As many of you are aware, most modern films and TV programs are produced in widescreen aspect ratios, making the image significantly wider than a standard TV screen.

The origins of widescreen filmmaking date back to the 1950s and have an interesting place in film history. However, this presents a challenge for filmmakers, particularly in Hollywood, when adapting widescreen films for home viewing. Ensuring that audiences can enjoy these productions in their living rooms while maintaining the original cinematic experience requires careful formatting and adjustments in the home video industry.

1.33:1 or 4×3 is the standard TVs frame ratio. Films and programmes made in 1.85:1 or 2.35:1 format will either appear with black bars to the top and bottom, or “Pan and Scan” with the edges of the picture cropped.

1.85:1 is the standard widescreen TVs frame ratio. Films and programmes made in 3×4 format will either appear stretched of with black bars to the left and right.

2.35:1 is the another widescreen frame ratio. Even Widescreen TVs may produce black bars to the top and bottom when viewing a 2.35:1 movie.

For years, there have been two main methods for adapting widescreen movies for home viewing: pan and scan or letterbox. Pan and scan involves moving the frame across the widescreen image to keep key action centered on a standard TV screen. However, this process can crop up to 50% of the original image, distorting the filmmaker’s intended composition and visual storytelling.

The ideal way to watch a movie at home is in its original aspect ratio, as the director intended. This is why widescreen films are best viewed in letterbox format, where the full image is preserved, and black bars fill the unused space at the top and bottom of the screen. To many film enthusiasts, pan and scan is as damaging as colorizing a black-and-white film—it compromises artistic integrity.

However, letterbox formatting does come with a trade-off: reduced vertical resolution. Since part of the screen is occupied by black bars, the actual film image takes up less space. Some viewers prefer a full-screen picture, often questioning why black bars appear, assuming something is wrong with their TV.

Many of these skeptics, once shown a side-by-side comparison of full-frame and widescreen versions, quickly realize what they’ve been missing. I’ve personally converted many to letterbox simply by demonstrating the difference in framing and detail when watching a DVD with both formats.

For example

sky tv in spain – uk tv in spain – freesat tv in spain

The first image is a Widescreen Letterbox version, whilst the second image is the full frame version. Note on the widescreen version you have the black bars at the top and bottom of the frame, whilst on the full frame version you are missing approximately 30% of the picture. By expanding the image to fill the screen, unfortunately the sides of the image are cut off. On average, about 30% of the picture is cut off on the sides, especially on movies filmed in 2.35:1 format.