Graphics display resolution

640 × 360 (nHD)

nHD is a display resolution of 640 × 360 pixels, which is exactly one ninth of a Full HD (1080p) frame and one quarter of a HD (720p) frame. Pixel doubling (vertically and horizontally) nHD frames will form one 720p frame and pixel tripling nHD frames will form one 1080p frame.

One drawback of this resolution is that the vertical resolution is not an even multiple of 16, which is a common macroblock size for video codecs. Video frames encoded with 16×16 pixel macroblocks would be padded to 640 × 368 and the added pixels would be cropped away at playback. H.264 codecs have this padding and cropping ability built-in as standard. The same is true for qHD and 1080p but the relative amount of padding is more for lower resolutions such as nHD.

To avoid storing the eight lines of padded pixels, some people prefer to encode video at 624 × 352, which only has one stored padded line. When such video streams are either encoded from HD frames or played back on HD displays in full screen mode (either 720p or 1080p) they are scaled by non-integer scale factors. True nHD frames on the other hand has integer scale factors, for example Nokia 808 PureView with nHD display.

960 × 540 (qHD)

qHD is a display resolution of 960 × 540 pixels, which is exactly one quarter of a Full HD (1080p) frame, in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Similar to DVGA, this resolution became popular for high-end smartphone displays in early 2011. Mobile phones including the Jolla, Sony Xperia C, HTC Sensation, Motorola Droid RAZR, LG Optimus L9, Microsoft Lumia 535 and Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini have displays with the qHD resolution, as does the PlayStation Vita portable game system.

1280 × 720 (HD)

The HD resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels stems from high-definition television (HDTV), where it originally used 60 frames per second. With its 16:9 aspect ratio it is exactly 2 times the width and 1&​¹⁄₂ times the height of 4:3 VGA, which shares its aspect ratio and 480 line count with NTSC. HD therefore has exactly 3 times as many pixels as VGA.

This resolution is often referred to as 720p, although the p (which stands for progressive scan and is important for transmission formats) is irrelevant for labeling digital display resolutions.

In the mid 2000s, when the digital HD technology and standard debut the market, this type of resolution was very often and commonly referred to (both by the public and by the marketers) by its friendlier branded and certified name HD ready.

Few screens have been built that actually use this resolution natively. Most employ 16:9 panels with 768 lines instead (WXGA), which resulted in odd numbers of pixels per line, i.e. 1365​¹⁄₃ are rounded to 1360, 1364, 1366 or even 1376, the next multiple of 16.

1280 × 1080

1280 × 1080 is the resolution of Panasonic's DVCPRO HD^[3] Format, as well as DV Camcorders using this format, and their TFT LCD screens. It has an aspect ratio of 32:27 (1.185:1), an approximate of Movietone Cameras of 1930's. In 2007, Hitachi released a few 42" and 50" television models at this resolution.^[4]

1600 × 900 (HD+)

The HD+ resolution of 1600 × 900 pixels in a 16:9 aspect ratio is often referred to as 900p.

1920 × 1080 (FHD)

Full HD or FHD is the resolution used by the 1080p and 1080i HDTV video formats. It has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 2,073,600 total pixels, and is exactly 50% larger than HD (1280 × 720) in each dimension for a total of 2.25 times as many pixels. Using interlacing, the bandwidth requirements are very similar to those of 720p at the same field rate.

2048 × 1080 (DCI 2K)

DCI 2K is a standardized format established by the Digital Cinema Initiatives consortium in 2005 for 2K video projection. This format has a resolution of 2048 × 1080 (2.2 megapixels) with an aspect ratio of 256:135 (1.8962:1).^[5] This is the native resolution for DCI-compliant 2K digital projectors and displays.

2160 × 1080

2160 × 1080 is a resolution used by many smartphones since 2018. It has an aspect ratio of 18:9, matching that of the Univisium film format.^[6]

2560 × 1080

This resolution is equivalent to a Full HD (1920 × 1080) extended in width by 33%, with an aspect ratio of 64:27. It is sometimes referred to as "1080p ultrawide" or "UW-FHD" (ultrawide FHD). Monitors at this resolution usually contain built in firmware to divide the screen into two 1280 × 1080 screens,^[7] equivalent to DVCPRO HD 1280 × 1080 display, but not interlaced.

2560 × 1440 (QHD, WQHD)

QHD (Quad HD), WQHD (Wide Quad HD),^[8] or 1440p,^[9] is a display resolution of 2560 × 1440 pixels in a 16:9 aspect ratio. The name QHD reflects the fact that it has four times as many pixels as HD (720p). It is also commonly called WQHD, to emphasize it being a wide resolution, although that is technically unnecessary, since the HD resolutions are all wide. One advantage of using "WQHD" is avoiding confusion with qHD with a small q (960 × 540).

This resolution was under consideration by the ATSC in the late 1980s to become the standard HDTV format, because it is exactly 4 times the width and 3 times the height of VGA, which has the same number of lines as NTSC signals at the SDTV 4:3 aspect ratio. Pragmatic technical constraints made them choose the now well-known 16:9 formats with twice (HD) and thrice (FHD) the VGA width instead.

In October 2006, Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) announced a 47-inch 1440p LCD panel to be released in Q2 2007;^[10] the panel was planned to finally debut at FPD International 2008 in a form of autostereoscopic 3D display.^[11] As of the end of 2013, monitors with this resolution are becoming more common. A list of monitors with QHD resolution is available.

The resolution is also used in portable devices. In September 2012, Samsung announced the Series 9 WQHD laptop with a 13-inch 2560 × 1440 display.^[12] In August 2013, LG announced a 5.5-inch QHD smartphone display, which was used in the LG G3.^[13] In October 2013 Vivo announced a smartphone with a 2560 × 1440 display.^[14] Other phone manufacturers followed in 2014, such as Samsung with the Galaxy Note 4,^[15] and Google^[16] and Motorola^[17] with the Nexus 6^[18] smartphone. By the mid 2010s, it was a common resolution among flagship phones such as the HTC 10, the Lumia 950, and the Galaxy S6^[19] and S7.^[20]

3200 × 1800 (QHD+)

This resolution has a 16:9 aspect ratio, and is exactly four times as many pixels as the 1600 × 900 HD+ resolution. It has been referred to as "QHD"^[21] and "QHD+"^[22] by various different companies.

