The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an
electronic visual display
An electronic visual display, informally a screen, is a display device for presentation of images, text, or video transmitted electronically, without producing a permanent record. Electronic visual displays include television sets, computer monito ...
device, measured in
pixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the ...
s. This information is used for electronic devices such as a
computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height are standardized (e.g. by
VESA
VESA (), formally known as Video Electronics Standards Association, is an American technical standards organization for computer display standards. The organization was incorporated in California in July 1989To retrieve the information, searc ...
) and typically given a name and an
initialism that is descriptive of its dimensions. A graphics display resolution can be used in tandem with the size of the graphics display to calculate pixel density. An increase in the pixel density often correlates with a decrease in the size of individual pixels on a display.
Overview by vertical resolution and aspect ratio
Aspect ratio
The favored
aspect ratio of
mass-market
The term "mass market" refers to a market for goods produced on a large scale for a significant number of end consumers. The mass market differs from the niche market in that the former focuses on consumers with a wide variety of backgrounds wit ...
display
industry
Industry may refer to:
Economics
* Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity
* Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery
* The wider industrial sector ...
products
Product may refer to:
Business
* Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem.
* Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution
Mathematics
* Produ ...
has changed gradually from 4:3, then to 16:10, then to 16:9, and is now changing to 18:9 for
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...
s. The 4:3 aspect ratio generally reflects older products, especially the era of the
cathode ray tube (CRT). The 16:10 aspect ratio had its largest use in the 1995–2010 period, and the 16:9 aspect ratio tends to reflect post-2010 mass-market computer monitor, laptop, and entertainment products displays. On CRTs, there was often a difference between the aspect ratio of the
computer resolution and the aspect ratio of the display causing non-square pixels (e.g. or on a 4:3 display).
The 4:3 aspect ratio was common in older television cathode ray tube (CRT) displays, which were not easily adaptable to a wider aspect ratio. When good quality alternate technologies (i.e.,
liquid crystal displays
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but i ...
(LCDs) and
plasma display
A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display that uses small cells containing plasma: ionized gas that responds to electric fields. Plasma televisions were the first large (over 32 inches diagonal) flat panel displays to be releas ...
s) became more available and less costly, around the year 2000, the common computer displays and entertainment products moved to a wider aspect ratio, first to the 16:10 ratio. The 16:10 ratio allowed some compromise between showing older 4:3 aspect ratio broadcast TV shows, but also allowing better viewing of widescreen movies. However, around the year 2005, home entertainment displays (i.e., TV sets) gradually moved from 16:10 to the 16:9 aspect ratio, for further improvement of viewing widescreen movies. By about 2007, virtually all mass-market entertainment displays were 16:9. In 2011, (Full HD, the native resolution of
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
) was the favored resolution in the most heavily marketed entertainment market displays. The next standard, (4K UHD), was first sold in 2013.
Also in 2013, displays with (aspect ratio 64:27 or 2., however commonly referred to as "21:9" for easy comparison with 16:9) appeared, which closely approximate the common
CinemaScope movie standard aspect ratio of 2.35–2.40. In 2014, "21:9" screens with pixel dimensions of (actual aspect ratio 43:18 or 2.3) became available as well.
The computer display industry maintained the 16:10 aspect ratio longer than the entertainment industry, but in the 2005–2010 period, computers were increasingly marketed as dual-use products, with uses in the traditional computer applications, but also as means of viewing entertainment content. In this time frame, with the notable exception of Apple, almost all desktop, laptop, and display manufacturers gradually moved to promoting only 16:9 aspect ratio displays. By 2011, the 16:10 aspect ratio had virtually disappeared from the
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
laptop display market (although Mac laptops are still mostly 16:10, including the 15" Retina
MacBook Pro and the 13" Retina MacBook Pro). One consequence of this transition was that the highest available resolutions moved generally downward (i.e., the move from laptop displays to displays).
In response to usability flaws of now common 16:9 displays in office/professional applications, Microsoft and Huawei started to offer notebooks with a 3:2 aspect ratio. By 2021, Huawei also offers a monitor display offering this aspect ratio, targeted towards professional uses.
High-definition
All standard HD resolutions share a aspect ratio, although some derived resolutions with smaller or larger ratios also exist. Most of the narrower resolutions are only used for storing, not for displaying videos.
(nHD)
nHD (ninth HD) is a display resolution of pixels, which is exactly one-ninth of a Full HD (1080p) frame and one-quarter of a
HD (720p) frame. Pixel doubling (vertically and horizontally) nHD frames will form one 720p frame and pixel tripling nHD frames will form one 1080p frame.
One drawback of this resolution regarding encoding is that the number of lines is not an even multiple of 16, which is a common
macroblock size for
video codec
A video codec is software or hardware that compresses and decompresses digital video. In the context of video compression, ''codec'' is a portmanteau of ''encoder'' and ''decoder'', while a device that only compresses is typically called an '' ...
s. Video frames encoded with 16×16 pixel macroblocks would be padded to and the added pixels would be cropped away at playback. H.264 codecs have this padding and cropping ability built-in as standard. The same is true for qHD and 1080p but the relative amount of padding is more for lower resolutions such as nHD.
To avoid storing the eight lines of padded pixels, some people prefer to encode video at , which only has one stored padded line. When such video streams are either encoded from HD frames or played back on HD displays in full-screen mode (either 720p or 1080p) they are scaled by non-integer scale factors. True nHD frames on the other hand has integer scale factors, for example Nokia 808 PureView with nHD display.
(qHD)
:''Note: qHD is quarter HD; QHD is quad HD''
qHD is a display resolution of pixels, which is exactly one-quarter of a Full HD (1080p) frame, in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
One of the few tabletop TVs to use this as its native resolution was the
Sony XEL-1
The XEL-1 is the world's first organic light-emitting diode (OLED) television, designed by Sony in 2007 and produced for sale the following year. It was also the world's thinnest television during its production, at 3 mm. It has a screen siz ...
. Similar to DVGA, this resolution became popular for high-end smartphone displays in early 2011. Mobile phones including the
Jolla
Jolla Oy (sometimes referred to as Jolla Ltd.) is a Finnish technology company; vendor and developer of Sailfish OS. Headquartered in Tampere, Finland, Jolla has its own research and development offices in Helsinki, Tampere and Cyberport, Hong ...
,
Sony Xperia C
The Sony Xperia C is a touchscreen enabled Android smartphone designed, developed and manufactured by Sony Mobile Communications. Unveiled at the Mobile Asia Expo held in Shanghai, China in June 2013, the phone was targeted at the Chinese marke ...
,
HTC Sensation
The HTC Sensation is a smartphone designed and manufactured by HTC Corporation that runs the Android 2.3 Gingerbread software stock. Officially announced by HTC on April 12, 2011, the HTC Sensation was launched by Vodafone in key European markets ...
,
Motorola Droid RAZR
The Verizon Droid Razr (GSM/UMTS version: Motorola Razr; both versions styled RAZR) is an Android-based, 4G LTE-capable smartphone designed by Motorola that launched on Verizon Wireless on November 11, 2011. It was announced on October 18, 201 ...
,
LG Optimus L9
LG Optimus L9 is a touchscreen Android 4G smartphone designed and manufactured by LG Electronics. The phone was released on October 31, 2012. The Optimus L9 features Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It is upgradable to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean ac ...
,
Microsoft Lumia 535
The Microsoft Lumia 535 is an entry-level smartphone developed by Microsoft Mobile that runs the Windows Phone 8.1 OS and is upgradable to Windows 10 Mobile. The phone features a 5-inch display. It is equipped with a 5 MP front-facing camera. It ...
and
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini (stylized as Samsung GALAXY S4 mini) is an Android smartphone developed by the Korean manufacturer Samsung Electronics. Announced on May 31, 2013 and released in July 2013, the S4 Mini is a mid-range model of its flags ...
have displays with the qHD resolution, as does the
PlayStation Vita portable game system.
(HD)
The HD resolution of pixels stems from
high-definition television
High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
(HDTV), where it originally used 50 or 60 frames per second. With its 16:9 aspect ratio, it is exactly 2 times the width and 1 times the height of 4:3 VGA, which shares its aspect ratio and 480 line count with
NTSC
The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
. HD, therefore, has exactly 3 times as many pixels as VGA, i.e. almost 1
megapixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...
.
This resolution is often referred to as
720p
720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...
, although the ''p'' (which stands for
progressive scan and is important for transmission formats) is irrelevant for labeling digital display resolutions. When distinguishing from , the pair has sometimes been labeled HD1 or HD-1 and HD2 or HD-2, respectively.
In the mid-2000s, when the digital HD technology and standard debuted on the market, this type of resolution was often referred to by the branded name
HD ready
HD ready is a certification program introduced in 2005 by EICTA (European Information, Communications and Consumer Electronics Technology Industry Associations), now DIGITALEUROPE. HD ready minimum native resolution is 720 rows in widescreen rat ...
or HDr for short, which had specified it as a minimum resolution for devices to qualify for the certification. However, few screens have been built that use this resolution natively. Most employ 16:9 panels with 768 lines instead (
WXGA WXGA may refer to:
* Wide Extended Graphics Array
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer m ...
), which resulted in odd numbers of pixels per line, i.e. 1365 are rounded to 1360, 1364, 1366 or even 1376, the next multiple of 16.
is the resolution of Panasonic's
DVCPRO HD
DV refers to a family of codecs and videotape, tape formats used for storing digital video, launched in 1995 by a consortium of camcorder, video camera manufacturers led by Sony and Panasonic. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, DV was strongly ...
Format, as well as DV Camcorders using this format, and their TFT LCD screens. It has an aspect ratio of 32:27 (1.:1), an approximate of
Movietone cameras of the 1930s. In 2007, Hitachi released a few 42" and 50" television models at this resolution.
(HD+)
The HD+ (HD Plus) resolution of pixels in a 16:9 aspect ratio is often referred to as 900p.
(FHD)
FHD (Full HD) is the resolution used by the
1080p
1080p (1920×1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the screen ve ...
and
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scre ...
