Everything about Computer Display Standard totally explained
Various
computer display standards or
display modes have been used in the history of the
personal computer. They are often a combination of
display resolution (specified as the width and height in
pixels), color depth (measured in
bits), and
refresh rate (expressed in
hertz). Associated with the screen resolution and refresh rate is a display adapter. Earlier display adapters were simple frame-buffers, but later display standards also specified a more extensive set of display functions and software controlled interface.
Until about 2003, most computer monitors had a 4:3
aspect ratio and some had 5:4. Between 2003 and 2006, monitors with 16:10 aspect ratios have become commonly available, first in
laptops and later also in standalone monitors. Productive uses for such monitors, for example besides widescreen movie viewing and computer game play, are the
wordprocessor display of two standard
letter pages side by side, as well as
CAD displays of large-size drawings and CAD application menus at the same time. The
VESA industry organization has defined several standards related to
power management and device identification. Ergonomy standards are set by the
TCO.
Standards
A number of common resolutions have been used with computers descended from the original IBM PC. Some of these are now supported by other families of personal computers. These are de-facto standards, usually originated by one manufacturer and reverse-engineered by others, though the
VESA group has co-ordinated the efforts of several leading video display adapter manufacturers. Video
standards associated with IBM-PC-descended personal computers include:
| Video standard |
Full name |
Description |
Display resolution (pixels) |
Aspect ratio |
Color depth (2^bpp colors) |
| MDA | Monochrome Display Adapter |
The original standard on IBM PCs and IBM PC XTs with 4 KB video RAM. Introduced in 1981 by IBM. Supports text mode only. |
720×350 (text) |
72:35 |
1 bpp
|
| CGA | Color Graphics Adapter |
Introduced in 1981 by IBM, as the first color display standard for the IBM PC. The standard CGA graphics cards were equipped with 16 KB video RAM. |
640×200 (128k)
320×200 (64k)
160×200 (32k) |
16:5
16:10
4:5 |
1 bpp
2 bpp
4 bpp
|
| Hercules | |
A monochrome display capable of sharp text and graphics for its time of introduction. Very popular with the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet, which was one of the PC's first killer apps. Introduced in 1982. |
720×348 (250.5k) |
60:29 |
1 bpp
|
| EGA | Enhanced Graphics Adapter |
Introduced in 1984 by IBM. A resolution of 640 × 350 pixels of 16 different colors (4 bits per pixel, or bpp), selectable from a 64-color palette (2 bits per each of red-green-blue). |
640×350 (224k) |
64:35 |
4 bpp
|
| Professional Graphics Controller | |
With on-board 2D and 3D acceleration introduced in 1984 for the 8-bit PC-bus, intended for CAD applications, a triple-board display adapter with built-in processor, and displaying video with a 60 Hz frame rate. |
640×480 (307k) |
4:3 |
8 bpp
|
| MCGA | Multicolor Graphics Adapter |
Introduced on selected PS/2 models in 1987, with reduced cost compared to VGA. MCGA had a 320x200 256 color (from a 262,144 color palette) mode, and a 640x480 mode only in monochrome due to 64k video memory, compared to the 256k memory of VGA. |
320×200 (64k)
640×480 (307k) |
16:10
4:3 |
8 bpp
1 bpp
|
| 8514 | |
Precursor to XGA and released about the same time as VGA in 1987. 8514/A cards displayed interlaced video at 43.5 Hz. |
1024×768 (786k) |
4:3 |
8 bpp
|
| VGA | Video Graphics Array |
Introduced in 1987 by IBM. VGA is actually a set of different resolutions, but is most commonly used today to refer to 640 × 480 pixel displays with 16 colors (4 bits per pixel) and a 4:3 aspect ratio. Other display modes are also defined as VGA, such as 320 × 200 at 256 colors (8 bits per pixel) and a text mode with 720 × 400 pixels. VGA displays and adapters are generally capable of Mode X graphics, an undocumented mode to allow increased non-standard resolutions. |
640×480 (307k)
640×350 (224k)
320×200 (64k)
720×400 (text) |
4:3
64:35
16:10
9:5 |
4 bpp
4 bpp
4/8 bpp
4 bpp
|
| SVGA | Super VGA |
A video display standard created by VESA for IBM PC compatible personal computers. Introduced in 1989. |
800×600 (480k) |
4:3 |
4 bpp
|
| XGA | Extended Graphics Array |
An IBM display standard introduced in 1990. XGA-2 added 1024 × 768 support for high color and higher refresh rates, improved performance, and support for 1360 × 1024 in 16 colors (4 bits per pixel). |
1024×768 (786k)
640×480 (307k) |
4:3
4:3 |
8 bpp
16 bpp
|
| "XGA+" | Extended Graphics Array Plus |
Although not an official name, this term is now used to refer to 1152 x 864, which is the largest 4:3 array yielding under one million pixels. Variants of this were used by Apple Computer (at 1152x870) and Sun Microsystems (at 1152x900) for 21-inch CRT displays. |
1152×864 (786k)
640×480 (307k) |
4:3
4:3 |
8 bpp
16 bpp
|
| QVGA | Quarter VGA |
|
320×240 (75k) |
4:3 |
|
| WQVGA | Quarter VGA |
|
480×270 (126k) |
16:9 |
|
| HQVGA | Half QVGA |
|
240×160 (38k) |
3:2 |
|
| QQVGA | Quarter QVGA |
|
160×120 (19k) |
4:3 |
|
| WXGA | Widescreen Extended Graphics Array |
A version of the XGA format. This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in some recent notebook computers. |
1280×720 (922k)
1280×800 (1024k)
1440×900 (1296k) |
16:9 or 16:10 |
32 bpp
|
| SXGA | Super XGA |
A widely used de facto 32 bit Truecolor standard, with an unusual aspect ratio of 5:4 instead of the more common 4:3 which means, if scaled, images appear wider on SXGA displays than most other resolutions. This is generally the physical aspect ratio & native resolution of 17" LCD monitors.- Some manufacturers, noting that the de facto industry standard was VGA (Video Graphics Array), termed this the Extended Video Graphics Array or XVGA.
