Editing Mode 13h (section)

{{Short description|Standard 256-color mode on VGA graphics hardware}}
{{multiple issues|{{more citations needed|date=May 2023}}
{{original research|date=May 2023}}}}
[[File:Birds VGA mode 13h 320x200.png|thumb|320x320px|Simulated image as displayed using VGA mode 13h resolution and color abilities (aspect ratio not corrected).]][[File:VGA palette with black borders.svg|thumb|257px|right|Default VGA 256-color palette]]
'''Mode 13h''' is the standard 256-color mode on [[Video Graphics Array|VGA]] [[graphics hardware]] introduced in 1987 with the [[IBM PS/2]]. It has a resolution of {{resx|320x200}} [[pixels]].<ref name="Brown"/>  It was used in [[computer games]] and [[art]]/[[animation software]] of the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s.{{citation needed|date=June 2024}} "13h" refers to the number of the mode in the VGA [[BIOS]]. The "h" stands for [[hexadecimal]].

Mode 13h provides [[programmers]] with a linear {{resx|320x200}} block of [[video memory]], where each byte represents one pixel. This allows ease of programming at the expense of access to other useful features of the VGA hardware.

Given the [[aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]] of a {{resx|320x200}} [[Display resolution|resolution]] screen for use on a [[Fullscreen (aspect ratio)|4:3]] display, Mode 13h does not have [[Pixel aspect ratio|square pixels]].<ref>Fabien Sanglard, GAME ENGINE BLACK BOOK: WOLFENSTEIN 3D, 2nd edition, Chapter Hardware, page 59, freely available at https://fabiensanglard.net/gebb/index.html</ref>