HDTV video formats. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 2,073,600 total pixels, i.e. very close to 2 megapixels, and is exactly 50% larger than 720p HD () in each dimension for a total of 2.25 times as many pixels. When using
interlacing, the uncompressed bandwidth requirements are similar to those of 720p at the same
field rate
The refresh rate (or "vertical refresh rate", "vertical scan rate", terminology originating with the cathode ray tubes) is the number of times per second that a Raster scan, raster-based display device displays a new image. This is independent fro ...
(a 12.5% increase, as one field of 1080i video is 1,036,800 pixels, and one frame of 720p video is 921,600 pixels). Although the number of pixels is the same for 1080p and 1080i, the effective resolution is somewhat lower for the interlaced format, as it is necessary to use some vertical
low-pass filtering
A low-pass filter is a Filter (signal processing), filter that passes signal (electrical engineering), signals with a frequency lower than a selected cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The exa ...
to reduce temporal artifacts such as
interline twitter
Interlaced video (also known as interlaced scan) is a technique for doubling the perceived frame rate of a video display without consuming extra Bandwidth (signal processing), bandwidth. The interlaced signal contains two field (video), fields ...
.
(DCI 2K)
DCI 2K is a standardized format established by the
Digital Cinema Initiatives
Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) is a consortium of major motion picture studios, formed to establish specifications for a common systems architecture for digital cinema systems.
The organization was formed in March 2002 by Metro-Goldwyn-Ma ...
consortium in 2005 for 2K video projection. This format has a resolution of (2.2 megapixels) with an aspect ratio of 256:135 (1.8:1).
This is the native resolution for DCI-compliant 2K digital projectors and displays.
is a resolution used by many smartphones since 2018. It has an aspect ratio of 18:9, matching that of the
Univisium
Univisium (macaronic Latin for "unity of images") is a proposed universal film format created by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC and his son, Fabrizio, to unify all future theatrical and television films into one respective aspect r ...
film format.
This resolution is equivalent to a Full HD () extended in width by 33%, with an aspect ratio of
64:27 (2., or 21.:9). It is sometimes referred to as "1080p ultrawide" or "UW-FHD" (ultrawide FHD). Monitors at this resolution usually contain built-in firmware to
divide the screen into two screens.
(QHD)
:''Note: qHD is quarter HD; QHD is quad HD''
QHD (Quad HD), WQHD (Wide Quad HD), or 1440p, is a display resolution of pixels in a 16:9
aspect ratio. The name QHD reflects the fact that it has four times as many pixels as HD (720p). It is also commonly called WQHD, to emphasize it being a wide resolution, although that is technically unnecessary, since the HD resolutions are all wide. One advantage of using "WQHD" is avoiding confusion with qHD with a small q ().
This resolution was under consideration by the ATSC in the late 1980s to become the standard HDTV format, because it is exactly 4 times the width and 3 times the height of VGA, which has the same number of lines as NTSC signals at the
SDTV
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
4:3 aspect ratio. Pragmatic technical constraints made them choose the now well-known 16:9 formats with twice (HD) and thrice (FHD) the VGA width instead.
In October 2006,
Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) announced a 47-inch 1440p LCD panel to be released in Q2 2007; the panel was planned to finally debut at FPD International 2008 in a form of
autostereoscopic 3D display
A 3D display is a display device capable of conveying depth to the viewer. Many 3D displays are stereoscopic displays, which produce a basic 3D effect by means of stereopsis, but can cause eye strain and visual fatigue. Newer 3D displays such ...
. As of the end of 2013, monitors with this resolution were becoming more common.
The 27-inch version of the
Apple Cinema Display
The Apple Cinema Display is a line of flat-panel computer monitors developed and sold by Apple Inc. between 1999 and 2011. It was initially sold alongside the older line of Apple Studio Display (1998–2004), Studio Displays, but eventually rep ...
monitor introduced in July 2010 has a native resolution of 2560 × 1440, as does its successor, the 27-inch
Apple Thunderbolt Display
The Apple Thunderbolt Display is a 27-inch flat panel computer monitor developed and sold by Apple Inc. from July 2011 to June 2016. Originally priced at $999, it replaced the 27-inch Apple LED Cinema Display. New to the Thunderbolt Display w ...
.
The resolution is also used in portable devices. In September 2012, Samsung announced the Series 9 WQHD laptop with a 13-inch display. In August 2013,
LG announced a 5.5-inch QHD smartphone display, which was used in the
LG G3
The LG G3 is an Android smartphone developed by LG Electronics as part of the LG G series. First released in South Korea on May 28, 2014, it is a successor to 2013's LG G2. Inheriting design elements from the G2, such as its thin screen bezels ...
. In October 2013
Vivo announced a smartphone with a display.
Other phone manufacturers followed in 2014, such as Samsung with the
Galaxy Note 4
The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is an Android smartphone developed and produced by Samsung Electronics. It was unveiled during a Samsung press conference at IFA Berlin on 3 September 2014 and was released globally in October 2014 as successor to t ...
, and
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
and
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorol ...
with the
Nexus 6
The Nexus 6 (codenamed Shamu) is a phablet co-developed by Google and Motorola Mobility that runs the Android operating system. The successor to the Nexus 5, it is the sixth smartphone in the Google Nexus series, a family of Android consumer ...
smartphone. By the mid-2010s, it was a common resolution among flagship phones such as the
HTC 10
The HTC 10 is an Android smartphone manufactured and marketed by HTC. It was announced on April 12, 2016.
History
In 2015, HTC released the HTC One M9 smartphone, which was praised for its design, but criticized for being too similar to its pr ...
, the
Lumia 950
Microsoft Lumia 950 (codenamed ''Talkman'', a reference to the old Nokia Talkman) is a smartphone developed by Microsoft, officially revealed on 6 October 2015 alongside the larger Lumia 950 XL. The phone was first released on AT&T in the United ...
, and the
Galaxy S6
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is a line of Android-based smartphones manufactured, released and marketed by Samsung Electronics. Succeeding the Samsung Galaxy S5, the S6 was not released as a singular model, but instead in two variations unveiled and ...
and S7.
(QHD+)
This resolution has a 16:9 aspect ratio, and is exactly four times as many pixels as the HD+ resolution. It has been referred to as WQXGA+, QHD and QHD+ by various different companies.
The first products announced to use this resolution were the 2013
HP Envy
The HP Envy (stylized as HP ENVY) is a line of consumer-oriented high-end laptops, desktop computers and printers manufactured and sold by HP Inc. They started as a high-end version of the HP Pavilion line.
History
HP originally launched the ...
14 TouchSmart Ultrabook and the 13.3-inch
Samsung Ativ Q
The Samsung Ativ Q was a 13.3-inch convertible laptop to be manufactured by Samsung. Unveiled at a ''Samsung Premiere'' event on June 20, 2013, the tablet was to run Windows 8, but also shipped with software that also allowed it to run the Android ...
.
This resolution is equivalent to QHD () extended in width by 34%, giving it an
aspect ratio of 43:18 (2.3:1, or 21.5:9; commonly marketed as simply "21:9"). The first monitor to support this resolution was the 34-inch LG 34UM95-P. LG uses the term UW-QHD to describe this resolution. This monitor was first released in Germany in late December 2013, before being officially announced at CES 2014.
This resolution is equivalent to two Full HD () displays side by side or one vertical half of a
4K UHD
4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the dominan ...
() display. It has an aspect ratio of 32:9 (3.:1), close to the 3.6:1 ratio of
IMAX UltraWideScreen 3.6. Samsung monitors at this resolution contain built-in firmware to divide the screen into two screens, or one and one screen.
This resolution has a 12:5 aspect ratio (2.4:1, or 21.6:9; commonly marketed as simply "21:9"). It is equivalent to
WQXGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
() extended in width by 50%, or
4K UHD
4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the dominan ...
() reduced in height by 26%. This resolution is commonly encountered in cinematic 4K content that has been cropped vertically to a widescreen 2.4:1 aspect ratio. The first monitor to support this resolution was the 37.5-inch LG 38UC99-W. Other vendors followed, with Dell U3818DW, HP Z38c, and Acer XR382CQK. This resolution is referred to as UW4K, WQHD+, UWQHD+, or QHD+, though no single name is agreed upon.
(4K UHD)
This resolution, sometimes referred to as 4K UHD or 4K2K, has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 8,294,400 pixels. It is double the size of Full HD () in both dimensions for a total of four times as many pixels, and triple the size of
HD () in both dimensions for a total of nine times as many pixels. It is the lowest common multiple of the HDTV resolutions.
was chosen as the resolution of the UHDTV1 format defined in SMPTE ST 2036-1,
as well as the 4K UHDTV system defined in ITU-R BT.2020
and the UHD-1 broadcast standard from
DVB
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...
.
It is also the minimum resolution requirement for CEA's definition of an Ultra HD display. Before the publication of these standards, it was sometimes casually referred to as QFHD (Quad Full HD).
The first commercial displays capable of this resolution include an 82-inch LCD TV revealed by Samsung in early 2008, the Sony SRM-L560, a 56-inch LCD reference monitor announced in October 2009,
an 84-inch display demonstrated by LG in mid-2010, and a 27.84-inch 158
PPI 4K IPS monitor for medical purposes launched by
Innolux in November 2010. In October 2011
Toshiba
, commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...
announced the REGZA 55x3, which is claimed to be the first 4K glasses-free 3D TV.
DisplayPort
DisplayPort (DP) is a digital display interface developed by a consortium of PC and chip manufacturers and standardized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device su ...
supports at 30Hz in version 1.1 and added support for up to 75Hz in version 1.2 (2009) and 120Hz in version 1.3 (2014), while
HDMI
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is a proprietary audio/video interface for transmitting uncompressed video data and compressed or uncompressed digital audio data from an HDMI-compliant source device, such as a display controlle ...
added support for at 30Hz in version 1.4 (2009)
and 60Hz in version 2.0 (2013).
