4K, Ultra HD, or 2160p is a display resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels or 8.3 megapixels in total. With more and more 4K content being available and the prices of 4K displays going down, 4K resolution is slowly but steadily on its way to replacing 1080p as the new standard.

If you can afford the hardware required to run 4K smoothly, it’s definitely worth it.

Unlike the lower screen resolution abbreviations that contain vertical pixels in their label, such as 1080p for 1920×1080 Full HD or 1440p for 2560×1440 Quad HD, 4K resolution implies roughly 4,000 horizontal pixels instead of the vertical value.

As 4K or Ultra HD has 2160 vertical pixels, it is also sometimes referred to as 2160p.

The 4K UHD standard that’s used for TVs, monitors, and video games is also dubbed as the UHD-1 or UHDTV resolution, whereas in professional film and video production, the 4K resolution is labeled as DCI-4K (Digital Cinema Initiatives) with 4096 x 2160 pixels or 8.8 megapixels in total.

The Digital Cinema Initiatives-4K resolution features a 256:135 (1.9:1) aspect ratio, while 4K UHD has the more common 16:9 ratio.