Movie aspect ratio

The aspect ratio of a movie or image is the ratio of its width to its height. It is written as two numbers separated by a colon, starting with width; the written expression is width:height.

There are common aspect ratios used for different purposes. In cinematography, two common aspect ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.40:1. Television typically uses 4:3 or 16:9. Still photography commonly uses a 3:2 aspect ratio, but there are other common aspect ratios for still photography as well, including 4:3, 5:3, 5:4, or even 1:1, which is a square. 

Aspect ratio depends heavily on the device that the image or video will be viewed on. For example, modern, high-definition televisions display images differently from a screen in a movie theater, hence the difference between television and movie cinematography. Likewise, viewing something on a phone or tablet will change the way the image or video is viewed. IMAX uses a 1.43:1 movie aspect ratio, 

Because of changing technology, common aspect ratios have evolved over the history of film, television, and still photography. The first ever television aspect ratio was 1:2.32, due to the design of televisions in the 1930s. A 1.19:1 movie aspect ratio was used briefly when movies were switching over from silent films to sound. Famously, The Lighthouse (2019) was shot in this largely antiquated aspect ratio. 

Aspect ratio matters because it dramatically changes what is able to fit within the image. Look at this image, first presented as a square (1:1 aspect ratio) and secondly presented as a rectangle.

The aspect ratio determines how much visual information can fit in an image or video, in addition to determining the framing and composition. While the background of this image is relatively plain, let’s look at what happens with an image with the same aspect ratio but more visual information in the image.

In this image, it’s clear to see that not only does aspect ratio affect the image framing and composition, it also affects what is physically able to be featured in the image. The same is true for movies and television!