When support for 4K at 60Hz was added in DisplayPort 1.2, no DisplayPort timing controllers (TCONs) existed which were capable of processing the necessary amount of data from a single video stream. As a result, the first 4K monitors from 2013 and early 2014, such as the Sharp PN-K321, Asus PQ321Q, and Dell UP2414Q and UP3214Q, were addressed internally as two monitors side by side instead of a single display and made use of DisplayPort's Multi-Stream Transport (MST) feature to multiplex a separate signal for each half over the connection, splitting the data between two timing controllers. Newer timing controllers became available in 2014, and after mid-2014 new 4K monitors such as the
Asus PB287Q no longer rely on MST tiling technique to achieve 4K at 60Hz, instead, using the standard SST (Single-Stream Transport) approach.
In 2015, Sony announced the
Xperia Z5 Premium
The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is an Android smartphone produced by Sony. Part of the Sony Xperia Z series, the device, at that point known by the project code name "Satsuki", was unveiled along with the Sony Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact during ...
, the first smartphone with a 4K display, and in 2017 Sony announced the Xperia XZ Premium, the first smartphone with a 4K
HDR display.
(DCI 4K)
, referred to as DCI 4K, Cinema 4K or 4K2K, is the resolution used by the 4K container format defined by the
Digital Cinema Initiatives
Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) is a consortium of major motion picture studios, formed to establish specifications for a common systems architecture for digital cinema systems.
The organization was formed in March 2002 by Metro-Goldwyn-Ma ...
Digital Cinema System Specification, a prominent standard in the cinema industry. This resolution has an aspect ratio of 256:135 (1.8:1), and 8,847,360 total pixels.
This is the native resolution for DCI 4K digital projectors and displays.
HDMI added support for at 24Hz in version 1.4
and 60Hz in version 2.0.
This resolution is equivalent to 4K UHD () extended in width by 33%, giving it a 64:27 aspect ratio (2. or 21.:9, commonly marketed as simply "21:9") and 11,059,200 total pixels. It is exactly double the size of
in both dimensions, for a total of four times as many pixels. The first displays to support this resolution were 105-inch televisions, the LG 105UC9 and the Samsung UN105S9W. In December 2017, LG announced a 34-inch monitor, the 34WK95U, and in January 2021 the 40-inch 40WP95C. LG refers to this resolution as 5K2K WUHD.
(5K)
This resolution, commonly referred to as 5K or , has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 14,745,600 pixels. Although it is not established by any of the UHDTV standards, some manufacturers such as Dell have referred to it as UHD+. It is exactly double the pixel count of
QHD
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height a ...
() in both dimensions for a total of four times as many pixels, and is 33% larger than 4K UHD () in both dimensions for a total of 1. times as many pixels. The line count of 2880 is also the
least common multiple
In arithmetic and number theory, the least common multiple, lowest common multiple, or smallest common multiple of two integers ''a'' and ''b'', usually denoted by lcm(''a'', ''b''), is the smallest positive integer that is divisible by bo ...
of 480 and 576, the scanline count of NTSC and PAL, respectively. Such a resolution can vertically scale SD content to fit by
natural number
In mathematics, the natural numbers are those numbers used for counting (as in "there are ''six'' coins on the table") and ordering (as in "this is the ''third'' largest city in the country").
Numbers used for counting are called ''cardinal ...
s (6 for NTSC and 5 for PAL). Horizontal scaling of SD is always fractional (non-anamorphic: 5.33...5.47, anamorphic: 7.11...7.29).
The first display with this resolution was the Dell UltraSharp UP2715K, announced on September 5, 2014. On October 16, 2014, Apple announced the
iMac
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In it ...
with
Retina 5K display.
DisplayPort
DisplayPort (DP) is a digital display interface developed by a consortium of PC and chip manufacturers and standardized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device su ...
version 1.3 added support for 5K at 60Hz over a single cable, whereas DisplayPort1.2 was only capable of 5K at 30Hz. Early 5K 60Hz displays such as the Dell UltraSharp UP2715K and HP DreamColor Z27q that lacked DisplayPort1.3 support required two DisplayPort1.2 connections to operate at 60Hz, in a tiled display mode similar to early 4K displays using DP MST.
Other resolution with the same 5120-pixel width, which is the lowest common multiple of popular 1024 and 1280, but a different aspect ratio have also been called "5K" and some nominal
5K resolutions are just 4800 pixels wide, which is the lowest common multiple of 960 and 800.
(8K UHD)
This resolution, sometimes referred to as 8K UHD, has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 33,177,600 pixels. It is exactly double the size of 4K UHD () in each dimension for a total of four times as many pixels, and Quadruple the size of Full HD () in each dimension for a total of sixteen times as many pixels. was chosen as the resolution of the UHDTV2 format defined in SMPTE ST 2036-1,
as well as the 8K UHDTV system defined in
ITU-R BT.2020 and the UHD-2 broadcast standard from
DVB
Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...
.
DisplayPort1.3, finalized by VESA in late 2014, added support for at 30Hz (or 60Hz with 4:2:0 subsampling). VESA's
Display Stream Compression
DisplayPort (DP) is a digital display interface developed by a consortium of PC and chip manufacturers and standardized by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA). It is primarily used to connect a video source to a display device su ...
(DSC), which was part of early DisplayPort1.3 drafts and would have enabled 8K at 60Hz without subsampling, was cut from the specification prior to publication of the final draft.
DSC support was reintroduced with the publication of DisplayPort1.4 in March 2016. Using DSC, a "visually lossless" form of compression, formats up to (8K UHD) at 60Hz with
HDR and 30bit/px color depth are possible without subsampling.
(16K)
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
introduced a commercial 16K display at
NAB 2019 that is set to be released in Japan. It is made up of 576 modules (360 × 360p), in a formation of 48 by 12 modules, forming a 17280 × 4320 screen, with 4:1 aspect ratio.
Video Graphics Array
(QQVGA)
Quarter-QVGA (QQVGA or qqVGA) denotes a resolution of or pixels, usually used in displays of handheld devices. The term Quarter-QVGA signifies a resolution of one fourth the number of pixels in a
QVGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
display (half the number of vertical and half the number of horizontal pixels) which itself has one fourth the number of pixels in a
VGA
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can no ...
display.
The abbreviation ''qqVGA'' may be used to distinguish ''quarter'' from ''quad'', just like ''qVGA''.
(HQVGA)
Half-QVGA denotes a display screen resolution of or pixels, as seen on the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
. This resolution is half of
QVGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
, which is itself a quarter of
VGA
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can no ...
, which is pixels.
(QVGA)
Quarter VGA (QVGA or qVGA) is a popular term for a computer display with display resolution. QVGA displays were most often used in mobile phones,
personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in part ...
s (PDA), and some handheld game consoles. Often the displays are in a "portrait" orientation (i.e., taller than they are wide, as opposed to "landscape") and are referred to as .
The name comes from having a quarter of the maximum resolution of the original IBM Video Graphics Array display technology, which became a de facto industry standard in the late 1980s. QVGA is not a standard mode offered by the
VGA BIOS, even though VGA and compatible chipsets support a QVGA-sized
Mode X Mode X is an alternative 256-color graphics display mode of the IBM VGA graphics hardware that was popularized by Michael Abrash. It was first published in July 1991 in '' Dr. Dobb's Journal'', and republished in chapters 47-49 of Abrash's ''Graph ...
. The term refers only to the display's resolution and thus the abbreviated term QVGA or Quarter VGA is more appropriate to use.
QVGA resolution is also used in digital video recording equipment as a low-resolution mode requiring less data storage capacity than higher resolutions, typically in still
digital camera
A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile devices ...
s with video recording capability, and some mobile phones. Each frame is an image of pixels. QVGA video is typically recorded at 15 or 30
frames per second
A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent.
Frame and FRAME may also refer to:
Physical objects
In building construction
*Framing (con ...
. QVGA mode describes the size of an image in pixels, commonly called the resolution; numerous
video file format
A video file format is a type of file format for storing digital video data on a computer system. Video is almost always stored using lossy compression to reduce the file size.
A video file normally consists of a container (e.g. in the Matros ...
s support this resolution.
While QVGA is a ''lower'' resolution than VGA, at higher resolutions the "Q" prefix commonly means ''quad(ruple)'' or four times ''higher'' display resolution (e.g.,
QXGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
is four times higher resolution than
XGA). To distinguish ''quarter'' from ''quad'', lowercase "q" is sometimes used for "quarter" and uppercase "Q" for "Quad", by analogy with
SI prefixes like m/M and p/P, but this is not a consistent usage.
Some examples of devices that use QVGA display resolution include the
iPod Classic
The iPod Classic (stylized and marketed as iPod classic and formerly iPod Video or just iPod) is a discontinued portable media player created and formerly marketed by Apple Inc.
There were six generations of the iPod Classic, as well as a sp ...
,
Samsung i5500
The Samsung Galaxy 5, (also called ''Samsung GT-I5500'', ''Samsung GT-I5503'', ''Samsung GT-I5510M'', ''Samsung Galaxy Europa'', ''Samsung Galaxy 550'', ''Samsung Corby Smartphone'' and ''Samsung Corby Android'' in some countries), is a smartp ...
,
LG Optimus L3
LG Optimus L3 is a slate smartphone designed and manufactured by LG Electronics. The Optimus L3 runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The LG Optimus L3 is the budget-range handset in the L series.
Hardware
LG Optimus L3 comes with an 800 MHz Single- ...
-E400,
Galaxy Fit,
Y and
Pocket,
HTC Wildfire
The HTC Wildfire (also known as ''HTC Buzz'') is a smartphone developed by the HTC Corporation, that was announced on 17 May 2010 and released in Europe in June of the same year. It is powered by a 528 MHz Qualcomm processor and runs the ...
,
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini—also known as the E10i (international) or E10a (Americas)—is a smartphone by Sony Ericsson in the Xperia series. It is the second Sony Ericsson smartphone to run the Android operating system, and also one ...
and
Mini pro and
Nintendo 3DS' bottom screen.
(WQVGA)
Wide QVGA or WQVGA is any display resolution having the same height in pixels as QVGA, but wider. This definition is consistent with other 'wide' versions of computer displays.