3440 × 1440

This resolution is equivalent to QHD (2560 × 1440) extended in width by 34%, giving it an aspect ratio of 43:18 aspect ratio (2.38:1, or 21.5:9; commonly marketed as simply "21:9"). The first monitor to support this resolution was the 34-inch LG 34UM95-P.^[23] LG uses the term "UW-QHD" to describe this resolution. This monitor was first released in Germany in late December 2013, before being officially announced at CES 2014.

The first products announced to use this resolution were the 2013 HP Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook^[24] and the 13.3-inch Samsung Ativ Q.^[25]

3840 × 1080

This resolution is equivalent to two Full HD (1920 × 1080) displays side-by-side, or one vertical half of a 4K UHD (3840 × 2160) display, with an aspect ratio of 32:9. It is an approximation of 36:10, the ratio of IMAX UltraWideScreen 3.6. Samsung monitors at this resolution contain built in firmware to divide the screen into two 1920 × 1080 screens, or one 2560 × 1080 and one 1280 × 1080 screen.^[26]

3840 × 1600

This resolution has a 12:5 aspect ratio (2.4:1, or 21.6:9). It is equivalent to WQXGA (2560 × 1600) extended in width by 50%, or 4K UHD (3840 × 2160) reduced in height by 26%. This resolution is commonly encountered in cinematic 4K content that has been cropped vertically to a widescreen 2.4:1 aspect ratio. The first monitor to support this resolution was the 37.5-inch LG 38UC99-W. Other vendors followed, with Dell U3818DW, HP Z38c, and Acer XR382CQK. This resolution is referred to as UW4K, WQHD+, UWQHD+, or QHD+,^{[27][28][29][30]} though no single name is agreed upon.

3840 × 2160 (4K UHD)

This resolution, sometimes referred to as 4K UHD or 4K x 2K, has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 8,294,400 pixels. It is double the size of Full HD (1920 × 1080) in both dimensions for a total of four times as many pixels, and triple the size of HD (1280 × 720) in both dimensions for a total of nine times as many pixels. 3840 × 2160 was chosen as the resolution of the UHDTV1 format defined in SMPTE ST 2036-1,^[31] as well as the 4K UHDTV system defined in ITU-R BT.2020^[32][33] and the UHD-1 broadcast standard from DVB.^[34] It is also the minimum resolution requirement for CEA's definition of an Ultra HD display.^[35] Prior to the publication of these standards, it was sometimes casually referred to as "QFHD" (Quad Full HD).^[36]

The first commercial displays capable of this resolution include an 82-inch LCD TV revealed by Samsung in early 2008,^[37] the Sony SRM-L560, a 56-inch LCD reference monitor announced in October 2009,^[38] an 84-inch display demonstrated by LG in mid-2010,^[39] and a 27.84-inch 158 PPI 4K IPS monitor for medical purposes launched by Innolux in November 2010.^[40] In October 2011 Toshiba announced the REGZA 55x3,^[41] which is claimed to be the first 4K glasses-free 3D TV.

DisplayPort supports 3840 × 2160 at 30 Hz in version 1.1, and added support for up to 75 Hz in version 1.2 (2009) and 120 Hz in version 1.3 (2014),^[42] while HDMI added support for 3840 × 2160 at 30 Hz in version 1.4 (2009)^[43] and 60 Hz in version 2.0 (2013).^[44]

When support for 4K at 60 Hz was added in DisplayPort 1.2, no DisplayPort timing controllers (TCONs) existed which were capable of processing the necessary amount of data from a single video stream. As a result, the first 4K monitors from 2013 and early 2014, such as the SHARP PN-K321, ASUS PQ321Q, and Dell UP2414Q and UP3214Q, were addressed internally as two 1920 × 2160 monitors side-by-side instead of a single display and made use of DisplayPort's Multi-Stream Transport (MST) feature to multiplex a separate signal for each half over the connection, splitting the data between two timing controllers.^[45][46] Newer timing controllers became available in 2014, and after mid-2014 new 4K monitors such as the Asus PB287Q no longer rely on MST tiling technique to achieve 4K at 60 Hz,^[47] instead using the standard SST (Single-Stream Transport) approach.^[48]

In 2015 Sony announced the Xperia Z5 Premium, the first smartphone with a 4K display,^[49] and in 2017 Sony announced the Xperia XZ Premium, the first smartphone with a 4K HDR display.^[50]

4096 × 2160 (DCI 4K)

4096 × 2160, referred to as DCI 4K, Cinema 4K^[51] or 4K x 2K, is the resolution used by the 4K container format defined by the Digital Cinema Initiatives Digital Cinema System Specification, a prominent standard in the cinema industry. This resolution has an aspect ratio of 256:135 (1.8962:1), and 8,847,360 total pixels.^[5] This is the native resolution for DCI 4K digital projectors and displays.

HDMI added support for 4096 × 2160 at 24 Hz in version 1.4^[43] and 60 Hz in version 2.0.^[44][52]

5120 × 2160

This resolution is equivalent to 4K UHD (3840 × 2160) extended in width by 33%, giving it a 64:27 aspect ratio (≈21:9) and 11,059,200 total pixels. It is exactly double the size of 2560 × 1080 in both dimensions, for a total of four times as many pixels. The first displays to support this resolution were 105-inch televisions, the LG 105UC9 and the Samsung UN105S9W.^[53][54] In December 2017, LG announced a 34-inch 5120 × 2160 monitor, the 34WK95U.^[55]

5120 × 2880 (5K)

This resolution, commonly referred to as 5K or 5K x 3K, has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 14,745,600 pixels. Although it is not established by any of the UHDTV standards, some manufacturers such as Dell have referred to it as UHD+.^[56]. It is exactly double the pixel count of QHD (2560 × 1440) in both dimensions for a total of four times as many pixels, and is 33% larger than 4K UHD (3840 × 2160) in both dimensions for a total of 1.77 times as many pixels. The line count of 2880 is also the least common multiple of 480 and 576, the scanline count of NTSC and PAL, respectively. Such a resolution can vertically scale SD content to fit by natural numbers (6 for NTSC and 5 for PAL). Horizontal scaling of SD is always fractional (non-anamorphic: 5.33...5.47, anamorphic: 7.11...7.29).

