Aspect ratio

An image's Aspect Ratio, or AR, represents a comparison of its width to height. Notation for Aspect Ratio is normally in the form of X:Y, where X represents screen width and Y represents height. For example, a standard analog TV has an AR of 4:3 which means that for every 4 units of width it's 3 units high. This could be 4mm wide and 3mm high, 16in wide and 12in high, or 24m wide and 18m high. The exact dimensions aren't important, so long as the ratio between them is correct.

2 examples of a 4:3 image. Although the resolution is different, the ratio of width to height is the same In order to make it easier to compare different ARs it's common to see the width compared to a set value of 1. Using this convention 4:3 becomes 1.33:1, which may also be referred to as 1.33, with the 1 implied. Although this is somewhat less precise, with only 2 digits of precision (decimal places), the error is very small. And it makes it easy to tell that 16:9 (1.78) is wider than 4:3 (1.33). Storage Aspect Ratio For digital files there are really two types of AR. The first, and easiest to understand, is the Storage Aspect Ratio, which is simply ratio of horizontal Resolution to vertical resolution. For example, a standard NTSC DVD has a Storage AR of 1.5:1 (720 / 480 = 1.5), while a typical PAL DVD has a Storage AR of 1.25 (720 / 576 = 1.25). Storage AR doesn't necessarily tell you how the picture will appear when shown on a TV or other display, although when viewing video on a computer you should be aware that some programs will use it to determine the shape of the Frame. Although Signal Aspect Ratio may be referred to as SAR, this is generally a bad idea since it can also stand for Signal Aspect Ratio, which means something very different (see DAR below) Display Aspect Ratio For digital files, the most important AR is the Display Aspect Ratio. This is the actual shape a frame is supposed to be displayed with, rather than simply the resolution. For example, the NTSC and PAL DVD-Video resolutions examples above will always have a DAR of either 1.33 or 1.78, depending on whether they're encoded for a Fullscreen (4:3 / 1.33) or Widescreen (16:9 / 1.78) television. This is why an Anamorphic (1.78 AR) DVD always looks squeezed horizontally when viewed on a computer without DAR correction and a Fullscreen (1.33 AR) NTSC DVD

looks horizontally stretched, while a Fullscreen PAL DVD looks squeezed. DAR may also be referred to as Signal Aspect Ratio because the file signals the decoder to use a particular AR, regardless of resolution. Signal Aspect Ratio may be referred to as SAR, but to avoid confusion with Storage Aspect Ratio this isn't generally advised. To be as clear as possible it's generally best to stick to using DAR instead. Pixel Aspect Ratio Along with DAR, digital video files have a Pixel Aspect Ratio, or PAR. The PAR of a frame is the shape of an individual pixel. For playback purposes it's only important to know the video's DAR, but if only the PAR is stored in the video it can be used to determine the correct Display Aspect Ratio. Likewise, if no PAR information is stored it can be calculated from the video's DAR. PAR is generally used to assist image editing software in making accurate measurements and shapes. For example, if you're trying to make menu button highlights for a DVD and want perfect circles, the software used to create these images will need to consider the PAR so it knows to make it span either more vertical or horizontal Pixels, depending on whether it's Widescreen or Fullscreen, as well as NTSC or PAL.

Pixel Aspect Ratio

Although Pixels themselves don't have height or width, being simply points in space, they do sometimes belong to frames where a single pixel represents a non-square portion of the screen. These are referred to as non-square or rectangular pixels. If each pixel represents the same amount of height and width it's considered square. In either case, the pixel is said to have a Pixel Aspect ratio (PAR), representing it's width to height ratio. For example, NTSC DVD (4:3) video has a PAR of 10:11, while in Widescreen (16:9) it's 40:33. PAL uses a PAR of 59:54, with 118:81 for widescreen (16:9). PAR isn't used for display purposes. Display is determined by the video's Display Aspect Ratio (DAR), which tells the decoder what shape an entire Frame is. PAR is instead used for editing purposes, where image editing software often needs to know the shape of each pixel to produce a specific shape in the frame. For example, in order to draw a simple circle it's first necessary to determine how far apart each pixels is both horizontally and vertically, which can be determined by the PAR. Some video stores a separate PAR value, in addition to a DAR for video decoders to use. Other times it must be calculated from reading the DAR first. You may be using editing software capable of this, but it's generally recommended to know your source video's PAR (or calculate it yourself) in order to double check any applications automatic settings.

