Aspect Ratio describes the visual size of an entertainment medium such as television or film in terms of the image's width compared to its height. For example, most older television sets in the United States have a ratio of 4:3 (1.33:1, known as "Academy Ratio"), meaning that the image you see is four units wide and three units tall. Widescreen televisions use 16:9 (1.78:1), but this format didn't really catch on until High Definition television broadcasts caught on. Interestingly, most (but not all) High Definition cameras used for film production shoot at a 16:9 ratio. The most common aspect ratios for feature films today are 1.85:1 (generally used for comedy, drama, or other small scale projects without much emphasis on set design or scenery) or 2.35:1 (generally action, science fiction, "epic scope", and other large scale projects). Most older films used the 4:3 aspect ratio; the "Academy" in Academy Ratio is the same one as in the Academy Awards, and they set the standard ratio back in 1932. It was the uprising of television in the fifties that led to the film industry seeking out methods of innovation to stay competetive. A lot of attempts at innovation were gimmicky and didn't last long - the first round of 3D, for instance - but two, the increased use of Color film and wider aspect ratios, proved enduring. Various ratios were tried; the widest ratio of all was Cinerama, which used three projectors to display a 2.89:1 imagenote . One should keep in mind that wider aspect ratio is not necessarily larger; proper IMAX is the largest screen in the world, but only has a ratio of 1.44:1 (13:9). Because the Widescreen Shot of a feature film is so often different from that of a television screen, a movie image will not fit squarely within a TV screen when released for home video or shown on broadcast television. In order to get around this problem, the aspect ratio of the film must be altered. There are a few common methods for doing this: Pan and Scan, Letterbox, and Visual Compression. As people still hold onto earlier media as Technology Marches On, some have noticed that older DVDs that advertise themselves as Letterbox are actually designed for 4:3 screens and will not "fill" newer TV sets, despite matching the aspect ratio on a smaller scale. This is because they were released when DVD was taking off in the late 90's when almost every computer monitor and TV screen was 4:3. Some newer televisions have a zoom function for this, though the zoomed image may seem pixelated. Aspect Ratio can also be an issue with cameraphone footage. Charlie Brooker has complained about people filming with their phones held upright, producing a tall, narrow image instead of the "correct" widescreen rationote . Glove and Boots would like you to take three minutes to watch their PSA on the subject here. If you wonna learn more about the evolution of the Aspect Ratio in movie history, check out this webcast.