Common Computer and Video Screen Resolutions
Joe is the creator of Inch Calculator and has over 20 years of experience in engineering and construction. He holds several degrees and certifications.
Today’s computer monitors and televisions come in various screen resolutions and support several different formats. We’ve put together a full list of modern television, video, and computer resolutions.
Computer Display Resolutions
| Resolution | Aspect Ratio | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| 640 x 480 | 4:3 | VGA |
| 768 x 480 | 16:10 | WVGA |
| 800 x 600 | 4:3 | SVGA |
| 1024 x 600 | 16:9 | WSVGA |
| 1024 × 768 | 4:3 | XGA |
| 1280 x 768 | 16:9 | WXGA |
| 1280 x 800 | 16:10 | WXGA |
| 1280 × 960 | 4:3 | SXGA |
| 1400 × 1050 | 4:3 | SXGA+ |
| 1600 × 1200 | 4:3 | UXGA |
| 1920 x 1080 | 16:9 | FHD |
| 1920 x 1200 | 16:10 | WUXGA |
| 1920 x 1280 | 3:2 | FHD+ |
| 2360 x 1640 | 4:3 | iPad Air |
| 2530 x 1170 | 19.5:9 | iPhone 12 |
| 2560 x 1440 | 16:9 | QHD |
| 2560 x 1600 | 16:10 | WQXGA |
| 3840 x 2160 | 16:9 | 4k, UHD |
| 3840 x 2400 | 16:10 | WQUXGA |
| 5120 x 2880 | 16:9 | 5k iMac Retina |
| 6016 x 3384 | 16:9 | 6k Apple Pro XDR |
Television and Video Screen Resolutions
| Resolution | Aspect Ratio | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| 640 x 480 | 4:3 | VGA |
| 720 x 480 | 4:3 | 480i, NTSC |
| 720 x 576 | 4:3 | 576i, PAL |
| 1024 × 576 | 16:9 | PAL |
| 1280 × 720 | 16:9 | 720p, HD |
| 1920 × 1080 | 16:9 | 1080p, FHD |
| 2560 × 1440 | 16:9 | 1440p, QHD |
| 3840 × 2160 | 16:9 | 4k, 2160p, UHD |
| 7860 x 4320 | 16:9 | 8k, UHD |
| 10240 x many | various | 10k |
| 15360 x 8640 | 16:9 | 16k, QUHD (Quad UHD) |
See a list of common 16:9 TV screen sizes and dimensions.
What is Screen Resolution?
Displays, including screens, monitors, and televisions, display in image or video at a particular resolution, which is a measure of the level of detail shown in the visual image.
Images are displayed as a grid of pixels, which are square or rectangular boxes of a particular color. The more pixels used to compose the picture, the finer the detail shown.
The number of columns and rows in the grid are referred to as the display’s resolution. Resolution is conveyed as the number of columns by the number of rows displayed on the screen. For instance, if the screen displays 640 columns and 480 rows of pixels, its resolution is 640×480.
Screen resolution is a little different from pixel density, which is the ratio of the number of pixels to the screen size. Screen density is measured in pixels per inch (PPI) and can be found using our PPI calculator.
Use our TV viewing distance calculator to determine the right TV size and seating distance for your selected resolution.
Display Resolution Standards
Several standards have been agreed upon by display manufacturers and computer and device manufacturers to ensure that most devices output a common set of resolutions that could be displayed on most screens.
For example, the 640×480 resolution noted above is the Video Graphics Array or VGA.
Progressive vs. Interlaced Scan
Those who remember the early days when HD video started becoming popular likely remember seeing televisions that were a 720p or 1080i resolution. Now it’s common to see televisions that are 1080p resolution, 4k, or even 8k.
The “p” and “i” in these resolutions are referring to progressive and interlaced scan. In the early days of analog video, bandwidth was a valuable commodity, and increased resolution required using interlaced scanning.
Interlaced scanning displays half of the rows of pixels in the frame and the other half of the rows in the alternate frame. This allowed displaying higher resolution video using less bandwidth than progressive scan, which is displays all rows of pixels in the frame at the same time.
Interlaced scanning allows for higher resolution video but does introduce flicker. Today progressive scan is used most commonly.
Aspect Ratio
In addition to resolution, there is an additional consideration when selecting a display for a computer or video device, which is the aspect ratio. A display’s aspect ratio is the ratio of the number of columns to the number of rows, or essentially how rectangular the image is.
Common aspect ratios are 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10. 16:10 is most commonly used in computer displays, 16:9 is most commonly used for HD video, and 4:3 was most commonly in both computer displays and TV video before widescreen displays became commonplace.
Use our aspect ratio calculator to calculate the aspect ratio of your display resolution.