|
1280×1024 (1310k) |
5:4 |
32 bpp
|
WXGA+,
or WXGA,
(or WSXGA) | Widescreen Extended Graphics Array PLUS |
A version of the WXGA format. This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in some recent notebook computers, as well as 19" widescreen LCD monitors where it's the native resolution. |
1440×900 (1296k) |
16:10 |
32 bpp
|
| WSXGA+ | Widescreen Super Extended Graphics Array Plus |
A version of the WXGA format. |
1680×1050 (1764k) |
16:10 |
32 bpp
|
| UXGA | Ultra XGA |
A de facto Truecolor standard. |
1600×1200 (1920k) |
4:3 |
32 bpp
|
| WUXGA | Widescreen Ultra Extended Graphics Array |
A version of the UXGA format. This display aspect ratio was becoming popular in high end 15" and 17" widescreen notebook computers. |
1920×1200 (2304k) |
16:10 |
32 bpp
|
| 2K | DLP Cinema Technology |
Digital Film Projection |
2048×1080 (2212k) |
1.9 |
48 bpp - 24 FPS
|
| QXGA | Quad Extended Graphics Array |
|
2048×1536 (3146k) |
4:3 |
32 bpp
|
| WQXGA | Widescreen Quad Extended Graphics Array |
A version of the XGA format. This display aspect ratio is becoming popular in some recent desktop monitors. |
2560×1600 (4096k) |
16:10 |
32 bpp
|
| QSXGA | Quad Super Extended Graphics Array |
|
2560×2048 (5243k) |
5:4 |
32 bpp
|
| WQSXGA | Wide Quad Super Extended Graphics Array |
|
3200×2048 (6554k) |
25:16 |
32 bpp
|
| QUXGA | Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array |
|
3200×2400 (7680k) |
4:3 |
32 bpp
|
| WQUXGA | Wide Quad Ultra Extended Graphics Array |
The IBM T220/T221 LCD monitors supported this resolution, but they're no longer available. |
3840×2400 (9216k) |
16:10 |
32 bpp
|
| 4K | DLP Cinema Technology |
Digital Film Projection |
4096×1716 (7029k) |
2.39 |
48 bpp - 24 FPS
|
| HXGA | Hex[adecatuple] Extended Graphics Array |
|
4096×3072 (12583k) |
4:3 |
32 bpp
|
| WHXGA | Wide Hex[adecatuple] Extended Graphics Array |
|
5120×3200 (16384k) |
16:10 |
32 bpp
|
| HSXGA | Hex[adecatuple] Super Extended Graphics Array |
|
5120×4096 (20972k) |
5:4 |
32 bpp
|
| WHSXGA | Wide Hex[adecatuple] Super Extended Graphics Array |
|
6400×4096 (26214k) |
25:16 |
32 bpp
|
| HUXGA | Hex[adecatuple] Ultra Extended Graphics Array |
|
6400×4800 (30720k) |
4:3 |
32 bpp
|
| WHUXGA | Wide Hex[adecatuple] Ultra Extended Graphics Array |
|
7680×4800 (36864k) |
16:10 |
32 bpp
|
Display resolution prefixes
Although the common standard prefixes
super and
ultra don't indicate specific modifiers to base standard resolutions, several others do:
Quarter (Q) » A quarter of the base resolution. E.g. QVGA, a term for a 320×240 resolution, half the width and height of VGA, hence the quarter total resolution. This prefix is usually for "Quad" in higher resolutions.
;Wide (W) » The base resolution increased, and not lowered, for square or near-square pixels on a widescreen display, usually with an aspect ratio of either 16:9 or 16:10.
Quad(ruple) (Q) » Four times as many pixels compared to the base resolution, for example twice the horizontal and vertical resolution respectively.
;Hex(adecatuple) (H) » Sixteen times as many pixels compared to the base resolution, for example four times the horizontal and vertical resolutions respectively.
Ultra (U)
;eXtended (X)
These prefixes are also often combined, as in WQXGA or WHUXGA.
Other resolutions
There are also some other 4:3 ratio resolutions such as 1400x1050
SXGA+ and unnamed ones like 1152x864 (sometimes referred to as XGA+).
Further Information
Get more info on 'Computer Display Standard'.
|
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