The first display with this resolution was the Dell UltraSharp UP2715K, announced on September 5, 2014.^[57] On October 16, 2014, Apple announced the iMac with Retina 5K display.^[58][59]

DisplayPort version 1.3 added support for 5K at 60 Hz over a single cable, whereas DisplayPort 1.2 was only capable of 5K at 30 Hz. Early 5K 60 Hz displays such as the Dell UltraSharp UP2715K and HP DreamColor Z27q that lacked DisplayPort 1.3 support required two DisplayPort 1.2 connections to operate at 60 Hz, in a tiled display mode similar to early 4K displays using DP MST.^[60]

7680 × 4320 (8K UHD)

This resolution, sometimes referred to as 8K UHD, has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 33,177,600 pixels. It is exactly double the size of 4K UHD (3840 × 2160) in each dimension for a total of four times as many pixels, and quadruple the size of Full HD (1920 × 1080) in each dimension for a total of sixteen times as many pixels. 7680 × 4320 was chosen as the resolution of the UHDTV2 format defined in SMPTE ST 2036-1,^[31] as well as the 8K UHDTV system defined in ITU-R BT.2020^[32][33] and the UHD-2 broadcast standard from DVB.^[34]

DisplayPort 1.3, finalized by VESA in late 2014, added support for 7680 × 4320 at 30 Hz (or 60 Hz with Y′C_BC_R 4:2:0 subsampling). VESA's Display Stream Compression (DSC), which was part of early DisplayPort 1.3 drafts and would have enabled 8K at 60 Hz without subsampling, was cut from the specification prior to publication of the final draft.^[61]

DSC support was reintroduced with the publication of DisplayPort 1.4 in March 2016. Using DSC, a "visually lossless" form of compression, formats up to 7680 × 4320 (8K UHD) at 60 Hz with HDR and 30 bit/px color depth are possible without subsampling.^[62]

160 × 120 (QQVGA)

Quarter-QVGA (QQVGA or qqVGA) denotes a resolution of 160 × 120 or 120 × 160 pixels, usually used in displays of handheld devices. The term Quarter-QVGA signifies a resolution of one fourth the number of pixels in a QVGA display (half the number of vertical and half the number of horizontal pixels) which itself has one fourth the number of pixels in a VGA display.

The abbreviation qqVGA may be used to distinguish quarter from quad, just like qVGA.^[63]

240 × 160 (HQVGA)

Half-QVGA denotes a display screen resolution of 240 × 160 or 160 × 240 pixels, as seen on the Game Boy Advance. This resolution is half of QVGA, which is itself a quarter of VGA, which is 640 × 480 pixels.

320 × 240 (QVGA)

QVGA compared to VGA

The Quarter Video Graphics Array (also known as Quarter VGA, QVGA, or qVGA) is a popular term for a computer display with 320 × 240 display resolution that debuted with the CGA Color Graphics Adapter for the original IBM PC. QVGA displays were most often used in mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), and some handheld game consoles. Often the displays are in a "portrait" orientation (i.e., taller than they are wide, as opposed to "landscape") and are referred to as 240 × 320.^[64]

The name comes from having a quarter of the 640 × 480 maximum resolution of the original IBM VGA display technology, which became a de facto industry standard in the late 1980s. QVGA is not a standard mode offered by the VGA BIOS, even though VGA and compatible chipsets support a QVGA-sized Mode X. The term refers only to the display's resolution and thus the abbreviated term QVGA or Quarter VGA is more appropriate to use.

QVGA resolution is also used in digital video recording equipment as a low-resolution mode requiring less data storage capacity than higher resolutions, typically in still digital cameras with video recording capability, and some mobile phones. Each frame is an image of 320 × 240 pixels. QVGA video is typically recorded at 15 or 30 frames per second. QVGA mode describes the size of an image in pixels, commonly called the resolution; numerous video file formats support this resolution.

While QVGA is a lower resolution than VGA, at higher resolutions the "Q" prefix commonly means quad(ruple) or four times higher display resolution (e.g., QXGA is four times higher resolution than XGA). To distinguish quarter from quad, lowercase "q" is sometimes used for "quarter" and uppercase "Q" for "quad", by analogy with SI prefixes like m/M and p/P, but this is not a consistent usage.^[65]

Some examples of devices that use QVGA display resolution include, Samsung i5500, LG Optimus L3-E400, Galaxy Fit, Y and Pocket, HTC Wildfire, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini and mini pro and Nintendo 3DS' bottom screen.

400 × 240 (WQVGA)

Wide QVGA or WQVGA is any display resolution having the same height in pixels as QVGA, but wider. This definition is consistent with other 'wide' versions of computer displays.

Since QVGA is 320 pixels wide and 240 pixels high (aspect ratio of 4:3), the resolution of a WQVGA screen might be 360 × 240 (3:2 aspect ratio), 384 × 240 (16:10 aspect ratio), 400 × 240 (5:3 – such as the Nintendo 3DS screen or the maximum resolution in YouTube at 240p), 428 × 240 or 432 × 240 (≈16:9 ratio). As with WVGA, exact ratios of n:9 are difficult because of the way VGA controllers internally deal with pixels. For instance, when using graphical combinatorial operations on pixels, VGA controllers will use 1 bit per pixel. Since bits cannot be accessed individually but by chunks of 16 or an even higher power of 2, this limits the horizontal resolution to a 16-pixel granularity, i.e., the horizontal resolution must be divisible by 16. In the case of 16:9 ratio, with 240 pixels high, the horizontal resolution should be 240 / 9 × 16 = 426.6, the closest multiple of 16 is 432.

