<p>I have a monitor with a resolution of 1360x768 (16:9), When I set the resolution to 1280x768 (5:3), 1024x768 (4:3), 800x600 (4:3), even 1920x1080 (16:9) it completely covers the screen and the monitor does not go black from the left, right, top and bottom.
But when I set it to 1280x720 (16:9), the screen goes black from top and bottom.
Now I have some questions
How do pixels merge together?
Why didn't the screen go black from the left and right in the 1280x768 (5:3), 1024x768 (4:3) resolutions?
Why didn't the screen go black from the left, right, top and bottom in the 800x600 (4:3) resolution?
Why in 1280x720 (16:9) resolution, the full screen was not covered and the pixels were black from the top and bottom?
How in a monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio, resolutions with aspect ratio 5:3 and 4:3 were covered full screen?
How in a monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio, the resolution with an aspect ratio of 16:9 does not cover the full screen?
And what about the 1920x1080 (16:9) resolution? Are some pixels removed?
OS: Windows 11</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-04T15:27:35.743Z
When you say "go black", are you talking about the screen going blank completely or just letter-boxing (black bars on the sides)?
Nicol Bolas
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-06T19:11:06.343Z
The terminology for black bars at the top and bottom of the image is "letterboxing" and when they're at the sides it's "pillarboxing" and when you get both (usually an accident or a byproduct of double-formatting) it's called "windowboxing".  ([see wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterboxing_(filming)))  If the aspect ratio of the content does not match the aspect ratio of the container, then you can either "crop" (cut off content), "matte" (add bars), or "stretch" (resample the image) or any combination of those.
Wyck
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-06T19:16:50.833Z
Sometimes, if the aspect ratios are close, monitors may choose to anamorphically stretch (with different scaling factors vertically than horizontally) the content to fit the monitor.  Circles won't look like circles any more, they'll look like ellipses.  If they look like circles, then the monitor has cropped.  It's useful to use a test pattern image so you can easily see which pixels have been cropped, if any.
Wyck
<opengl><color><pixel-graphics><pixels><hardware>
What happens when we select lower resolutions on a high-resolution monitor?
Ehsan
# What happens when we select lower resolutions on a high-resolution monitor?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-03-04)

I have a monitor with a resolution of 1360x768 (16:9), When I set the resolution to 1280x768 (5:3), 1024x768 (4:3), 800x600 (4:3), even 1920x1080 (16:9) it completely covers the screen and the monitor does not go black from the left, right, top and bottom.
But when I set it to 1280x720 (16:9), the screen goes black from top and bottom.
Now I have some questions
How do pixels merge together?
Why didn't the screen go black from the left and right in the 1280x768 (5:3), 1024x768 (4:3) resolutions?
Why didn't the screen go black from the left, right, top and bottom in the 800x600 (4:3) resolution?
Why in 1280x720 (16:9) resolution, the full screen was not covered and the pixels were black from the top and bottom?
How in a monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio, resolutions with aspect ratio 5:3 and 4:3 were covered full screen?
How in a monitor with a 16:9 aspect ratio, the resolution with an aspect ratio of 16:9 does not cover the full screen?
And what about the 1920x1080 (16:9) resolution? Are some pixels removed?
OS: Windows 11

**Tags:** opengl, color, pixel-graphics, pixels, hardware

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: When you say "go black", are you talking about the screen going blank completely or just letter-boxing (black bars on the sides)?  
> **username_2**: The terminology for black bars at the top and bottom of the image is "letterboxing" and when they're at the sides it's "pillarboxing" and when you get both (usually an accident or a byproduct of double-formatting) it's called "windowboxing".  ([see wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letterboxing_(filming)))  If the aspect ratio of the content does not match the aspect ratio of the container, then you can either "crop" (cut off content), "matte" (add bars), or "stretch" (resample the image) or any combination of those.  
> **username_2**: Sometimes, if the aspect ratios are close, monitors may choose to anamorphically stretch (with different scaling factors vertically than horizontally) the content to fit the monitor.  Circles won't look like circles any more, they'll look like ellipses.  If they look like circles, then the monitor has cropped.  It's useful to use a test pattern image so you can easily see which pixels have been cropped, if any.  

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## 0 answers