Since QVGA is 320 pixels wide and 240 pixels high (aspect ratio of 4:3), the resolution of a WQVGA screen might be (3:2 aspect ratio), (16:10 aspect ratio), (5:3 – such as the
Nintendo 3DS screen or the maximum resolution in
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
at 240p), (≈16:9 ratio) or (18:10 aspect ratio). As with
WVGA, exact ratios of ''n'':9 are difficult because of the way VGA controllers internally deal with pixels. For instance, when using graphical combinatorial operations on pixels, VGA controllers will use 1 bit per pixel. Since bits cannot be accessed individually but by chunks of 16 or an even higher power of 2, this limits the horizontal resolution to a 16-pixel granularity, i.e., the horizontal resolution must be divisible by 16. In the case of the 16:9 ratio, with 240 pixels high, the horizontal resolution should be 240 / 9 × 16 = 426., the closest multiple of 16 is 432.
WQVGA has also been used to describe displays that are not 240 pixels high, for example,
Sixteenth HD1080
Sixteenth HD1080 (or HD1080/16) is a display resolution that is the same aspect ratio and one 16th the area of 1080 line high-definition TV resolution.
HD1080 is 1920x1080 pixels, so dividing the resolution by 4 in each axis gives 480x270 pixels ...
displays which are 480 pixels wide and 270 or 272 pixels high. This may be due to WQVGA having the nearest screen height.
WQVGA resolutions were commonly used in
touchscreen
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...
mobile phones, such as , , and . For example, the
Hyundai MB 490i
The MB-490i is a tri-band/ 3G touchscreen phone made by Korean manufacturer Hyundai Mobile. It was first publicly shown at Mobile World Congress 2009.
Its design and styling is shaped to resemble a dolphin’s head while other elements include ...
, Sony Ericsson Aino and the Samsung Instinct have WQVGA screen resolutions – . Other devices such as the Apple
iPod Nano
The iPod Nano (stylised and marketed as iPod nano) is a discontinued portable media player designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. The first generation model was introduced on September 7, 2005, as a replacement for the iPod Mini, usin ...
also use a WQVGA screen, pixels.
(HVGA)
HVGA (Half-size
VGA
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can no ...
) screens have pixels (3:2 aspect ratio), pixels (4:3 aspect ratio), (≈16:9 aspect ratio), or pixels (8:3 aspect ratio). The former is used by a variety of
PDA devices, starting with the Sony
CLIÉ
The Sony CLIÉ (creativity, lifestyle, innovation, emotion, formerly communication, link, information and entertainment) is a series of personal digital assistants (PDAs) running the operating system (OS) ''Palm OS'', developed and marketed by S ...
PEG-NR70 in 2002, and standalone PDAs by
Palm
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm (ba ...
. The latter was used by a variety of handheld PC devices. VGA resolution is .
Examples of devices that use HVGA include the Apple
iPhone (
1st generation through
3GS),
iPod Touch (1st Generation through 3rd),
BlackBerry Bold The BlackBerry Bold is a line of smartphones developed by BlackBerry, Ltd. The family was launched in 2008 with the 9000 Model. In 2009 the form factor was shrunk with the 9700 and the Tour 9630. In 2010 BlackBerry released the 9650 and 9780 refr ...
9000,
HTC Dream
The HTC Dream (also known as the T-Mobile G1 in the United States and parts of Europe, and as the Era G1 in Poland) is a smartphone developed by HTC. First released in September 2008, the Dream was the first commercially released device to use th ...
,
Hero
A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...
,
Wildfire S,
LG GW620
The LG GW620, also known as the LG Eve and the LG InTouch Max, is a smartphone manufactured by LG Electronics. It is the first smartphone from LG that runs the Android operating system.
According to LG's managing director in Levant, Kevin Cha, ...
Eve,
MyTouch 3G Slide,
Nokia 6260 Slide
The Nokia 6260 slide is a mobile telephone handset produced by Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, ...
,
Palm Pre
The Palm Pre , styled as palm prē, is a multitasking smartphone that was designed and marketed by Palm with a multi-touch screen and a sliding keyboard. The smartphone was the first to use Palm's Linux-based mobile operating system, webOS. Th ...
,
Samsung M900 Moment
The Samsung Moment, known as SPH-M900, is a smartphone manufactured by Samsung that uses the open source Android operating system.
Features
The phone features a 3.2-inch 16M-color AMOLED capacitive touchscreen and a 3.2-megapixel autofocus ca ...
,
Sony Ericsson Xperia X8
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 is a mid-range 3G Android smartphone developed by Sony Ericsson in the Xperia series released in Q4 2010. It was sold in many countries worldwide, including the United States on AT&T Mobility and low-end pay-monthly ...
,
mini
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
,
mini pro,
active
Active may refer to:
Music
* ''Active'' (album), a 1992 album by Casiopea
* Active Records, a record label
Ships
* ''Active'' (ship), several commercial ships by that name
* HMS ''Active'', the name of various ships of the British Royal ...
and live and the
Sony PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005 ...
.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...
produces the
DLP pico projector which supports HVGA resolution.
HVGA was the only resolution supported in the first versions of Google
Android, up to release 1.5. Other higher and lower resolutions became available starting on release 1.6, like the popular
WVGA resolution on the
Motorola Droid
The Motorola Droid (GSM/UMTS version: Motorola Milestone) is an Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphone designed by Motorola, which runs Google's Android operating system. The Droid had been publicized under the codenames ''Sholes'' and ''Tao' ...
or the QVGA resolution on the
HTC Tattoo
The HTC Tattoo (formerly known as the HTC Click) is a phone manufactured by the HTC Corporation for the Android platform. It is the second phone to feature the HTC Sense interface. The phone was announced on 8 September 2009.
Unlike other Andro ...
.
Three-dimensional computer graphics common on
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
throughout the 1980s were mostly rendered at this resolution, causing objects to have jagged edges on the top and bottom when edges were not anti-aliased.
(VGA)
Video Graphics Array (VGA) refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the
IBM PS/2
The Personal System/2 or PS/2 is IBM's second generation of personal computers. Released in 1987, it officially replaced the IBM PC, XT, AT, and PC Convertible in IBM's lineup. Many of the PS/2's innovations, such as the 16550 UART (serial p ...
line of computers in 1987. Through its widespread adoption, VGA has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin
D-subminiature
The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smallest connectors used on computer systems.
Description, no ...
VGA connector, or the
resolution itself. While the VGA resolution was superseded in the personal computer market in the 1990s, it became a popular resolution on mobile devices in the 2000s. VGA is still the universal fallback troubleshooting mode in the case of trouble with graphic device drivers in operating systems.
In the field of (
NTSC
The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...
) videos, the resolution of is sometimes called Standard Definition (SD), in contrast to high-definition (HD) resolutions like and .
(WVGA)
Wide VGA or WVGA, sometimes just WGA is any display resolution with the same 480-pixel height as
VGA
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can no ...
but wider, such as (3:2 aspect ratio), (5:3), , , , or (≈16:9).
It is a common resolution among LCD projectors and later portable and hand-held internet-enabled devices (such as
MID and
Netbooks) as it is capable of rendering websites designed for an 800 wide window in full page-width. Examples of hand-held internet devices, without phone capability, with this resolution include:
Spice stellar nhance mi-435,
ASUS Eee PC
The ASUS Eee PC is a netbook computer line from Asus, and a part of the ASUS Eee product family. At the time of its introduction in late 2007, it was noted for its combination of a lightweight, Linux-based operating system, solid-state drive ( ...
700 series, Dell
XCD35, Nokia
770
__NOTOC__
Year 770 ( DCCLXX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 770 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
,
N800
The Nokia N800 Internet tablet is a wireless Internet appliance from Nokia, originally announced at the Las Vegas CES 2007 Summit in January 2007. N800 allows the user to browse the Internet and communicate using Wi-Fi networks or with mobile ...
, and
N810
The Nokia N810 Internet tablet is an Internet appliance from Nokia, announced on 17 October 2007 at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Despite Nokia's strong association with cellular products, the N810, like preceding tablets produced by Nok ...
.
Mobile phones with WVGA display resolution are also common.
(FWVGA)
FWVGA is an abbreviation for Full Wide Video Graphics Array which refers to a display resolution of pixels. is approximately the 16:9 aspect ratio of
anamorphically "un-squeezed" NTSC DVD widescreen video and is considered a "safe" resolution that does not crop any of the image. It is called Full WVGA to distinguish it from other, narrower WVGA resolutions which require cropping 16:9 aspect ratio high-definition video (i.e. it is full width, albeit with a considerable
reduction in size).
The 854 pixel width is rounded up from 853.:
:.
Since a pixel must be a whole number, rounding up to 854 ensures inclusion of the entire image.
In 2010, mobile phones with FWVGA display resolution started to become more common. A
list of mobile phones with FWVGA display
FWVGA is an abbreviation for Full Wide Video Graphics Array which refers to a display resolution of 854x480 pixels. 854x480 is approximately the 16:9 aspect ratio of anamorphically "un-squeezed" NTSC DVD widescreen video and considered a "safe" ...
s is available. In addition, the
Wii U GamePad
The Wii U GamePad is the standard game controller for Nintendo's Wii U home video game console. Incorporating traits from tablet computers, the GamePad has traditional input methods (such as buttons, dual analog sticks, and a D-pad), touchscre ...
that comes with the
Nintendo Wii U
The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4.
Th ...
gaming console includes a 6.2-inch FWVGA display.
(SVGA)
Super Video Graphics Array, abbreviated to Super VGA or SVGA, also known as Ultra Video Graphics Array, abbreviated to Ultra VGA or UVGA, is a broad term that covers a wide range of
computer display standard
Computer display standards are a combination of aspect ratio, display size, display resolution, color depth, and refresh rate. They are associated with specific expansion cards, video connectors and monitors.
History
Various computer displa ...
s.
Originally, it was an extension to the VGA standard first released by IBM in 1987. Unlike VGA – a purely IBM-defined standard – Super VGA was defined by the
Video Electronics Standards Association
VESA (), formally known as Video Electronics Standards Association, is an American technical standards organization for computer display standards. The organization was incorporated in California in July 1989To retrieve the information, searc ...