WQVGA has also been used to describe displays that are not 240 pixels high, for example Sixteenth HD1080 displays which are 480 pixels wide and 270 or 272 pixels high. This may be due to WQVGA having the nearest screen height.

WQVGA resolutions were commonly used in touchscreen mobile phones, such as 400 × 240, 432 × 240, and 480 × 240. For example, the Hyundai MB 490i, Sony Ericsson Aino and the Samsung Instinct have WQVGA screen resolutions – 240 × 432. Other devices such as the Apple iPod Nano also use a WQVGA screen, 240 × 376 pixels.

480 × 320 (HVGA)

HVGA (Half-size VGA) screens have 480 × 320 pixels (3:2 aspect ratio), 480 × 360 pixels (4:3 aspect ratio), 480 × 272 (≈16:9 aspect ratio), or 640 × 240 pixels (8:3 aspect ratio). The former is used by a variety of PDA devices, starting with the Sony CLIÉ PEG-NR70 in 2002, and standalone PDAs by Palm. The latter was used by a variety of handheld PC devices. VGA resolution is 640 × 480.

Examples of devices that use HVGA include the Apple iPhone (1st generation through 3GS), BlackBerry Bold 9000, HTC Dream, Hero, Wildfire S, LG GW620 Eve, MyTouch 3G Slide, Nokia 6260 Slide, Palm Pre, Samsung M900 Moment, Sony Ericsson Xperia X8, mini, mini pro, active and live and the Sony PlayStation Portable.

Texas Instruments produces the DLP pico projector which supports HVGA resolution.^[66]

HVGA was the only resolution supported in the first versions of Google Android, up to release 1.5.^[67] Other higher and lower resolutions became available starting on release 1.6, like the popular WVGA resolution on the Motorola Droid or the QVGA resolution on the HTC Tattoo.

Three-dimensional computer graphics common on television throughout the 1980s were mostly rendered at this resolution, causing objects to have jagged edges on the top and bottom when edges were not anti-aliased.

640 × 480 (VGA)

Video Graphics Array (VGA) refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987.^[68] Through its widespread adoption, VGA has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector, or the 640 × 480 resolution itself. While the VGA resolution was superseded in the personal computer market in the 1990s, it became a popular resolution on mobile devices in the 2000s.^[69] VGA is still the universal fallback troubleshooting mode in the case of trouble with graphic device drivers in operating systems. In the field of videos the resolution of 640 × 480 is called Standard Definition (SD), in comparison for instance to HD (1280 × 720) or Full HD (1920 × 1080).

768 × 480 (WVGA)

Wide VGA or WVGA, sometimes just WGA, an abbreviation for Wide Video Graphics Array is any display resolution with the same 480 pixel height as VGA but wider, such as 720 × 480 (3:2 aspect ratio), 800 × 480 (5:3), 848 × 480, 852 × 480, 853 × 480, or 854 × 480 (≈16:9). It is a common resolution among LCD projectors and later portable and hand-held internet-enabled devices (such as MID and Netbooks) as it is capable of rendering web sites designed for an 800 wide window in full page-width. Examples of hand-held internet devices, without phone capability, with this resolution include: Spice stellar nhance mi-435, ASUS Eee PC 700 series, Dell XCD35, Nokia 770, N800, and N810.

Mobile phones with WVGA display resolution are also common. A list of mobile phones with WVGA display is available.

854 × 480 (FWVGA)

FWVGA is an abbreviation for Full Wide Video Graphics Array which refers to a display resolution of 854 × 480 pixels. 854 × 480 is approximately the 16:9 aspect ratio of anamorphically "un-squeezed" NTSC DVD widescreen video and considered a "safe" resolution that does not crop any of the image. It is called Full WVGA to distinguish it from other, narrower WVGA resolutions which require cropping 16:9 aspect ratio high-definition video (i.e. it is full width, albeit with considerable reduction in size).

The 854 pixel width is rounded up from 853.3:

480 × ​¹⁶⁄₉ = ​⁷⁶⁸⁰⁄₉ = 853​¹⁄₃.

Since a pixel must be a whole number, rounding up to 854 ensures inclusion of the entire image.^[70]

In 2010, mobile phones with FWVGA display resolution started to become more common. A list of mobile phones with FWVGA displays is available. In addition, the Wii U GamePad that comes with the Nintendo Wii U gaming console includes a 6.2-inch FWVGA display.

800 × 600 (SVGA)

Super Video Graphics Array, abbreviated to Super VGA or SVGA, also known as Ultra Video Graphics Array,^[71] abbreviated to Ultra VGA or UVGA, is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards.^[72]

Originally, it was an extension to the VGA standard first released by IBM in 1987. Unlike VGA – a purely IBM-defined standard – Super VGA was defined by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), an open consortium set up to promote interoperability and define standards. When used as a resolution specification, in contrast to VGA or XGA for example, the term SVGA normally refers to a resolution of 800 × 600 pixels.

The marginally higher resolution 832 × 624 is the highest 4:3 resolution not greater than 2¹⁹ pixels, with its horizontal dimension a multiple of 32 pixels. This enables it to fit within a framebuffer of 512 KB (512 × 2¹⁰ bytes), and the common multiple of 32 pixels constraint is related to alignment. For these reasons this resolution was available on the Macintosh LC III and other systems.

960 × 640 (DVGA)

DVGA (Double-size VGA) screens have 960 × 640 pixels (3:2 aspect ratio). Both dimensions are double that of HVGA, hence the pixel count is quadrupled.

Examples of devices that use DVGA include the Meizu MX mobile phone and the Apple iPhone 4/4S, where the screen is called the "Retina Display".

