The aspect ratio is the ratio between the width and height of the screen. Find out what 16:9, 21:9 and 4:3 mean and which one you should pick.

The aspect ratio is the ratio between the width and height of the screen. It’s noted in the form of W:H, which is interpreted as W pixels in width for every H pixel in height.

When buying a new PC monitor or perhaps a TV screen, you’ll stumble on the specification called “Aspect Ratio.” Wondering what this means?

This is essentially just the ratio between the width and height of the display. The higher the first number compared to the last number, the wider the screen will be compared to the height.

Most monitors and TVs today have an aspect ratio of 16:9 (Widescreen), and we are seeing more and more gaming monitors getting a 21:9 aspect ratio, also referred to as UltraWide. There are also several monitors with a 32:9 aspect ratio, or ‘Super UltraWide.’

Other, less popular, aspect ratios are 4:3 and 16:10, though finding new monitors with these aspect ratios is difficult nowadays, but they were quite widespread back in the day.