Standard computer monitor resolutions use square pixels, as do standard HDTV resolutions. EDTV also uses square pixels, although digital SDTVs use pixels with the same PAR as NTSC or PAL DVDs. Common PARs Source TV System AR Resolution 720x480 4:3 NTSC 704x480 352x480 352x240 16:9 DVD 720x480 704x480 720x576 4:3 PAL 704x576 352x576 352x288 16:9 NTSC PAL NTSC SVCD PAL NTSC PAL 4:3 4:3 4:3 720x576 704x576 720x480 420x576 480x480 PAR 10:11 10:11 20:11 10:11 40:33 40:33 59:54 59:54 59:27 59:54 118:81 118:81 10:11 59:54 15:11 20:11 59:36 59:27 10:11 59:54

DV

16:9 480x480 4:3 480x576

16:9 480x576 4:3 4:3 352x240 352x576

VCD

Display Aspect Ratio

Display Aspect ratio, or DAR, refers to the shape of a video's Frame. Unlike a video frame's basic Aspect ratio, which is simply a comparison of the number of horizontal and vertical Pixels, DAR also takes into account the video's Pixel Aspect Ratio, or PAR, sometimes resulting in a different figure than the regular AR. For example, NTSC DVDs have a Resolution of 720x480, but a DAR of either 4:3 (1.33:1) or 16:9 (1.78:1). Since analog TVs, which are DVD's intended display devices, don't have Pixels at all, this isn't really an issue. If you were to play it on your computer using software that doesn't adjust for its DAR you'd find that the image ends up stretched horizontally to match the square Pixels displayed on your monitor. Since 720 is one and a half times 480 it would be displayed with an AR of 1.5 (3:2) regardless of whether it was Fullscreen (4:3) or Widescreen (16:9) video. Anamorphic DVDs DVD players are a good example to understand how DAR is used. An Anamorphic, or Widescreen DVD NTSC DVD is encoded at a Resolution of 720x480, which has an AR of 1.5:1 (720 / 480 = 1.5). The video is intended for optimal viewing on a Widescreen (16:9 or 1.78:1) TV. Therefore the video stream is flagged with a DAR of 1.78:1. When you setup your DVD player it should have a setting to tell it whether its connected to a 16:9 or 4:3 TV. This is for purposes of DAR. For a 16:9 TV the video will be stretched to the equivalent size of 852 square (1:1) pixels.

Click on the image above to see the original Frame with no DAR correction. Click the image below to see it resized for a Widescreen (16:9) TV.

Letterbox If the video has a wider DAR than the display, such as a 16:9 DVD displayed on a 4:3 TV, black borders will need to be added to the top and bottom. These borders are called a letterbox. When a widescreen movie is encoded in a 4:3 video frame it must be letterboxed or the DAR will be changed. Even many movies encoded in 16:9 still have a letterbox because they're transferred from film with a much wider AR, such as 2.35:1. The image below shows the same frame as above, execpt formatted for a 4:3 TV by squeezing it vertically and adding a letterbox.

Pillarbox If the video's DAR is narrower than your TV's AR, such as 4:3 on a 16:9 TV, it will need to be

pillarboxed by adding black borders to the edges until it fills the frame. Besides fullscreen (4:3) video, this is common with 1.66:1 widescreen film.

The frame above is from a 1.66:1 AR movie encoded to a 16:9 (1.78:1) frame. Notice the Pillarbox on the sides.

Here's the same video squeezed into a 4:3 frame. In addition, displaying 4:3 video on a 16:9 display, like a HDTV, always requires pillarboxing or zooming if you want to avoid any distortion from stretching the image horizontally.