(VESA), an open consortium set up to promote interoperability and define standards. When used as a resolution specification, in contrast to VGA or
XGA for example, the term ''SVGA'' normally refers to a resolution of pixels.
The marginally higher resolution is the highest 4:3 resolution not greater than 2
19 pixels, with its horizontal dimension a multiple of 32 pixels. This enables it to fit within a
framebuffer
A framebuffer (frame buffer, or sometimes framestore) is a portion of random-access memory (RAM) containing a bitmap that drives a video display. It is a memory buffer containing data representing all the pixels in a complete video frame. Mode ...
of 512
KB (512 × 2 bytes), and the common multiple of 32 pixels constraint is related to
alignment. For these reasons, this resolution was available on the
Macintosh LC III
The Macintosh LC III is a personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an e ...
and other systems.
(DVGA)
DVGA (Double-size
VGA
Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can no ...
) screens have pixels (3:2 aspect ratio). Both dimensions are double that of HVGA, hence the pixel count is quadrupled.
Examples of devices that use DVGA include the
Meizu MX
The Meizu MX is a smartphone designed and produced by the Chinese manufacturer Meizu Technology, which runs on a modified Android operating system, dubbed as Flyme OS. It is the company's second Android-based smartphone, after the Meizu M9.
Th ...
mobile phone and the Apple
iPhone 4
The iPhone 4 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the fourth generation of the iPhone lineup, succeeding the iPhone 3GS and preceding the 4S. Following a number of notable leaks, the iPhone 4 was first unvei ...
and
4S with the
iPod Touch 4
The fourth generation iPod Touch (marketed as "the new iPod touch", and colloquially known as the iPod Touch 4G, iPod Touch 4, or iPod 4) is a multi-touch mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-based user interfa ...
, where the screen is called the "Retina Display".
, (WSVGA)
The wide version of SVGA is known as WSVGA (Wide Super VGA or Wide SVGA), featured on Ultra-Mobile PCs, netbooks, and tablet computers. The resolution is either (aspect ratio 16:9) or (128:75) with screen sizes normally ranging from 7 to 10 inches. It has full XGA width of 1024 pixels.
Although digital broadcast content in former PAL/SECAM regions has 576 active lines, several mobile TV sets with a
DVB-T2
DVB-T2 is an abbreviation for "Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial"; it is the extension of the television standard DVB-T, issued by the consortium DVB, devised for the broadcast transmission of digital terrestrial tele ...
tuner use the 600-line variant with a diameter of 7, 9 or 10 inches (18 to 26 cm).
Extended Graphics Array
(XGA)
The Extended Graphics Array (XGA) is an IBM display standard introduced in 1990. Later it became the most common appellation of the pixels display resolution, but the official definition is broader than that. It was not a new and improved replacement for
Super VGA
Super VGA (SVGA) is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards that extended IBM's VGA specification.
When used as shorthand for a resolution, as VGA and XGA often are, SVGA refers to a resolution of 800×600.
History
...
, but rather became one particular subset of the broad range of capabilities covered under the "Super VGA" umbrella.
The initial version of XGA (and its predecessor, the
IBM 8514/A) expanded upon IBM's older VGA by adding support for four new screen modes (three, for the 8514/A), including one new resolution:
* pixels in direct
16 bits-per-pixel (65,536 color) RGB
hi-color (XGA only, with 1MB
video memory
Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...
option) and
8bit/px (256 color) palette-indexed mode.
* pixels with a 16- or 256-color (4 or 8bit/px) palette, using a low frequency interlaced refresh rate (again, the higher 8bit/px mode required 1MB VRAM).
Like the 8514, XGA offered fixed function
hardware acceleration to offload processing of 2D drawing tasks. Both adapters allowed offloading of line-draw, bitmap-copy (
BitBlt
Bit blit (also written BITBLT, BIT BLT, BitBLT, Bit BLT, Bit Blt etc., which stands for ''bit block transfer'') is a data operation commonly used in computer graphics in which several bitmaps are combined into one using a ''Truth_table#Binary_opera ...
), and color-fill operations from the host
CPU. XGA's acceleration was faster than 8514's, and more comprehensive, supporting more drawing primitives, the VGA-res hi-color mode, versatile "brush" and "mask" modes, system memory addressing functions, and a single simple hardware sprite typically used to provide a low CPU load mouse pointer. It was also capable of wholly independent function, as it incorporated support for all existing VGA functions and modes – the 8514 itself was a simpler add-on adapter that required a separate VGA to be present. As they were designed for use with IBM's range of fixed-frequency monitors, neither adapter offered support for
SVGA
Super VGA (SVGA) is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards that extended IBM's VGA specification.
When used as shorthand for a resolution, as VGA and XGA often are, SVGA refers to a resolution of 800×600.
History
I ...
modes.
XGA-2 added a 24-bit
DAC, but this was used only to extend the available master palette in 256-color mode, e.g. to allow true
256-greyscale output instead of the 64 grey levels previously available; there was still no direct
True Color mode despite the adapter featuring enough default onboard VRAM (1MB) to support it. Other improvements included the provision of the previously missing resolution (using an SVGA or multisync monitor) in up to 65,536 colors, faster screen refresh rates in all modes (including non-interlace, flicker-free output for ), and improved accelerator performance and versatility.
IBM licensed the XGA technology and architecture to certain third-party hardware developers, and its characteristic modes (although not necessarily the accelerator functions, nor the MCA data-bus interface) were aped by many others. These accelerators typically did not suffer from the same limitations on available resolutions and refresh rate, and featured other now-standard modes like (and ) at various color depths (up to
24bit/px) and interlaced, non-interlaced and flicker-free refresh rates even before the release of the XGA-2.
All standard XGA modes have a
4:3 aspect ratio with square pixels, although this does not hold for certain standard VGA and third-party extended modes (, ).
XGA should not be confused with EVGA (
Extended Video Graphics Array
Extended Video Graphics Array (or EVGA) is a standard created by VESA in 1991 ( VBE 1.2) denoting a non-interlaced resolution of 1024x768 at a maximum of 70 Hz refresh rate.
EVGA is similar to (but is not the same as) the IBM XGA standar ...
), a contemporaneous
VESA
VESA (), formally known as Video Electronics Standards Association, is an American technical standards organization for computer display standards. The organization was incorporated in California in July 1989To retrieve the information, searc ...
standard that also has pixels. It should also not be confused with the ''Expanded'' Graphics Adapter, a peripheral for the
IBM 3270 PC which can also be referred to as XGA.
and similar (WXGA)
Wide XGA (WXGA) is a set of non-standard resolutions derived from the XGA
display standard
Computer display standards are a combination of aspect ratio, display size, display resolution, color depth, and refresh rate. They are associated with specific expansion cards, video connectors and monitors.
History
Various computer displa ...
by widening it to a
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
aspect ratio. WXGA is commonly used for low-end LCD TVs and LCD computer monitors for widescreen presentation. The exact resolution offered by a device described as "WXGA" can be somewhat variable owing to a proliferation of several closely related timings optimised for different uses and derived from different bases.
When referring to televisions and other monitors intended for consumer entertainment use, WXGA is generally understood to refer to a resolution of , with an aspect ratio of very nearly 16:9. The basis for this otherwise odd seeming resolution is similar to that of other "wide" standards – the line scan (refresh) rate of the well-established "XGA" standard ( pixels, 4:3 aspect) extended to give square pixels on the increasingly popular 16:9 widescreen display ratio without having to effect major signalling changes other than a faster pixel clock, or manufacturing changes other than extending panel width by one third. As 768 is not divisible by 9, the aspect ratio is not ''quite'' 16:9 – this would require a horizontal width of 1365 pixels. However, at only 0.05%, the resulting error is insignificant.
In 2006, was the most popular resolution for
liquid crystal display television
Liquid-crystal-display televisions (LCD TVs) are television sets that use liquid-crystal displays to produce images. They are, by far, the most widely produced and sold television display type. LCD TVs are thin and light, but have some disadvantag ...
s (versus XGA for
Plasma TVs
flat panel display
A flat-panel display (FPD) is an electronic display used to display visual content such as text or images. It is present in consumer, medical, transportation, and industrial equipment.
Flat-panel displays are thin, lightweight, provide better l ...
s); by 2013, even this was relegated to only being used in smaller or cheaper displays (e.g. "bedroom" LCD TVs, or low-cost, large-format plasmas), cheaper laptop and mobile tablet computers, and midrange home cinema projectors, having otherwise been overtaken by higher "full HD" resolutions such as .
A common variant on this resolution is , which confers several technical benefits, most significantly a reduction in memory requirements from just over to just under 1MB per 8-bit channel ( needs 1024.5KB per channel; needs 1020KB; 1MB is equal to 1024KB), which simplifies architecture and can significantly reduce the amount–and speed–of VRAM required with only a very minor change in available resolution, as memory chips are usually only available in fixed megabyte capacities. For example, at 32-bit color, a framebuffer would require only 4MB, whilst a one may need 5, 6 or even 8MB depending on the exact display circuitry architecture and available chip capacities. The 6-pixel reduction also means each line's width is divisible by 8 pixels, simplifying numerous routines used in both computer and broadcast/theatrical video processing, which operate on 8-pixel blocks. Historically, many video cards also mandated screen widths divisible by 8 for their lower-color, planar modes to accelerate memory accesses and simplify pixel position calculations (e.g. fetching 4-bit pixels from 32-bit memory is much faster when performed 8 pixels at a time, and calculating exactly where a particular pixel is within a memory block is much easier when lines do not end partway through a memory word), and this convention persisted in low-end hardware even into the early days of widescreen, LCD HDTVs; thus, most 1366-width displays also quietly support display of 1360-width material, with a thin border of unused pixel columns at each side. This narrower mode is of course even further removed from the 16:9 ideal, but the error is still less than 0.5% (technically, the mode is either 15.94:9.00 or 16.00:9.04) and should be imperceptible.
