Why does the FOV in video games and cameras get distorted as it increases?

Question

FOV = Field of View

In: 5

Answer 1

Because it’s mapping a field of view (which is a cone) onto a flat rectangle. If your monitor was shaped like a portion of the outside of a sphere, then we could do the mapping differently and it wouldn’t be distorted, but only for the FOV that matched the size and curvature of your monitor.