What is an aspect ratio?
Aspect ratio is a measurement of the proportion of your image. The largest side divided by the smallest side of your image will give you your aspect ratio. Aspect ratios are typically presented in the format #:1 — that is, # pixels on your largest side for each 1 pixel on your shortest side. A 3000 x 2000 image would have an: (3000 / 2000) = 1.5:1 aspect ratio. You can easily see what prints we offer are at each of our acceptable aspect ratios by viewing our Print Sellers’ Tips page.
It’s difficult to approach this subject without a brief discussion of aspect ratios in general. Aspect ratio is a way of expressing the proportions of a screen; it’s always stated as horizontal size versus vertical size. For example, the earliest standard motion picture aspect ratio is the Academy Format of 1.37:1. You’ll note that the height has been “normalized” to one. This makes other calculations easier. For example, a 50-foot wide screen in this format would be 36.5 feet high (50/36.5=1.37/1). When NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) television was introduced, the decision was made to emulate the motion picture format, but round off the proportions to whole numbers, 4:3 or 1.33:1.
An aspect ratio is the relationship between the width and height of an image. For example, a square has an aspect ratio of 1:1 (the height is the same as the width). 35 mm film has an aspect ratio of 3:2, which produces 6″ x 4″ prints with no cropping. Each picture size has a different aspect ratio. A 6″ x 4″ print is 3:2, a 7″ x 5″ print is 7:5, and a 10″ x 8″ is 5:4.
The relationship between the width of a film image and its height is known as its aspect ratio, and from the early days of film until the early-1950s, almost all films had a standard aspect ratio of 1.33:1. In other words, the film image was 1.33 times as wide as it was tall (another way to denote this is 4×3, meaning 4 units of width for every 3 of height). This is the same shape as the conventional TV screen. Today, widescreen dominates filmmaking in a variety of aspect ratios. But there are two ratios that are by far the most common: Academy Flat (1.85:1) and Anamorphic Scope (2.35:1). In the case of Academy Flat, the film is 1.85 times as wide as it is tall. Anamorphic Scope is even wider, 2.35 times as wide as it is tall.
