Aspect Ratios: A visual comparison

I have cropped a photograph to several aspect ratios common in film and video, with 35mm still as a comparison. I am by no means an expert, but created this to help myself see how different or similar different aspect ratios are. I am quite a fan of widescreen formats, but so far have been restricted by equipment to making videos in the 4:3 format, so I was interested to see exactly how much wider the widescreen formats are.

The image is a cropped down version of Volunteer tending fire in roundhut, Butser Prehistoric Farm, Hampshire.


'Standard' video (4:3)


35mm still (24x36mm)


Super16 (1.66:1) [1]


16:9 widescreen video


1.85:1 film (eg Super35)


Anamorphic and 70mm (2.35:1)

[1] NB: Super16 is normally cropped down to 1.85:1 for cinematic display or 16:9 for television use


This page last updated Tuesday 25 July 2017
All photographs are Copyright (c) Gavin Duley 2007 onwards