Editing Display resolution (section)

{{short description|Width and height of a display in pixels}}
{{About||screen sizes (typically in inches, measured on the diagonal)|Display size|an extensive discussion of particular display resolutions|Display resolution standards}}
{{Wide image|Vector Video Standards8.svg|500px|This chart shows the most [[List of common resolutions|common display resolutions]], with the color of each resolution type indicating the display ratio (e.g. red indicates a 4:3 ratio). Printable variant is available [[:File:Vector Video Standards8 2023.svg|here]].|46%|right|alt=This chart shows the most [[List of common resolutions|common display resolutions]], with the color of each resolution type indicating the display ratio (e.g. red indicates a 4:3 ratio).}}

The '''display resolution''' or display modes of a [[digital television]], [[computer monitor]], or other [[display device]] is the number of distinct [[pixel]]s in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution is controlled by different factors in [[cathode-ray tube]] (CRT) displays, [[flat-panel display]]s (including [[liquid-crystal display]]s) and projection displays using fixed picture-element (pixel) arrays.

It is usually quoted as ''{{resx|width|height}}'', with the units in pixels: for example, ''{{resx|1024|768}}'' means the width is 1024 pixels and the height is 768 pixels. This example would normally be spoken as "ten twenty-four by seven sixty-eight" or "ten twenty-four by seven six eight".

One use of the term ''display resolution'' applies to fixed-pixel-array displays such as [[plasma display panel]]s (PDP), liquid-crystal displays (LCD), [[Digital Light Processing]] (DLP) projectors, [[AMOLED|OLED]] displays, and similar technologies, and is simply the physical number of columns and rows of pixels creating the display (e.g. {{resx|1920|1080}}). A consequence of having a fixed-grid display is that, for multi-format video inputs, all displays need a "scaling engine" (a digital video processor that includes a memory array) to match the incoming picture format to the display.

For device displays such as phones, tablets, monitors and televisions, the use of the term ''display resolution'' as defined above is a misnomer, though common. The term ''display resolution'' is usually used to mean ''pixel dimensions'', the maximum number of pixels in each dimension (e.g. {{resx|1920|1080}}), which does not tell anything about the pixel density of the display on which the image is actually formed: resolution properly refers to the [[pixel density]], the number of pixels per unit distance or area, not the ''total'' number of pixels. In digital measurement, the display resolution would be given in pixels per inch (PPI). In analog measurement, if the screen is 10&nbsp;inches high, then the horizontal resolution is measured across a square 10&nbsp;inches wide.<ref>{{cite web |title=Screen resolution? Aspect ratio? What do 720p, 1080p, QHD, 4K and 8K mean? |url=http://www.digitalcitizen.life/what-screen-resolution-or-aspect-ratio-what-do-720p-1080i-1080p-mean |publisher=digitalcitizen.life |date=2016-05-20 |access-date=2017-08-28 }}</ref> For television standards, this is typically stated as "lines horizontal resolution, per picture height";<ref name="BE_Robin_2005">{{cite web |title=Horizontal resolution: Pixels or lines |url=http://broadcastengineering.com/infrastructure/broadcasting_horizontal_resolution_pixels |publisher=Broadcast Engineering |last=Robin |first=Michael |date=2005-04-01 |access-date=2012-07-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815182205/http://broadcastengineering.com/infrastructure/broadcasting_horizontal_resolution_pixels |archive-date=2012-08-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> for example, analog [[NTSC]] TVs can typically display about 340 lines of "per picture height" horizontal resolution from over-the-air sources, which is equivalent to about 440 total lines of actual picture information from left edge to right edge.<ref name="BE_Robin_2005"/>