When referring to laptop displays or independent displays and projectors intended primarily for use with computers, WXGA is also used to describe a resolution of pixels, with an aspect ratio of
16:10. This was once particularly popular for laptop screens, usually with a diagonal screen size of between 12 and 15 inches, as it provided a useful compromise between 4:3 XGA and 16:9 WXGA, with improved resolution in ''both'' dimensions vs. the old standard (especially useful in portrait mode, or for displaying two standard pages of text side by side), a perceptibly "wider" appearance and the ability to display 720p HD video "native" with only very thin letterbox borders (usable for on-screen playback controls) and no stretching. Additionally, like , it required only 1000KB (just under 1MB) of memory per 8-bit channel; thus, a typical double-buffered 32-bit colour screen could fit within 8MB, limiting everyday demands on the complexity (and cost, energy use) of integrated graphics chipsets and their shared use of typically sparse system memory (generally allocated to the video system in relatively large blocks), at least when only the internal display was in use (external monitors generally being supported in "extended desktop" mode to at least resolution). 16:10 (or 8:5) is itself a rather "classic" computer aspect ratio, harking back to early modes (and their derivatives) as seen in the Commodore 64, IBM CGA card and others. However, as of mid-2013, this standard is becoming increasingly rare, crowded out by the more standardised and thus more economical-to-produce panels, as its previously beneficial features become less important with improvements to hardware, gradual loss of general backwards software compatibility, and changes in interface layout. As of August 2013, the market availability of panels with native resolution had been generally relegated to data projectors or niche products such as convertible tablet PCs and LCD-based eBook readers.
Others
Additionally, at least two other resolutions are sometimes labelled as WXGA:
* First, the HDTV-standard (otherwise commonly described as "
720p
720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...
"), which offers an exact 16:9 aspect with square pixels; naturally, it displays standard 720p HD video material without stretching or letterboxing and 1080i/1080p with a simple 2:3 downscale. This resolution has found some use in tablets and modern, high-pixel-density mobile phones, as well as small-format "netbook" or "ultralight" laptop computers. However, its use is uncommon in larger, mainstream devices as it has an insufficient vertical resolution for the proper use of modern operating systems such as Windows 7 whose UI design assumes a minimum of 768 lines. For certain uses such as word processing, it can even be considered a slight downgrade (reducing the number of simultaneously visible lines of text without granting any significant benefit as even 640 pixels is sufficient horizontal resolution to legibly render a full page width, especially with the addition of subpixel anti-aliasing).
* The second variant, , can be seen as a compromise resolution that addressed this problem, as well as a halfway point between the older and resolutions, and a stepping stone to (being one-quarter wider than 1024, not one-third) and , that never quite caught on in the same way as either of its arguably derivative successors. Its square-pixel aspect ratio is 15:9, in contrast to HDTV's 16:9 and 's 16:10. It is also the lowest resolution that might be found in an "Ultrabook" standard laptop, as it satisfies the minimum horizontal and vertical pixel resolutions required to officially qualify for the designation.
* Other mentionable resolutions are with a 3:2 aspect ratio, and with a 7:4 aspect ratio (similar to 16:9).
Widespread availability of and pixel resolution LCDs for laptop monitors can be considered an OS-driven evolution from the formerly popular screen size, which has itself since seen UI design feedback in response to what could be considered disadvantages of the widescreen format when used with programs designed for "traditional" screens. In
Microsoft Windows operating system specifically, the larger taskbar of Windows Vista and 7 occupies an additional 16-pixel lines by default, which may compromise the usability of programs that already demanded a full (instead of, e.g. ) unless it is specifically set to use small icons; an "oddball" 784-line resolution would compensate for this, but has a simpler aspect and also gives the slight bonus of 16 ''more'' usable lines. Also, the Windows Sidebar in
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
and 7 can use the additional 256 or 336 horizontal pixels to display informational "widgets" without compromising the display width of other programs, and Windows 8 is specifically designed around a "two-pane" concept where the full 16:9 or 16:10 screen is not required. Typically, this consists of a 4:3 main program area (typically , or ) plus a narrow sidebar running a second program, showing a toolbox for the main program or a pop-out OS shortcut panel taking up the remainder.
* Some resolution displays have also been found labeled as WXGA; however, the correct label is
WSXGA or WXGA+.
(XGA+)
XGA+ stands for Extended Graphics Array Plus and is a computer display standard, usually understood to refer to the resolution with an aspect ratio of 4:3. Until the advent of widescreen LCDs, XGA+ was often used on 17-inch desktop CRT monitors. It is the highest 4:3 resolution not greater than 2 pixels (≈1.05
megapixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...
s), with its horizontal dimension a multiple of 32 pixels. This enables it to fit closely into a video memory or framebuffer of 1
MB (1 × 2
byte
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...
s), assuming the use of one byte per pixel. The common multiple of 32 pixels constraint is related to
alignment.
Historically, the resolution also relates to the earlier standard of pixels, which was adopted by
Sun Microsystems for the
Sun-2
The Sun-2 series of UNIX workstations and servers was launched by Sun Microsystems in November 1983. As the name suggests, the Sun-2 represented the second generation of Sun systems, superseding the original Sun-1 series. The Sun-2 series used a 10 ...
workstation in the early 1980s. A decade later,
Apple Computer selected the resolution of for their 21-inch CRT monitors, intended for use as two-page displays on the
Macintosh II
The Macintosh II is a personal computer designed, manufactured, and sold by Apple Computer from March 1987 to January 1990. Based on the Motorola 68020 32-bit CPU, it is the first Macintosh supporting color graphics. When introduced, a basic sy ...
computer. These resolutions are even closer to the limit of a 1MB framebuffer, but their aspect ratios differ slightly from the common 4:3.
XGA+ is the next step after
XGA (), although it is not approved by any standard organizations. The next step with an aspect ratio of 4:3 is ("
SXGA-") or
SXGA+ ().
(WXGA+, WSXGA)
WXGA+ and WSXGA are non-standard terms referring to a computer display resolution of . Occasionally manufacturers use other terms to refer to this resolution. The Standard Panels Working Group refers to the resolution as WXGA(II).
WSXGA and WXGA+ can be considered enhanced versions of
WXGA WXGA may refer to:
* Wide Extended Graphics Array
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer m ...
with more pixels or as widescreen variants of
SXGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
. The aspect ratios of each are
16:10 (widescreen).
WXGA+ () resolution is common in 19-inch widescreen desktop monitors (a very small number of such monitors use
WSXGA+), and is also optional, although less common, in laptop LCDs, in sizes ranging from 12.1 to 17 inches.
Another resolution going by this name is , at an aspect ratio of 15:10 (widescreen).
(SXGA)
Super XGA (SXGA) is a standard monitor resolution of pixels. This display resolution is the "next step" above the XGA resolution that IBM developed in 1990.
The resolution is not the standard 4:3 aspect ratio, but 5:4 (1.25:1 instead of 1.333:1). A standard 4:3 monitor using this resolution will have rectangular rather than square pixels, meaning that unless the software compensates for this the picture will be distorted, causing circles to appear elliptical.
There is a less common resolution that preserves the common 4:3 aspect ratio. It is sometimes unofficially called SXGA− to avoid confusion with the "standard" SXGA. Elsewhere this 4:3 resolution was also called UVGA (''Ultra VGA''), or SXVGA (''Super eXtended VGA''): Since both sides are doubled from VGA the term ''Quad VGA'' would be a systematic one, but it is hardly ever used because its initialism
QVGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
is strongly associated with the alternate meaning ''Quarter VGA'' ().
SXGA is the most common native resolution of 17-inch and 19-inch LCD monitors. An LCD monitor with SXGA native resolution will typically have a physical 5:4 aspect ratio, preserving a 1:1
pixel aspect ratio
Pixel aspect ratio (often abbreviated PAR) is a mathematical ratio that describes how the width of a pixel in a digital image compares to the height of that pixel.
Most digital imaging systems display an image as a grid of tiny, square pixe ...
.
Sony manufactured a 17-inch CRT monitor with a 5:4 aspect ratio designed for this resolution. It was sold under the Apple brand name.
SXGA is also a popular resolution for cell phone cameras, such as the Motorola Razr and most Samsung and LG phones. Although being taken over by newer UXGA (2.0-megapixel) cameras, the 1.3-megapixel was the most common around 2007.
Any CRT that can run can also run , which has the standard 4:3 ratio. A flat panel
TFT screen, including one designed for , will show stretching distortion when set to display any resolution other than its native one, as the image needs to be interpolated to fit in the fixed grid display. Some TFT displays do not allow a user to disable this, and will prevent the upper and lower portions of the screen from being used forcing a "
letterbox" format when set to a 4:3 ratio.
The resolution became popular because at
24bit/px color depth it fit well into 4 megabytes of
video RAM
Dual-ported video RAM, or VRAM, is a dual-ported variant of dynamic RAM (DRAM), which was once commonly used to store the framebuffer in graphics adapters. Note that most computers and game consoles do not use this form of memory, and dual-porte ...
. At the time, memory was extremely expensive. Using at 24-bit color depth allowed using 3.75MB of video RAM, fitting nicely with
VRAM
Video random access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the pixels and other graphics data as a framebuffer to be rendered on a computer monitor. This is often different technology than other computer memory, to facilitate b ...
chip sizes which were available at the time (4MB):
: () px × 24bit/px ÷ 8bit/byte ÷ 2
20byte/MB = 3.75MB
(SXGA+)
SXGA+ stands for Super Extended Graphics Array Plus and is a
computer display standard
Computer display standards are a combination of aspect ratio, display size, display resolution, color depth, and refresh rate. They are associated with specific expansion cards, video connectors and monitors.
History
Various computer displa ...
. An SXGA+ display is commonly used on 14-inch or 15-inch laptop LCD screens with a resolution of pixels. An SXGA+ display is used on a few 12-inch laptop screens such as the
ThinkPad
ThinkPad is a line of business-oriented laptop computers and tablets designed, developed and marketed by Lenovo, and formerly by IBM until 2005, when IBM's PC business was acquired by Lenovo. ThinkPads have a distinct black, boxy design la ...
X60 and X61 (both only as tablet) as well as the
Toshiba
, commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...
Portégé M200 and M400, but those are far less common. At 14.1 inches,
Dell offered SXGA+ on many of the Latitude C-Series laptops, such as the C640, and IBM since the ThinkPad T21. Sony also used SXGA+ in their Z1 series, but no longer produce them as widescreen has become more predominant.
