Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film.
For television, the original screen ratio for broadcasts was 4:3 (1.33:1). In the 2000s, 16:9 (1.78:1) TV displays came into wide use. They are typically used in conjunction with high-definition television (HDTV) receivers, or Standard-Definition (SD) DVD players and other digital television sources.
With computer displays, aspect ratios wider than 4:3 are also called widescreen. Widescreen computer displays were previously typically of 16:10 aspect ratio, now they are shifting to 16:9.
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