1024 × 576, 1024 × 600 (WSVGA)

The wide version of SVGA is known as WSVGA (Wide Super VGA), featured on Ultra-Mobile PCs, netbooks, and tablet computers. The resolution is either 1024 × 576 (aspect ratio 16:9) or 1024 × 600 (between 15:9 and 16:9) with screen sizes normally ranging from 7 to 10 inches. It has full XGA width of 1024 pixels.

1024 × 768 (XGA)

XGA, the Extended Graphics Array, is an IBM display standard introduced in 1990. Later it became the most common appellation of the 1024 × 768 pixels display resolution, but the official definition is broader than that. It was not a new and improved replacement for Super VGA, but rather became one particular subset of the broad range of capabilities covered under the "Super VGA" umbrella.

The initial version of XGA (and its predecessor, the IBM 8514) expanded upon IBM's older VGA by adding support for four new screen modes (three, for the 8514), including one new resolution:^[73]

• 640 × 480 pixels in direct 16 bits-per-pixel (65,536 color) RGB hi-color (XGA only, with 1 MB video memory option) and 8 bpp (256 color) palette-indexed mode.
• 1024 × 768 pixels with a 16- or 256-color (4 or 8 bpp) palette, using a low frequency interlaced refresh rate (again, the higher 8 bpp mode required 1 MB VRAM^[74]).

Like the 8514, XGA offered fixed function hardware acceleration to offload processing of 2D drawing tasks. Both adapters allowed offloading of line-draw, bitmap-copy (bitblt), and color-fill operations from the host CPU. XGA's acceleration was faster than 8514's, and more comprehensive, supporting more drawing primitives, the VGA-res hi-color mode, versatile "brush" and "mask" modes, system memory addressing functions, and a single simple hardware sprite typically used to providing a low CPU load mouse pointer. It was also capable of wholly independent function, as it incorporated support for all existing VGA functions and modes – the 8514 itself was a simpler add-on adapter that required a separate VGA to be present. It should be noted that, as they were designed for use with IBM's own range of fixed-frequency monitors, neither adapter offered support for 800 × 600 SVGA modes.

XGA-2 added a 24-bit DAC, but this was used only to extend the available master palette in 256-color mode, e.g. to allow true 256-greyscale output instead of the 64 grey levels previously available; there was still no direct True Color mode despite the adapter featuring enough default onboard VRAM (1 MB) to support it. Other improvements included provision of the previously missing 800 × 600 resolution (using an SVGA or multisync monitor) in up to 65,536 colors, faster screen refresh rates in all modes (including non-interlace, flicker-free output for 1024 × 768), and improved accelerator performance and versatility.

IBM licensed the XGA technology and architecture to certain third party hardware developers, and its characteristic modes (although not necessarily the accelerator functions, nor the MCA data-bus interface) were aped by many others. These accelerators typically did not suffer from the same limitations on available resolutions and refresh rate, and featured other now-standard modes like 800 × 600 (and 1280 × 1024) at various color depths (up to 24 bpp Truecolor) and interlaced, non-interlaced and flicker-free refresh rates even before the release of the XGA-2.

All standard XGA modes have a 4:3 aspect ratio with square pixels, although this does not hold for certain standard VGA and third-party extended modes (640 × 400, 1280 × 1024).

XGA should not be confused with EVGA (Extended Video Graphics Array), a contemporaneous VESA standard that also has 1024 × 768 pixels. It should also not be confused with the Expanded Graphics Adapter, a peripheral for the IBM 3270 PC which can also be referred to as XGA.^[75]

1366 × 768 and similar (WXGA)

Wide Extended Graphics Array (Wide XGA or WXGA) is a set of non standard resolutions derived from the XGA display standard by widening it to a wide screen aspect ratio. WXGA is commonly used for low-end LCD TVs and LCD computer monitors for widescreen presentation. The exact resolution offered by a device described as "WXGA" can be somewhat variable owing to a proliferation of several closely related timings optimised for different uses and derived from different bases.

1152 × 864 (XGA+)

XGA+ stands for Extended Graphics Array Plus and is a computer display standard, usually understood to refer to the 1152 × 864 resolution with an aspect ratio of 4:3. Until the advent of widescreen LCDs, XGA+ was often used on 17-inch desktop CRT monitors. It is the highest 4:3 resolution not greater than 2²⁰ pixels (≈1.05 megapixels), with its horizontal dimension a multiple of 32 pixels. This enables it to fit closely into a video memory or framebuffer of 1 MB (1 × 2²⁰ bytes), assuming the use of one byte per pixel. The common multiple of 32 pixels constraint is related to alignment.

Historically, the resolution also relates to the earlier standard of 1152 × 900 pixels, which was adopted by Sun Microsystems for the Sun-2 workstation in the early 1980s. A decade later, Apple Computer selected the resolution of 1152 × 870 for their 21-inch CRT monitors, intended for use as two-page displays on the Macintosh II computer. These resolutions are even closer to the limit of a 1 MB framebuffer, but their aspect ratios differ slightly from the common 4:3.

XGA+ is the next step after XGA (1024 × 768), although it is not approved by any standard organizations. The next step with an aspect ratio of 4:3 is 1280 × 960 ("SXGA-") or SXGA+ (1400 × 1050).

1440 × 900 (WXGA+, WSXGA)

WXGA+ and WSXGA are non-standard terms referring to a computer display resolution of 1440 × 900. Occasionally manufacturers use other terms to refer to this resolution.^[82] The Standard Panels Working Group refers to the 1440 × 900 resolution as WXGA(II).^[83]

WSXGA and WXGA+ can be considered enhanced versions of WXGA with more pixels, or as widescreen variants of SXGA. The aspect ratios of each are 16:10 (widescreen).

WXGA+ (1440 × 900) resolution is common in 19-inch widescreen desktop monitors (a very small number of such monitors use WSXGA+), and is also optional, although less common, in laptop LCDs, in sizes ranging from 12.1 to 17 inches.

