Editing IMAX (section)

=== Digital projection ===
{{see also|#Digital}}
In 2008, IMAX extended its brand into traditional theaters with the introduction of Digital IMAX, a lower-cost system that uses two 2K digital projectors to project on a 1.90:1 aspect ratio screen. This lower-cost option, which allowed for the conversion of existing [[multiplex theater]] auditoriums, helped IMAX to grow from 299 screens worldwide at the end of 2007 to over 1,000 screens by the end of 2015.<ref name=results2015>{{cite press release|author1=IMAX Corporation|title=IMAX Corporation Reports Fourth-Quarter And Full-Year 2015 Financial Results|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/imax-corporation-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2015-financial-results-300225647.html|publisher=PR Newswire|access-date=February 24, 2016|date=February 24, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=IMAX Corporation Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007|url=http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/11/118725/2007_IMAX_Annual_Report.pdf|date=March 14, 2008|access-date=2016-02-29}}</ref> {{As of|2017|9}}, there were 1,302 IMAX theatres located in 75 countries, of which 1,203 were in commercial multiplexes.<ref name="canada-vr">{{cite web|url=https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/imax-and-cineplex-launch-canada-s-first-imax-vr-centre-at-scotiabank-theatre-toronto-1008432655|title=IMAX and Cineplex Launch Canada's First IMAX VR Centre at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto|website=markets.businessinsider.com}}</ref>

The switch to digital projection came at a steep cost in image quality, with [[2K resolution|2K]] projectors having roughly an order of magnitude less resolution than traditional IMAX film projectors. Maintaining the same 7-story screen size would only make this loss more noticeable, so many new theaters were instead built with significantly smaller screens. These newer theaters with much lower resolution and much smaller screens soon began to be referred to by the derogatory name "LieMAX", particularly because the company still marketed the new screens similarly to the old ones, without making the major differences clear to the public, going so far as to market the smallest "IMAX" screen, having 10 times less area, similarly to the largest while persisting with the same brand name.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2014/05/02/308939700/maintaining-the-imax-experience-from-museum-to-multiplex Maintaining The IMAX Experience, From Museum To Multiplex], by Elizabeth Blair (NPR.org, May 2, 2014)</ref><ref>[https://lfexaminer.com/2010/04/the-shrinking-imax-screen/ The Shrinking IMAX Screen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190525134659/http://www.lfexaminer.com/20100421shrinking-imax-screens.htm |date=May 25, 2019 }}, originally published in the LF Examiner, April 2010</ref>

Since 2002, some feature films have been converted into IMAX format for displaying in IMAX theatres, and some have also been (partially) shot in IMAX. By late 2017, 1,302 IMAX theatre systems were installed in 1,203 commercial multiplexes, 13 commercial destinations, and 86 institutional settings in 75 countries,<ref name="canada-vr"/> with less than a quarter of those having the capability to show 70mm film at the resolution of the large format as originally conceived.