21:9 vs 16:9 - Ultra Wide or Wide Screen Monitor - Which one should you pick?

Should you buy a 21:9 or 16:9? I've spent the past year with a few different setups on a regular basis and in this video we talk about the pros, cons and comparisons between these two aspect ratios for your main desk monitor.

[rohitchakravarthi]

this is the best video in the internet comparing 21:9 ultra wide and 16:9 monitor, comparing true actual day to day use cases,
Thank you so much for making me taking the right decision, i am most likely to go with ultra wide rather than the recent samsung smart monitor/tv. I work for almost 8 hours a day, and work majorly on excel/power bi. I can connect to having a 34 inch more sensible.

[tylovset]

Thanks for sharing all your experiences on this, many things here I haven't thought about. I use two 16:10 monitors myself.

[artyboy]

I started with a 21:9 34" monitor in 2017 and have never looked back. Using a 16:9 screen just seems cramped but the best thing about an ultrawide is having 2 opened windows side by side.

[siamkia]

Thank you for sharing. I have a 16:9 and 21:9, both 29". From my own experience if anyone wanna get a 21:9, I suggest to go for a bigger size monitor like 34". My 29" 21:9 feels a bit small bcoz of the stretch.

[keepawayfromthetrout]

I have a 38" 21:9 Ultrawide from LG, had it a couple of years now and it's fantastic. I also have my old 16:9 monitor next to it but in portrait mode. I find I often don't switch this on though.

[Shockload]

3:58 pretty sure most movies are made in a ≈21:9 aspect ratio so it's actually beneficial, infact the first UW TV ever made, (yes a TV) was the 2009 "Philips Cinema 21:9", it was specifically aimed at providing a cinematic viewing experience by matching the aspect ratio of most modern films.

[khquah]

Thanks for sharing your experiences on monitors applications.

[tomaspiskula]

One of the arguments why I decided for 21:9 was the movies. That's the common cinematic format. And even for Netflix, which uses aspect ratio somewhere in between 21:9 and 16:9, I would rather have filled frame by sides than on top and bottom (and therefore reduced size).

[williamstevenson]

This is very useful, as I'm considering this at the moment. I haven't used either size yet, although I'm used to 16:9 from the laptop. I don't have these exacting demands so I'll probably just go for a 4K 16:9. Thank you.

[markdavenportjr]

I went back to my 32 inch 165hz gsync compatible gaming monitor from my ultrawide and I put the ultrawide on my steam game dedicated server host machine. :) Sure UW is great and all BUT the black bars watching cutscenes and streaming movies and shows was driving me NUTS.

[oneofthesixbillion]

Like most of life it's usually not absolute one way or another. I might prefer one over the other but I wouldn't definitively say one is better than the other. There's also the part where you get used to whatever you use regularly. How about 2 side by side 16x9 monitors? That's what I use and like it pretty much.

[KingFozzie]

Thank you, very informative! I do mainly office work and some gaming so I’m looking at a 34 inch Philips ultrawide. The difference is: I plan to leave my MacBook closed, put a webcam on the monitor and open two windows on screen: one with ms teams and one with a presentation/document. That way I can keep looking forward and see both my audience and the content. Do you think this plan will work?

[lionakarami]

hi does 2560*1080 ultra wide monitors looks good on a 34 inch as opposed to 1920*1080 on a 27 inch

[FreakyDudeEx]

Or you could just play games that have that aspect ratio built in... Seen people get more advantages in those games due to being able to see more of the game world than the enemies running 16:9 aspect ratios...

[theghastlygamer]

My question is in games that let you change the fov. Can you see more of the game in say a 32:9 vs 16:9 or does the game determine how much you see. In other words with my 32:9 and i set a games fov to its highest 120, can i see more than a 16:9 monitor that has fov set to the same 120 fov in game?

[thomasjones]

21:9 is way better, Everytime I see a 16:9 monitor it looks like a tiny square screen

[lionakarami]

hi. can you play on normal 16:9 ratio on an ultra wide if the game was too demanding and if you can is it still big enough for you not to be bothered by the huge black edges in the corner?

[tomcekeu]

Hello, im thinking about buying cheap LG 34 21:9 monitor for work, instead of 32 16:9. I guess its good choice, do you agree? Btw, what is your opinion to curved ultra wide? Is so much better than without curve? Actually, im thinking about buying ultra wide without curve. I have MacBook Air m1, so I can't connect two monitors haha

[invictacrimson]

Bought a ultrawide monitor did not like it at all everything looks so stretched out went back to 16.9 monitor for gaming

[demon]

Maybe I’ll stick to 27 inches watching movies in 21:9 huge black bars on the sides bothers me