Another resolution going by this name is 1440 × 960, at an aspect ratio of 15:10 (widescreen).

1280 × 1024 (SXGA)

SXGA is an abbreviation for Super Extended Graphics Array referring to a standard monitor resolution of 1280 × 1024 pixels. This display resolution is the "next step" above the XGA resolution that IBM developed in 1990.

The 1280 × 1024 resolution is not the standard 4:3 aspect ratio, but 5:4 (1.25:1 instead of 1.333:1). A standard 4:3 monitor using this resolution will have rectangular rather than square pixels, meaning that unless the software compensates for this the picture will be distorted, causing circles to appear elliptical.

There is a less common 1280 × 960 resolution that preserves the common 4:3 aspect ratio. It is sometimes unofficially called SXGA− to avoid confusion with the "standard" SXGA. Elsewhere this 4:3 resolution was also called UVGA (Ultra VGA): Since both sides are doubled from VGA the term Quad VGA would be a systematic one, but it is hardly ever used, because its initialism QVGA is strongly associated with the alternate meaning Quarter VGA (320 × 240).

SXGA is the most common native resolution of 17 inch and 19 inch LCD monitors. An LCD monitor with SXGA native resolution will typically have a physical 5:4 aspect ratio, preserving a 1:1 pixel aspect ratio.

Sony manufactured a 17 inch CRT monitor with a 5:4 aspect ratio designed for this resolution. It was sold under the Apple brand name.

SXGA is also a popular resolution for cell phone cameras, such as the Motorola Razr and most Samsung and LG phones. Although being taken over by newer UXGA (2.0-megapixel) cameras, the 1.3-megapixel was the most common around 2007.

Any CRT that can run 1280 × 1024 can also run 1280 × 960, which has the standard 4:3 ratio. A flat panel TFT screen, including one designed for 1280 × 1024, will show stretching distortion when set to display any resolution other than its native one, as the image needs to be interpolated to fit in the fixed grid display. Some TFT displays do not allow a user to disable this, and will prevent the upper and lower portions of the screen from being used forcing a "letterbox" format when set to a 4:3 ratio.

The 1280 × 1024 resolution became popular because at 24 bit/px color depth it fit well into 4 megabytes of video RAM. At the time, memory was extremely expensive. Using 1280 × 1024 at 24-bit color depth allowed using 3.75 MB of video RAM, fitting nicely with VRAM chip sizes which were available at the time (4 MB):

(1280 × 1024) px × 24 bit/px ÷ 8 bit/byte ÷ 2²⁰ byte/MB = 3.75 MB

1400 × 1050 (SXGA+)

SXGA+ stands for Super Extended Graphics Array Plus and is a computer display standard. An SXGA+ display is commonly used on 14-inch or 15-inch laptop LCD screens with a resolution of 1400 × 1050 pixels. An SXGA+ display is used on a few 12-inch laptop screens such as the ThinkPad X60 and X61 (both only as tablet) as well as the Toshiba Portégé M200 and M400, but those are far less common. At 14.1 inches, Dell offered SXGA+ on many of the Dell Latitude "C" series laptops, such as the C640 and the C810, and Lenovo on the ThinkPad T61 and T61p. Sony also used SXGA+ in their Z1 series, but no longer produce them as widescreen has become more predominant.

In desktop LCDs, SXGA+ is used on some low-end 20-inch monitors, whereas most of the 20-inch LCDs use UXGA (standard screen ratio), or WSXGA+ (widescreen ratio).

1680 × 1050 (WSXGA+)

WSXGA+ stands for Widescreen Super Extended Graphics Array Plus. WSXGA+ displays were commonly used on Widescreen 20-, 21-, and 22-inch LCD monitors from numerous manufacturers (and a very small number of 19-inch widescreen monitors), as well as widescreen 15.4-inch and 17-inch laptop LCD screens like the Thinkpad T61p, the late 17" Apple PowerBook G4 and the unibody Apple 15" MacBook Pro. The resolution is 1680 × 1050 pixels (1,764,000 pixels) with a 16:10 aspect ratio.

WSXGA+ is the widescreen version of SXGA+, but it is not approved by any organization. The next highest resolution (for widescreen) after it is WUXGA, which is 1920 × 1200 pixels.

1600 × 1200 (UXGA, UGA)

UXGA or UGA is an abbreviation for Ultra Extended Graphics Array referring to a standard monitor resolution of 1600 × 1200 pixels (totaling 1,920,000 pixels), which is exactly four times the default resolution of SVGA (800 × 600) (totaling 480,000 pixels). Dell Inc. refers to the same resolution of 1,920,000 pixels as UGA. It is generally considered to be the next step above SXGA (1280 × 960 or 1280 × 1024), but some resolutions (such as the unnamed 1366 × 1024 and SXGA+ at 1400 × 1050) fit between the two.

UXGA has been the native resolution of many fullscreen monitors of 15 inches or more, including laptop LCDs such as the ones in ThinkPad A21p, A30p, A31p, T42p, T43p and T60p; Dell Inspiron 8000/8100/8200; Panasonic Toughbook CF-51; and the original Alienware Area 51m. However, in more recent times, UXGA is not used in laptops at all but rather in desktop UXGA monitors that have been made in sizes of 20 inches and 21.3 inches. Some 14-inch laptop LCDs with UXGA have also existed, but these were very rare.

There are two different widescreen cousins of UXGA, one called UWXGA with 1600 × 768 (750) and one called WUXGA with 1920 × 1200 resolution.

1920 × 1200 (WUXGA)

WUXGA stands for Widescreen Ultra Extended Graphics Array and is a display resolution of 1920 × 1200 pixels (2,304,000 pixels) with a 16:10 screen aspect ratio. It is a wide version of UXGA, and can be used for viewing high-definition television (HDTV) content, which uses a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1280 × 720 (720p) or 1920 × 1080 (1080i or 1080p) resolution.

