Display resolution

Categories: Display technology

The display resolution of a digital television or computer display is the number of pixels (or maximal image resolution) that can be displayed on the screen, usually given as a product of the number of columns (horizontal, "X"), which is always stated first and the number or rows (vertical, "Y") to make up the aspect ratio There are two types of resolution, the number of discrete pixels or scanlines and the number of resolvable lines, the latter determined by the number of alternating black and white stripes that can be displayed across the of the picture without them merging together. The relationship between the two is known as Kell factor.

For analog TV sets, horizontal scanlines are not divided into pixels, and therefore the horizontal resolution is related to the bandwidth of the luminance signal. The vertical resolution, as with digital displays, is the number of horizontal lines in the picture.

Currently 800×600 (SVGA, Super VGA), 1024×768 (XGA/XVGA, eXtended), 1280×1024 (SXGA Super eXtended Graphics Array), and 1600×1200 resolution (UXGA, Ultra-eXtended) are the most common display resoultions. Many computer users, including CAD users and video game players, run their computers at 1600×1200 resolution (UXGA, Ultra-eXtended) or higher if they have the necessary equipment. When a computer display resolution is set higher than the physical screen resolution, some systems make the virtual screen scrollable over the physical screen. With digital television and HDTV, vertical resolutions of 720 or 1080 scan lines are typical.

The 640×480 resolution, introduced with the IBM PS/2 VGA and MCGA (multi-color) on-board graphics chips, was the standard resolution from 1990 to around 1996, partly due to its 4:3 ratio. 800×600 was the standard resolution until around 2000. Since then, 1024×768 has been the standard resolution. Many web sites and multimedia products are designed for this resolution. Most of today's computer games released during the "128-bit video game era", such as SimCity 4, do not support 640×480 at all. Microsoft Windows XP is designed to run at 800×600 minimum (although it is possible to select 640×480 in the Advanced Settings window, and an application is able to switch to any other mode). Linux, FreeBSD, and most Unix variants use the X window system and can run at any desired resolution as long as the display and video card support it. The Apple's MacOS and Mac OS X operating systems are able to run with most available display resolutions, although 800×600 is a reasonable miniumum.

Computer Standard	Resolution	Ratio	Pixels
CGA	320×200	16:10	64K
QVGA	320×240	4:3	77K
B&W Macintosh/Macintosh LC	512×384	4:3	197K
EGA	640×350	approx. 5:3	224K
VGA and MCGA	640×480	4:3	307K
HGC	720×348	60:29	251K
MDA	720×350	72:35	252K
Apple Lisa	720×360	2:1	259K
SVGA	800×600	4:3	480K
XGA	1024×768	4:3	786K
XGA+	1152×864	4:3	995K
WXGA	1280×768	15:9	983K
SXGA	1280×1024	5:4	1.3M
WXGA+	1440×900	16:10	1.3M
SXGA+	1400×1050	4:3	1.5M
WSXGA	1600×1024	25:16	1.6M
WSXGA+	1680×1050	16:10	1.8M
UXGA	1600×1200	4:3	1.9M
WUXGA	1920×1200	16:10	2.3M
QXGA	2048×1536	4:3	3.1M
WQXGA	2560×1600	16:10	4.1M
QSXGA	2560×2048	5:4	5.2M
WQSXGA	3200×2048	25:16	6.6M
QUXGA	3200×2400	4:3	7.7M
WQUXGA	3840×2400	16:10	9.2M
HSXGA	5120×4096	5:4	21M
WHSXGA	6400×4096	25:16	26M
HUXGA	6400×4800	4:3	31M
WHUXGA	7680×4800	16:10	37M

Analogue TV Standard	Resolution
PAL	576 lines
NTSC	480 lines

Digital TV Standard	Resolution	Ratio
D-1 NTSC	720×486
D-1 NTSC (square pixels)	720×540
D-1 PAL	720×576
HDTV 1080i	1920×1080	16:9
HDTV 720p	1280×720	16:9
EDTV 480p	640×480, 704×480 or 852×480	4:3 or 16:9

Digital Film Standard	Resolution	Ratio
Academy standard	2048×1536	4:3
DVD "NTSC"	720×480	3:2, though non-square pixels mean image dimensions are either 4:3 or 16:9
DVD "PAL"	720×576	5:4, though non-square pixels mean image dimensions are either 4:3 or 16:9
VCD "NTSC"	352×240	22:15, though non-square pixels mean image dimensions are 4:3
VCD "PAL"	352×288	11:9, though non-square pixels mean image dimensions are 4:3
Laserdisc	560×360