What is an aspect ratio?
The relationship between the width of a movie 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.
An aspect ratio refers to the dimensions of a television screen or other screen. The ratio refers to the width of the screen in relation to the height of the screen. The aspect ratio of today’s traditional TV is 4:3. For comparison, the aspect ratio of a square screen would be expressed as 1:1 or 4:4. The aspect ratio of HDTV is 16:9. This is similar to the aspect ratio that many motion pictures are shot in. The 16 refers to the width of the screen and the 9 refers to the height of the screen.
