right channel, and if the source of the broadcast is also HD.

[MeMyselfAndPi]

If you watch a bluray on a 21:9 screen, will it display black bars on the top and bottom like they do on 16:9 screens? Or will it actually fill the whole screen?

If it fills the whole screen, will it be 1080p? Or still cropped to something like 817p and scaled up?

[Jeffrey]

The development of Superscope and Vistavision was driven by Cold War competition just like the Space Program.
2:40 The ratio of 21 by 9ish is 7 by 3, 2.35 is 47 to 20

[Trilandian]

Odd that he didn't mention that a big factor in 16:9's "popularity" in gaming is the relatively low manufacturing costs due to overlap with manufacturing 16:9 TV's, leading to a lower retail price and wider model variety compared to other aspect ratios, which artificially biases the market in favor of the 16:9 AR.

[mbwh]

watching 16:9 video on a 16:10 monitor....

[salmaidrees]

One of the best tech youtubers in my opinion!!

[SkyTheBlessed]

2:48 dude is playing dota2 with a controller. Jesus find some adequate stock photos.

[rinith]

Hi Linus, I just wanted to thank you for all your hard work making these videos. I only recently came across your channel and it is GOLD! It's amazing to have so much knowledge done so well and concise. Thank you so much and keep it up!

[GraveUypo]

ultrawide is a terrible aspect ratio. the proportion of vertical to horizontal field of view is so drastic that it creates imbalance in top-down or isometric games that is hard to compensate for.
not to mention the extra horizontal space is useless for common desktop tasks.

the best aspect ratio is 16:10. a good balance of wideness without sacrificing too much vertical space.