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Aspect ratios

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The aspect ratio is the ratio of the projected image's width:height when projected on the screen. In practice, the term is also used to refer to the image's width:height ratio as printed on the film.

  • the fact that aspect ratios are rarely exact - in reality, aperture plates are cut approximately, etc.


Small Gauges: 8mm, Super 8, etc.

16mm

The 16mm frame has a native full-frame aspect ratio of nearly (though not exactly) 1.33:1. This is the aspect ratio of the vast majority of 16mm prints.

Other 16mm aspect ratios exist, however. Some prints are hard-matted to widescreen aspect ratios like 1.85 and 1.66 (this is seen with some frequency on 16mm reductions of widescreen feature films originally released on 35mm).

Anamorphic 16mm prints also exist. These have an aspect ratio of 2.66:1 (because of the native 1.33 aspect ratio of the frame). Note that this means that anamorphic 16mm reductions of films originally released as 35mm anamorphic will be cropped slightly at the top and bottom of the frame!

  • Pan/scan, cropping, and other TV print issues

35mm

Gauge Aspect Ratio Other names Year of Introduction Image Notes
35mm 1.33:1 Silent / Full Frame 1907
35mm 1.19:1 Movietone 1926
35mm 1.37:1 Academy ratio 1932 Sometimes incorrectly called 1.33
35mm 1.66:1 1953 Warning: widescreen formats may be soft-matted
35mm 1.78:1 ? Used for films that originated on video.
35mm 1.85:1 Flat 1953 Warning: widescreen formats may be soft-matted
35mm 2.39:1 CinemaScope / Anamorphic 1953 CinemaScope aspect ratios vary.
  • Determining correct aspect ratios for widescreen, etc.
    • Eyeballing and measuring
    • Educated guesses based on year, studio, country, etc
    • Caveat: there is no "correct," historically - so contentious!


70mm

See Also


External Links