# Why 16:9? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-16-9/496783 "2009-05-17T22:12:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Iamametalrobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@Iamametalrobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iamametalrobot)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-16-9/496783/21 "2009-05-18T13:32:17Z")
Widescreens are great for people who work with a lot of text - as long as they get a monitor that rotates. 😉 Any modern video card will have no problems flipping the display 90 degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Mines\_Mystique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mines\_Mystique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mines_Mystique)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-16-9/496783/22 "2009-05-18T14:35:30Z")
> [@MrFloppy](#): > > 16:9 was chosen because if you take all the modern aspect ratios used in TV and film and superimpose them on top of each other, the most ideal rectangle that will allow all the ratios to fit happens to be 1.77:1 or 16:9. Keeping this in mind, when you watch a Blu-Ray on a 16:9 screen in its native format, there will more likely than not be black bars across the top and bottom of the screen, in spite of the fact that you have it set to go full screen. This is because the movie is being shown in whatever native format the director chose to shoot the movie in. 16:9 works because of what **MrFloppy** pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-16-9/496783/23 "2009-05-18T17:18:36Z")
> [@Mines\_Mystique](#): > > Keeping this in mind, when you watch a Blu-Ray on a 16:9 screen in its native format, there will more likely than not be black bars across the top and bottom of the screen, in spite of the fact that you have it set to go full screen. This is because the movie is being shown in whatever native format the director chose to shoot the movie in. 16:9 works because of what **MrFloppy** pointed out. Well there is wide screen and than cinima which is even wider than wide screen. Its not whatever native format the director chose but an actual standard ---
**Author:** ![Mines\_Mystique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mines\_Mystique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mines_Mystique)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-16-9/496783/24 "2009-05-18T17:36:15Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > Well there is wide screen and than cinima which is even wider than wide screen. Its not whatever native format the director chose but an actual standard Right, sorry. I got it backwards. It letterboxes because the native format is 1.85:1 or 2.35:1, and so it is wider than 1.77:1, just as 1.77:1 is wider than 1.33:1. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2009, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-16-9/496783/25 "2009-05-18T18:07:20Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > You can’t actually see any detail in peripheral vision, though. Having stuff going on in the periphery adds to the realism and sense of ‘immersion’ when watching movies (and playing games, I guess), but it has no other advantage. Indeed, it is actively distracting if you are trying to focus on detail. I’m a horror movie fan. In many movies, horror movies especially, there is often something going on in the periphery that is SUPPOSED to draw your attention away from the main/foreground action. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-16-9/496783.md?page=1)