One of the most important aspects of television viewing but often not taken into account is aspect ratio. You might have spent thousands on rupees on your new television but perhaps have not considered how it would be to watch pictures if they were to appear distorted on the screen. That would be a deterrent in your TV viewing experience.

Television screens have basically two native aspect ratios: 16:9 (16x9, 1.78:1, or widescreen) and 4:3 (also known as 4x3, 1.33:1, or standard). The latter is the most common in standard CRT TVs. 16:9 is the aspect ratio of most HDTVs (high-definition televisions). 16:9 is considered the best because of its ability to show theatre-quality images.

Basics of aspect ratio
Aspect Ratio refers to the ratio of width to height of your TV screen and is widely used to denote the shape of a TV or computer screen. The two most common aspect ratios we find in televisions are, as stated earlier, 4:3 and 16:9. The aspect ratio of a standard TV screen is 4:3. (which means the ratio of width to height is 4:3) and the other is 16:9 (which means the ratio of width to height is 16:9).

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16:9 aspect ratio images
This aspect ratio is commonly seen in large screen LCD and Plasma TVs. HDTVs have native resolution to show widescreen videos in 16:9 aspect ratio, without creating any image loss. Common HDTV resolutions include 1366 x 768 pixels and 1920 x 1080 pixels, both 16:9 in terms of their width to height relation. This aspect ratio is closer to the widescreen experience that you are offered in multiplex theaters, and you are able to watch a film the way it was originally shot. This is why 16:9 is considered the best. 16:9 image is much better than 4:3 image because it is horizontally oriented and hence suited to how your eyes, which are next to each other and not on top of one another, view objects.

Also read: Making choices: LCD or Plasma?