In desktop LCDs, SXGA+ is used on some low-end 20-inch monitors, whereas most of the 20-inch LCDs use UXGA (standard screen ratio), or WSXGA+ (widescreen ratio).
(WSXGA+)
WSXGA+ stands for Widescreen Super Extended Graphics Array Plus. WSXGA+ displays were commonly used on Widescreen 20-, 21-, and 22-inch LCD monitors from numerous manufacturers (and a very small number of 19-inch widescreen monitors), as well as widescreen 15.4-inch and 17-inch laptop LCD screens like the Thinkpad T61p, the late 17" Apple
PowerBook G4
The PowerBook G4 is a series of notebook computers manufactured, marketed, and sold by Apple Computer between 2001 and 2006 as part of its PowerBook line of notebooks. The PowerBook G4 runs on the RISC-based PowerPC G4 processor, designed by the ...
and the unibody Apple 15"
MacBook Pro. The resolution is pixels (1,764,000 pixels) with a 16:10 aspect ratio.
WSXGA+ is the widescreen version of
SXGA+, but it is not approved by any organization. The next highest resolution (for widescreen) after it is
WUXGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
, which is pixels.
(UXGA, UGA)
UXGA or UGA is an abbreviation for Ultra Extended Graphics Array referring to a standard monitor resolution of pixels (totaling 1,920,000 pixels), which is exactly four times the default image resolution of #SVGA (800×600) () (totaling 480,000 pixels). Dell Inc. refers to the same resolution of 1,920,000 pixels as ''UGA''. It is generally considered to be the next step above
SXGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
( or ), but some resolutions (such as the unnamed and
SXGA+ at ) fit between the two.
UXGA has been the native resolution of many fullscreen monitors of 15 inches or more, including laptop LCDs such as the ones in the IBM ThinkPad A21p, A30p, A31p, T42p, T43p, T60p, Dell Inspiron 8000/8100/8200 and Latitude/Precision equivalents; some Panasonic Toughbook CF-51 models; and the original Alienware Area 51M gaming laptop. However, in more recent times, UXGA is not used in laptops at all but rather in desktop UXGA monitors that have been made in sizes of 20 inches and 21.3 inches. Some 14-inch laptop LCDs with UXGA have also existed (such as the Dell Inspiron 4100), but these are very rare.
There are two different widescreen cousins of UXGA, one called UWXGA with (750) and one called
WUXGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
with resolution.
(WUXGA)
WUXGA stands for Widescreen Ultra Extended Graphics Array and is a display resolution of pixels (2,304,000 pixels) with a 16:10 screen aspect ratio. It is a wide version of
UXGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
, and can be used for viewing high-definition television (HDTV) content, which uses a 16:9 aspect ratio and a (720p) or (1080i or 1080p) resolution.
The 16:10 aspect ratio (as opposed to the 16:9 used in widescreen televisions) was chosen because this aspect ratio is appropriate for displaying two full pages of text side by side.
WUXGA resolution has a total of 2,304,000 pixels. One frame of uncompressed 8
BPC
BPC may refer to:
* Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation, a government tourism organization of Bangladesh
*'' Bâtiment de projection et de commandement'' (projection and command ship), the ''Mistral'' class of amphibious assault ships
*Battery Park Ci ...
RGB WUXGA is 6.75MiB (6.912MB). Initially, it was available in widescreen CRTs such as the Sony GDM-FW900 and the Hewlett-Packard A7217A (introduced in 2003), and in 17-inch laptops. Most
QXGA
The graphics display resolution is the width and height dimension of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain combinations of width and height ar ...
displays support . WUXGA is also available in some mobile
phablet
A phablet (, ) is a mobile device combining or straddling the size formats of smartphones and tablets. The word is a portmanteau of ''phone'' and ''tablet''.
Phablets feature large displays that complement screen-intensive activity such as mo ...
devices such as the Huawei Honor X2 Gem.
The next lower standard resolution (for widescreen) before it is WSXGA+, which is pixels (1,764,000 pixels, or 30.61% fewer than WUXGA); the next higher resolution widescreen is an unnamed resolution (supported by the above GDM-FW900 and A7217A) and then the more common WQXGA, which has pixels (4,096,000 pixels, or 77.78% more than WUXGA).
Quad Extended Graphics Array
The QXGA, or Quad Extended Graphics Array, display standard is a resolution standard in display technology. Some examples of LCD monitors that have pixel counts at these levels are the Dell 3008WFP, the
Apple Cinema Display
The Apple Cinema Display is a line of flat-panel computer monitors developed and sold by Apple Inc. between 1999 and 2011. It was initially sold alongside the older line of Apple Studio Display (1998–2004), Studio Displays, but eventually rep ...
, the Apple
iMac
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In it ...
(27-inch 2009–present), the
iPad (3rd generation)
The iPad (3rd generation) (marketed as The new iPad, colloquially referred to as the iPad 3) is a tablet computer, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. The third device in the iPad line of tablets, it added a Retina Display, the new Apple A5X ...
, the
iPad Mini 2
The iPad Mini 2 (formerly marketed as the iPad mini with Retina display, officially iPad mini 2 with Retina display) is a tablet computer produced and marketed by Apple Inc. It has a nearly identical design to its predecessor the first-genera ...
, and the
MacBook Pro (3rd generation). Many standard 21–22-inch CRT monitors and some of the highest-end 19-inch CRTs also support this resolution.
(QWXGA)
QWXGA (Quad Wide Extended Graphics Array) is a display resolution of pixels with a
16:9 aspect ratio. A few QWXGA LCD monitors were available in 2009 with 23- and 27-inch displays, such as the
Acer B233HU (23-inch) and B273HU (27-inch), the Dell SP2309W, and the Samsung 2343BWX. As of 2011, most monitors have been discontinued, and as of 2013, no major manufacturer produces monitors with this resolution.
(QXGA)
QXGA (Quad Extended Graphics Array) is a display resolution of pixels with a
4:3 aspect ratio. The name comes from it having four times as many pixels as an XGA display. Examples of LCDs with this resolution are the IBM T210 and the
Eizo
is a Japanese visual technology company, founded in March 1968, which manufactures display products and other solutions for markets such as business, healthcare, graphics, air traffic control, and maritime. The company is headquartered in Ha ...
G33 and R31 screens, but in CRT monitors this resolution is much more common; some examples include the Sony F520,
ViewSonic G225fB,
NEC
is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...
FP2141SB or
Mitsubishi DP2070SB,
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 514, and
Dell and
HP P1230. Of these monitors, none are still in production. A related display size is WQXGA, which is a
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
version. CRTs offer a way to achieve QXGA cheaply. Models like the Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2045U and IBM ThinkVision C220P retailed for around US$200, and even higher performance ones like the ViewSonic PerfectFlat P220fB remained under $500. At one time, many off-lease P1230s could be found on eBay for under $150. The LCDs with WQXGA or QXGA resolution typically cost four to five times more for the same resolution.
IDTech manufactured a 15-inch QXGA
IPS
IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to:
Science and technology Biology and medicine
* ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle
* Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells
* Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique
* Intraparietal sulcus, ...
panel, used in the IBM ThinkPad R50p. NEC sold laptops with QXGA screens in 2002–05 for the Japanese market. The
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...
(starting from
3rd generation and
Mini 2) also has a QXGA display.
(WQXGA)
WQXGA (Wide Quad Extended Graphics Array) is a display resolution of pixels with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The name comes from it being a wide version of QXGA and having four times as many pixels as an WXGA () display.
To obtain a vertical refresh rate higher than 40Hz with
DVI, this resolution requires
dual-link DVI cables and devices. To avoid cable problems monitors are sometimes shipped with an appropriate dual link cable already plugged in. Many
video cards
A graphics card (also called a video card, display card, graphics adapter, VGA card/VGA, video adapter, display adapter, or mistakenly GPU) is an expansion card which generates a feed of output images to a display device, such as a computer mo ...
support this resolution. One feature that is currently unique to the 30-inch WQXGA monitors is the ability to function as the centerpiece and main display of a three-monitor array of complementary aspect ratios, with two UXGA () 20-inch monitors turned vertically on either side. The resolutions are equal, and the size of the 1600 resolution edges (if the manufacturer is honest) is within a tenth of an inch (16-inch vs. 15.899
99"), presenting a "picture window view" without the extreme lateral dimensions, small central panel, asymmetry, resolution differences, or dimensional difference of other three-monitor combinations. The resulting composite image has a 3.1:1 aspect ratio. This also means one UXGA 20-inch monitor in portrait orientation can also be flanked by two 30-inch WQXGA monitors for a composite image with an 11.85:3 (79:20, 3.95:1) aspect ratio. Some WQXGA medical displays (such as the Barco Coronis 4MP or the Eizo SX3031W) can also be configured as two virtual or seamless displays by using both DVI ports at the same time.
An early consumer WQXGA monitor was the 30-inch Apple Cinema Display, unveiled by Apple in June 2004. At the time, dual-link DVI was uncommon on consumer hardware, so Apple partnered with
Nvidia
Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
to develop a special graphics card that had two dual-link DVI ports, allowing simultaneous use of two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays. The nature of this graphics card, being an add-in AGP card, meant that the monitors could only be used in a desktop computer, like the Power Mac G5, that could have the add-in card installed, and could not be immediately used with laptop computers that lacked this expansion capability.
In March 2009, Apple updated several Macintosh computers with a Mini DisplayPort adapter, such as the Mac mini and iMac. These allow an external connection to 2560x1600 display.
In 2010, WQXGA made its debut in a handful of home theater projectors targeted at the Constant Height Screen application market. Both Digital Projection Inc and projectiondesign released models based on a Texas Instruments DLP chip with a native WQXGA resolution, alleviating the need for an anamorphic lens to achieve 1:2.35 image projection. Many manufacturers have 27–30-inch models that are capable of WQXGA, albeit at a much higher price than lower resolution monitors of the same size. Several mainstream WQXGA monitors are or were available with 30-inch displays, such as the Dell 3007WFP-HC, 3008WFP, U3011, U3014, UP3017, the Hewlett-Packard LP3065, the
Gateway XHD3000,
LG W3000H, and the Samsung 305T. Specialist manufacturers like
NEC
is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...