The 16:10 aspect ratio (as opposed to the 16:9 used in widescreen televisions) was chosen because this aspect ratio is appropriate for displaying two full pages of text side by side.^[84]

WUXGA resolution has a total of 2,304,000 pixels. An uncompressed 8-bit RGB WUXGA image has a size of 6.75 MB. As of 2014, this resolution is available in a few high-end LCD televisions and computer monitors (e.g. Dell Ultrasharp U2413, Lenovo L220x, Samsung T220P, ViewSonic SD-Z225, Asus PA248Q), although in the past it was used in a wider variety of displays, including 17-inch laptops. WUXGA use predates the introduction of LCDs of that resolution. Most QXGA displays support 1920 × 1200 and widescreen CRTs such as the Sony GDM-FW900 and Hewlett Packard A7217A do as well. WUXGA is also available in some of the more high end mobile phablet devices such as the Huawei Honor X2 Gem.

The next lower resolution (for widescreen) before it is WSXGA+, which is 1680 × 1050 pixels (1,764,000 pixels, or 30.61% fewer than WUXGA); the next higher resolution widescreen is an unnamed 2304 × 1440 resolution (supported by the above GDM-FW900 and A7217A) and then the more common WQXGA, which has 2560 × 1600 pixels (4,096,000 pixels, or 77.78% more than WUXGA).

2048 × 1152 (QWXGA)

QWXGA (Quad Wide Extended Graphics Array) is a display resolution of 2048 × 1152 pixels with a 16:9 aspect ratio. A few QWXGA LCD monitors were available in 2009 with 23- and 27-inch displays, such as the Acer B233HU (23-inch) and B273HU (27-inch), the Dell SP2309W, and the Samsung 2343BWX. As of 2011, most 2048 × 1152 monitors have been discontinued, and as of 2013 no major manufacturer produces monitors with this resolution.

2048 × 1536 (QXGA)

QXGA (Quad Extended Graphics Array) is a display resolution of 2048 × 1536 pixels with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The name comes from it having four times as many pixels as an XGA display. Examples of LCDs with this resolution are the IBM T210 and the Eizo G33 and R31 screens, but in CRT monitors this resolution is much more common; some examples include the Sony F520, ViewSonic G225fB, NEC FP2141SB or Mitsubishi DP2070SB, Iiyama Vision Master Pro 514, and Dell and HP P1230. Of these monitors, none are still in production. A related display size is WQXGA, which is a wide screen version. CRTs offer a way to achieve QXGA cheaply. Models like the Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 2045U and IBM ThinkVision C220P retailed for around 200 USD, and even higher performance ones like the ViewSonic PerfectFlat P220fB remained under 500 USD. At one time, many off-lease P1230s could be found on eBay for under 150 USD. The LCDs with WQXGA or QXGA resolution typically cost four to five times more for the same resolution. IDTech manufactured a 15-inch QXGA IPS panel, used in the IBM ThinkPad R50p. NEC sold laptops with QXGA screens in 2002–05 for the Japanese market.^[85][86] The iPad (starting from 3rd generation) also has a QXGA display.^[87]

2560 × 1600 (WQXGA)

WQXGA (Wide Quad Extended Graphics Array) is a display resolution of 2560 × 1600 pixels with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The name comes from it being a wide version of QXGA and having four times as many pixels as an WXGA (1280 × 800) display.

To obtain a vertical refresh rate higher than 40 Hz with DVI, this resolution requires dual-link DVI cables and devices. To avoid cable problems monitors are sometimes shipped with an appropriate dual link cable already plugged in. Many video cards support this resolution. One feature that is currently unique to the 30 inch WQXGA monitors is the ability to function as the centerpiece and main display of a three-monitor array of complementary aspect ratios, with two UXGA (1600 × 1200) 20-inch monitors turned vertically on either side. The resolutions are equal, and the size of the 1600 resolution edges (if the manufacturer is honest) is within a tenth of an inch (16-inch vs. 15.89999"), presenting a "picture window view" without the extreme lateral dimensions, small central panel, asymmetry, resolution differences, or dimensional difference of other three-monitor combinations. The resulting 4960 × 1600 composite image has a 3.1:1 aspect ratio. This also means one UXGA 20-inch monitor in portrait orientation can also be flanked by two 30-inch WQXGA monitors for a 6320 × 1600 composite image with an 11.85:3 (79:20, 3.95:1) aspect ratio. Some WQXGA medical displays (such as the Barco Coronis 4MP) can also be configured as two virtual 1200 × 1600 or 1280 × 1600 seamless displays by using both DVI ports at the same time.

An early consumer WQXGA monitor was the 30-inch Apple Cinema Display, unveiled by Apple in June 2004. At the time, dual-link DVI was uncommon on consumer hardware, so Apple partnered with Nvidia to develop a special graphics card that had two dual-link DVI ports, allowing simultaneous use of two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays. The nature of this graphics card, being an add-in AGP card, meant that the monitors could only be used in a desktop computer, like the Power Mac G5, that could have the add-in card installed, and could not be immediately used with laptop computers that lacked this expansion capability.

In 2010, WQXGA made its debut in a handful of home theater projectors targeted at the Constant Height Screen application market. Both Digital Projection Inc and projectiondesign released models based on a Texas Instruments DLP chip with a native WQXGA resolution, alleviating the need for an anamorphic lens to achieve 1:2.35 image projection. Many manufacturers have 27–30-inch models that are capable of WQXGA, albeit at a much higher price than lower resolution monitors of the same size. Several mainstream WQXGA monitors are or were available with 30-inch displays, such as the Dell 3007WFP-HC, 3008WFP, U3011, U3014, UP3017, the Hewlett-Packard LP3065, the Gateway XHD3000, LG W3000H, and the Samsung 305T. Specialist manufacturers like NEC, Eizo, Planar Systems, Barco (LC-3001), and possibly others offer similar models. As of 2016, LG Display make a 10-bit 30-inch AH-IPS panel, with wide color gamut, used in monitors from Dell, NEC, HP, Lenovo and Iiyama.

