How were TV size ratios defined and why did we go from 4:3 to 16:9?
In: 14
Movies turned to around 2.35:1. In order to display both 4×3 and 2.35:1 without or with minimal “pan&scan” (zooming in to fill the screen and panning the zoom window depending on the shot), they decided on 16×9. Since 4×3 is naturally 12×9, that means it an easily be displayed with pillar-boxes (black bars on the sides); 2.35:1 is close enough to 16×7 that it can be displayed with minimal cropping with letter-boxes (black bars on top/bottom) or can go through pan&scan without much loss of information to the sides of the frame.
4×3 = ~1.33:1
16×9 = ~1.78:1
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