Everything you need to know about video modes for displays

Every display technology comes in with options to set your display to. Yet, if setting the display to suit your quality of experience other than the native resolution involves few other things you need to consider before just simply setting them, such as how well your video card, operating system, multimedia files, applications, web sites support it. These types of resolution are known as video modes or display modes and they have shorten name as well.

Why should you be able to navigate through the types of resolution?

It is not worth memorising every possible resolution that is out there and certainly not a best use of your time but what you can do is to get yourself familiar with the ones that you may come across a lot and found in the real world, geographically and globally. Let’s get to know some common display modes that you will come across a lot in the market.

VGA and SVGA

VGA stands for Video Graphic Array. Typically found in the archaic monitors. Has a resolution of 640 x 480 with the aspect ratio of 4:3. But this was a big deal back then.

SVGA – stands for Super Vidor Graphic Array still found typically in the back dated monitors. It has resolution of 800 x 600 with the aspect ratio of 4:3. This was basically the update over VGA.

HDTV720p and HDTV1080p

HDTV720p is High Definition Televison with the resolution of 1280 x 720 with an aspect ratio of 16:9. Typically found in the devices with lowest resolution which is HDTV.

HDTV1080p stands for the same High Definition Television but with the wide resolution of 1920 x 1080 with the aspect ratio of 16:9 is considered the full-blown HDTV resolution.

WUXGA and WQHD (2k)

WUXGA – stands for Widescreen Ultra Extended Graphics Array. WUXGA has a resolution of 1920 x 1200 found typically in the older widescreen monitors.

WQHD (2k) – Also commonly known as QHD (quad high definition) or Wide Quad High Definition (WQHD). It has a resolution of 2560 x 1440 with the aspect ratio of 16:9 and typically has widescreen monitors.

4k and higher resolution

4k Ultra HD – Is the mode where display technology begun to display what these new emerging technologies are capable of. This mode has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 which is A LOT to drop your jaw. Has an aspect ratio of 16:9 and found both for Televisions and fantastic monitors.

5k – Was the next gen of 4k maximizing the resolution to 5120 x 2880 with the aspect ratio of 16:9 found in excellent monitors.

8k ultra HD – Next gen of 5k with the resolution of 7680 x 4320 with the aspect ratio of 16:9 found typically in the Televisions.