Released in November 2012, Google's Nexus 10 is the first consumer tablet to feature WQXGA resolution. Before its release, the highest resolution available on a tablet was QXGA (2048 × 1536), available on the Apple iPad 3rd and 4th generations devices. Several Samsung Galaxy tablets, including the Note 10.1 (2014 Edition), Tab S 8.4, 10.5 and TabPRO 8.4, 10.1 and Note Pro 12.2, as well as the Gigaset QV1030, also feature a WQXGA resolution display.

In 2012 Apple released the 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display that features a WQXGA display.

2560 × 2048 (QSXGA)

QSXGA (Quad Super Extended Graphics Array) is a display resolution of 2560 × 2048 pixels with a 5:4 aspect ratio. Grayscale monitors with a 2560 × 2048 resolution, primarily for medical use, are available from Planar Systems (Dome E5), Eizo (Radiforce G51), Barco (Nio 5, MP), WIDE (IF2105MP), IDTech (IAQS80F), and possibly others.

Recent medical displays such as Barco Coronis Fusion 10MP or NDS Dome S10 have native panel resolution of 4096 × 2560. These are driven by two dual-link DVI or DisplayPort outputs. They can be considered to be two seamless virtual QSXGA displays as they have to be driven simultaneously by both dual link DVI or DisplayPort since one dual link DVI or DisplayPort cannot single-handedly display 10 megapixels. A similar resolution of 2560 × 1920 (4:3) was supported by a small number of CRT displays via VGA such as the Viewsonic P225f when paired with the right graphics card.

3200 × 2048 (WQSXGA)

WQSXGA (Wide Quad Super Extended Graphics Array) describes a display standard that can support a resolution up to 3200 × 2048 pixels, assuming a 1.56:1 (25:16) aspect ratio. The Coronis Fusion 6MP DL by Barco supports 3280 × 2048 (approximately 16:10).

3200 × 2400 (QUXGA)

QUXGA (Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array) describes a display standard that can support a resolution up to 3200 × 2400 pixels, assuming a 4:3 aspect ratio.

3840 × 2400 (WQUXGA)

WQUXGA (Wide Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array) describes a display standard that supports a resolution of 3840 × 2400 pixels, which provides a 16:10 aspect ratio. This resolution is exactly four times 1920 × 1200 (in pixels).

Most display cards with a DVI connector are capable of supporting the 3840 × 2400 resolution. However, the maximum refresh rate will be limited by the number of DVI links which are connected to the monitor. 1, 2, or 4 DVI connectors are used to drive the monitor using various tile configurations. Only the IBM T221-DG5 and IDTech MD22292B5 support the use of dual-link DVI ports through an external converter box. Many systems using these monitors use at least two DVI connectors to send video to the monitor. These DVI connectors can be from the same graphics card, different graphics cards, or even different computers. Motion across the tile boundary(ies) can show tearing if the DVI links are not synchronized. The display panel can be updated at a speed between 0 Hz and 41 Hz (48 Hz for the IBM T221-DG5, -DGP, and IDTech MD22292B5). The refresh rate of the video signal can be higher than 41 Hz (or 48 Hz) but the monitor will not update the display any faster even if graphics card(s) do so.

In June 2001, WQUXGA was introduced in the IBM T220 LCD monitor using a LCD panel built by IDTech. LCD displays that support WQUXGA resolution include: IBM T220, IBM T221, Iiyama AQU5611DTBK, ViewSonic VP2290,^[88] ADTX MD22292B, and IDTech MD22292 (models B0, B1, B2, B5, C0, C2). IDTech was the original equipment manufacturer which sold these monitors to ADTX, IBM, Iiyama, and ViewSonic.^[89] However, none of the WQUXGA monitors (IBM, ViewSonic, Iiyama, ADTX) are in production anymore: they had prices that were well above even the higher end displays used by graphic professionals, and the lower refresh rates, 41 Hz and 48 Hz, made them less attractive for many applications.

4096 × 3072 (HXGA)

HXGA, an abbreviation for Hexadecatuple Extended Graphics Array is a display standard that can support a resolution of 4096 × 3072 pixels (or 3200 pixels) with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The name comes from it having sixteen (hexadecatuple) times as many pixels as an XGA display.

5120 × 3200 (WHXGA)

WHXGA an abbreviation for Wide Hexadecatuple Extended Graphics Array is a display standard that can support a resolution of roughly 5120 × 3200 pixels with a 16:10 aspect ratio. The name comes from it being a wide version of HXGA, which has sixteen (hexadecatuple) times as many pixels as an XGA display.

5120 × 4096 (HSXGA)

HSXGA, an abbreviation for Hexadecatuple Super Extended Graphics Array, is a display standard that can support a resolution of roughly 5120 × 4096 pixels with a 5:4 aspect ratio. The name comes from it having sixteen (hexadecatuple) times as many pixels as an SXGA display.

6400 × 4096 (WHSXGA)

WHSXGA, an abbreviation for Wide Hexadecatuple Super Extended Graphics Array, is a display standard that can support a resolution up to 6400 × 4096 pixels, assuming a 1.56:1 (25:16) aspect ratio. The name comes from it having sixteen (hexadecatuple) times as many pixels as an WSXGA display.

6400 × 4800 (HUXGA)

HUXGA, an abbreviation for Hexadecatuple Ultra Extended Graphics Array, is a display standard that can support a resolution of roughly 6400 × 4800 pixels with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The name comes from it having sixteen (hexadecatuple) times as many pixels as an UXGA display.

7680 × 4800 (WHUXGA)

WHUXGA, an abbreviation for Wide Hexadecatuple Ultra Extended Graphics Array, is a display standard that can support a resolution up to 7680 × 4800 pixels, assuming a 16:10 (8:5) aspect ratio. The name comes from it having sixteen (hexadecatuple) times as many pixels as a WUXGA display.