,
Eizo
is a Japanese visual technology company, founded in March 1968, which manufactures display products and other solutions for markets such as business, healthcare, graphics, air traffic control, and maritime. The company is headquartered in Ha ...
,
Planar Systems
Planar Systems, Inc. is an American digital display manufacturing corporation with a facility in Hillsboro, Oregon. Founded in 1983 as a spin-off from Tektronix, it was the first U.S. manufacturer of electroluminescent (EL) digital displays. Planar ...
,
Barco (LC-3001), and possibly others offer similar models. As of 2016,
LG Display
LG Display ( Korean: LG 디스플레이) is one of the world's largest manufacturers and supplier of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, OLEDs and flexible displays. LG Display is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea ...
make a 10-bit 30-inch AH-IPS panel, with wide color gamut, used in monitors from Dell, NEC, HP, Lenovo and Iiyama.
Released in November 2012, Google's
Nexus 10
The Nexus 10 is a tablet computer co-developed by Google and Samsung Electronics that runs the Android operating system. It is the second tablet in the Google Nexus series, a family of Android consumer devices marketed by Google and built by an ...
is the first consumer
tablet to feature WQXGA resolution. Before its release, the highest resolution available on a tablet was QXGA (), available on the Apple iPad 3rd and 4th generations devices. Several Samsung Galaxy tablets, including the Note 10.1 (2014 Edition), Tab S 8.4, 10.5 and TabPRO 8.4, 10.1 and Note Pro 12.2, as well as the Gigaset QV1030, also feature a WQXGA resolution display.
In 2012, Apple released the 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display that features a WQXGA display, and the new MacBook Air in 2018.
The LG Gram 17 introduced in 2019 uses a 17-inch WQXGA display. It has been updated with the LG Gram 2021 that retains the same screen size and resolution.
(QSXGA)
QSXGA (Quad Super Extended Graphics Array) is a display resolution of pixels with a 5:4 aspect ratio. Grayscale monitors with a resolution, primarily for medical use, are available from
Planar Systems
Planar Systems, Inc. is an American digital display manufacturing corporation with a facility in Hillsboro, Oregon. Founded in 1983 as a spin-off from Tektronix, it was the first U.S. manufacturer of electroluminescent (EL) digital displays. Planar ...
(Dome E5),
Eizo
is a Japanese visual technology company, founded in March 1968, which manufactures display products and other solutions for markets such as business, healthcare, graphics, air traffic control, and maritime. The company is headquartered in Ha ...
(Radiforce G51),
Barco (Nio 5, MP),
WIDE
WIDE or Wide may refer to:
*Wide (cricket)
*Wide and narrow data, terms used to describe two different presentations for tabular data
*WIDE Project, Widely Integrated Distributed Environment
*Wide-angle Infinity Display Equipment
*WIDE-LP, a radio ...
(IF2105MP), IDTech (IAQS80F), and possibly others.
Recent medical displays such as Barco Coronis Fusion 10MP or NDS Dome S10 have a native panel resolution of . These are driven by two dual-link DVI or DisplayPort outputs. They can be considered to be two seamless virtual QSXGA displays as they have to be driven simultaneously by both dual-link DVI or DisplayPort since one dual-link DVI or DisplayPort cannot single-handedly display 10 megapixels. A similar resolution of (4:3) was supported by a small number of CRT displays via VGA such as the Viewsonic P225f when paired with the right graphics card.
(WQSXGA)
WQSXGA (Wide Quad Super Extended Graphics Array) describes a display standard that can support a resolution up to pixels, assuming a 1.5625:1 (25:16) aspect ratio. The Coronis Fusion 6MP DL by Barco supports (approximately 16:10).
(QUXGA)
QUXGA (Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array) describes a display standard that can support a resolution up to pixels, assuming a 4:3 aspect ratio.
(WQUXGA)
WQUXGA (Wide Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array) describes a display standard that supports a resolution of pixels, which provides a 16:10 aspect ratio. This resolution is exactly four times (in pixels). On their XPS 13 2‑in‑1 (7390) laptop computer Dell seems to have referred to this resolution as "UHD+".
Most
display cards with a DVI connector are capable of supporting the resolution. However, the maximum refresh rate will be limited by the number of DVI links connected to the monitor. 1, 2, or 4 DVI connectors are used to drive the monitor using various tile configurations. Only the IBM T221-DG5 and IDTech MD22292B5 support the use of dual-link DVI ports through an external converter box. Many systems using these monitors use at least two DVI connectors to send video to the monitor. These DVI connectors can be from the same graphics card, different graphics cards, or even different computers. Motion across the tile boundary(ies) can show
tearing
Tearing is the act of breaking apart a material by force, without the aid of a cutting tool. A tear in a piece of paper, fabric, or some other similar object may be the result of the intentional effort with one's bare hands, or be accidental. U ...
if the DVI links are not synchronized. The display panel can be updated at a speed between 0Hz and 41Hz (48Hz for the IBM T221-DG5, -DGP, and IDTech MD22292B5). The refresh rate of the video signal can be higher than 41Hz (or 48Hz) but the monitor will not update the display any faster even if graphics card(s) do so.
In June 2001, WQUXGA was introduced in the
IBM T220
The IBM T220 and T221 are LCD monitors that were sold between 2001 and 2005, with a native resolution of 3840×2400 pixels (WQUXGA) on a screen with a diagonal of 22.2 inches (564 mm). This works out to 9,216,000 pixels, with a pixe ...
LCD monitor using a LCD panel built by IDTech. LCD displays that support WQUXGA resolution include: IBM T220, IBM T221, Iiyama AQU5611DTBK,
ViewSonic VP2290
The IBM T220 and T221 are LCD monitors that were sold between 2001 and 2005, with a native resolution of 3840×2400 pixels ( WQUXGA) on a screen with a diagonal of 22.2 inches (564 mm). This works out to 9,216,000 pixels, with a pixel ...
, ADTX MD22292B, and IDTech MD22292 (models B0, B1, B2, B5, C0, C2). IDTech was the original equipment manufacturer which sold these monitors to ADTX, IBM, Iiyama, and ViewSonic. However, none of the WQUXGA monitors (IBM, ViewSonic, Iiyama, ADTX) are in production anymore: they had prices that were well above even the higher end displays used by graphic professionals, and the lower refresh rates, 41Hz and 48Hz, made them less attractive for many applications.
Unsystematic resolutions
After having used VGA-based 3:2 resolutions HVGA (480 × 320) and ''Retina'' DVGA (960 × 640) for several years in their iPhone and iPod products with a screen diagonal of 9 cm or 3.5 inches, Apple started using more exotic variants when they adopted the 16:9 aspect ratio to provide a consistent pixel density across screen sizes: first 1136 × 640 (rarely: WDVGA) with the
iPhone 5,
5C,
5S and
SE 1st for 10-cm or 4-inch screens, and later 1334 × 750 with the
iPhone 6
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are smartphones that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the eighth generation of the iPhone, succeeding the iPhone 5, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S, and were announced on September 9, 2014, and rele ...
,
6S,
7,
8,
SE 2nd and
SE 3rd for 12-cm or 4.7-inch screens, while devices with 14-cm or 5.5-inch screens used standard 1920 × 1080 with the
iPhone 6 Plus,
6S Plus,
7 Plus
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...
and
8 Plus. The
iPhone X
The iPhone X (Roman numeral "X" pronounced "ten", also known as iPhone 10) is a smartphone designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is part of the 11th generation of the iPhone. Available for pre-order from October 27, 2017, it was re ...
,
XS and
11 Pro introduced a 2436 × 1125 resolution for 15-cm or 5.8-inch screens, while the
iPhone XS Max and
11 Pro Max introduced a 2688 × 1242 resolution for 17-cm or 6.5-inch screens (with a notch) all at an aspect ratio of roughly 13:6 or, for marketing, 19.5:9.
Other manufacturers have also introduced phones with irregular display resolutions and aspect ratios, e.g. Samsung's various ''Infinity'' displays with 37:18 = :9 (
Galaxy S8/
S9 and
A8/
A9), i.e. 2960 × 1440 (Quad HD+, WQHD+) or 2220 × 1080 (Full HD+), and 19:9 (
S10) aspect ratios: 3040 × 1440 and 2280 × 1080 (S10e).
Some
air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
monitors use displays with a resolution of 2048 x 2048, with an aspect ratio of 1:1, and similar consumer monitors at resolution of 1920 x 1920 are also available aimed primarily at productivity tasks.
Eizo
is a Japanese visual technology company, founded in March 1968, which manufactures display products and other solutions for markets such as business, healthcare, graphics, air traffic control, and maritime. The company is headquartered in Ha ...
is major supplier of panels and monitors in this aspect ratio. Also in 2022, a 16:18 monitor (in 2560x2880 resolution, named SDQHD) was released for general productivity work by
LG Electronics
LG Electronics Inc. () is a South Korean multinational electronics company headquartered in Yeouido-dong, Seoul, South Korea. LG Electronics is a part of LG Corporation, the fourth largest '' chaebol'' in South Korea, and often considered a ...
.
See also
*
Dot pitch
Dot pitch (sometimes called line pitch, stripe pitch, or phosphor pitch) is a specification for a computer display, computer printer, image scanner, or other pixel-based devices that describe the distance, for example, between dots ( sub-pixels) ...
*
List of common resolutions
This article lists computer monitor screen resolutions that are defined by standards or in common use. Most of them use certain preferred numbers.
Computer graphics
; Pixel aspect ratio (PAR): The horizontal to vertical ratio of each pixel.
; ...
*
Pixel density
*
Ultrawide formats
Ultrawide formats refers to photos, videos and displays with aspect ratio greater than 2. There were multiple moves in history towards wider formats, including one by Disney,p20, Sherlock, Daniel J"Wide Screen Movies" Corrections 1994–2004 wi ...
for history and comparison of video formats and displays, which are growing wider
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graphic Display Resolutions
Computer display standards