在过去的技术时代，屏幕分辨率或显示分辨率(resolution or display resolution)并不是什么大问题。Windows 带有一些预设选项，为了获得更高分辨率、更多颜色或两者兼而有之，您需要为您的视频卡(video card)安装驱动程序。随着时间的推移，您可以选择更好的显卡(video card)和更好的显示器。今天，在显示器、质量和支持的分辨率方面，我们有很多选择。在本文中，我们将带您了解一些历史并解释所有基本概念，包括屏幕分辨率的常见首字母缩写词，如 1080p、2K、QHD或 4K。让我们开始吧：
这一切都始于 IBM 和 CGA
彩色图形技术最早由IBM开发。首先是CGA(CGA)，其次是EGA 和 VGA——(EGA and VGA)彩色图形适配器、增强图形适配器、视频图形阵列。无论(Regardless)您的显示器功能如何，您仍然必须从显卡驱动程序提供的少数选项之一中进行选择。为了怀旧，这里看一下曾经著名的CGA 显示器(CGA display)上的情况。
图片来源：(Image source:) 维基百科(Wikipedia)
随着高清视频的出现和 16:9(definition video)纵横比(aspect ratio)的日益普及（我们稍微解释一下纵横比(aspect ratio)），选择屏幕分辨率不再像以前那样简单。但是，这也意味着有更多选择可供选择，几乎可以满足每个人的喜好。让我们(Let)看看今天的术语是什么，以及它的含义：
屏幕是由什么组成的？
术语“分辨率”在用于指代屏幕上的像素数时是不正确的。这并没有说明像素聚集的密集程度。这由另一个指标覆盖，称为PPI（每英寸像素(Pixels Per Inch)数）。
“分辨率”在技术上是每单位面积的像素数，而不是像素总数。在本文中，我们使用的是通常理解的术语，而不是技术上绝对正确的用法。从一开始，分辨率就通过显示器上水平和垂直排列的像素数来(by the number of pixels arranged horizontally and vertically on a monitor)描述(the resolution has been described)（准确与否）。例如，640 x 480 = 307200 像素。可用的选择取决于视频卡(video card)的能力，并且因制造商而异。
Windows内置的分辨率是有限的，因此如果您没有显卡(video card)驱动程序，您将被Windows提供的低分辨率屏幕卡住。(lower-resolution screen)如果您看过旧的Windows 安装程序(Windows Setup)或安装了较新版本的视频驱动程序(video driver)，您可能已经看到 640 x 480低分辨率屏幕(low-resolution screen)一两分钟。它很难看，但那是Windows 默认(Windows default)的。
随着显示器质量(monitor quality)的提高，Windows开始提供更多内置选项，但负担仍主要由显卡制造商承担，尤其是如果您想要真正高分辨率的显示器。较新版本的Windows可以检测(Windows)显示器和显卡(monitor and graphics card)的默认屏幕分辨率(screen resolution)并进行相应调整。这并不意味着Windows选择的总是最好的选择，但它确实有效，您可以在看到它的样子后根据需要更改它。如果您需要指导，请阅读在Windows 10中(Windows 10)更改(Change)屏幕分辨率(screen resolution)并使文本和图标(text and icons)更大.
此外，如果您想知道屏幕的分辨率，您应该检查：
- 我的屏幕分辨率是多少？7 种方法来找出答案
- 我的 iPhone 或 iPad 的屏幕分辨率是多少？3种方法来找出
注意你的P，我是关于屏幕分辨率的
您可能已经看到屏幕分辨率被描述为 720p、1080i 或 1080p。那是什么意思？首先，这些字母会告诉您图片是如何在监视器上“绘制”的。“p”代表渐进式(progressive)，“i”代表隔行扫描(interlaced)。
隔行扫描(interlaced scan)是电视和早期CRT显示器的遗留物。显示器或电视屏幕上(monitor or TV screen)有水平排列的像素线。如果您靠近较旧的显示器或电视(monitor or TV)，线条相对容易看到，但现在屏幕上的像素非常小，即使放大也很难看到。显示器的电子设备“绘制”每条屏幕线(screen line)按行，太快了，肉眼看不见。隔行显示首先绘制所有奇数行，然后绘制所有偶数行。由于屏幕是以交替线绘制的，因此闪烁一直是隔行扫描的问题。制造商试图以各种方式克服这个问题。最常见的方法是增加一秒钟内绘制整个屏幕的次数，这称为刷新率(refresh)。最常见的刷新率是每秒 60 次，这对于大多数人来说是可以接受的，但可以将其推高一点以消除某些人仍然感知到的闪烁。
随着人们远离旧的CRT显示器，术语从刷新率(refresh rate)更改为帧率(frame rate)，因为LED 显示器(LED monitor)的工作方式不同。帧速率(frame rate)是显示器显示每个单独数据帧的速度。最新版本的Windows将帧速率设置为每秒60赫兹或 60 个周期，并且(Hertz)LED屏幕不会闪烁。此外，系统从隔行扫描(interlaced scan)变为逐行扫描(progressive scan)因为新的数字显示器要快得多。在逐行扫描中，线条是按顺序绘制在屏幕上的，而不是先绘制奇数行再绘制偶数行。如果您要翻译，例如，1080p 用于具有 1080 条水平线的垂直分辨率和逐行扫描的显示。维基百科(Wikipedia)上的逐行扫描和隔行扫描之间的差异有一个相当令人难以置信的说明：逐行扫描(Progressive scan)。对于另一个引人入胜的历史课(history lesson)，还请阅读隔行扫描视频(Interlaced video)。
数字呢：720p、1080p、1440p、2K、4K 和 8K？
当高清电视(TVs)成为常态时，制造商开发了一种简写来解释其显示分辨率(display resolution)。您看到的最常见数字是 720p、1080p、1140p 或 4K。正如我们所见，“p”和“i”告诉您它是逐行扫描还是隔行扫描显示。此外，这些速记数字有时也用于描述计算机显示器，尽管通常显示器能够比电视提供更高清晰度的显示。(definition display)该数字始终是指显示屏上的水平线数。
以下是速记的翻译方式：
- 720p = 1280 x 720 - 通常称为 HD 或“ HD Ready ”分辨率
- 1080p = 1920 x 1080 - 通常称为FHD或“全高清”分辨率
- 1440p = 2560 x 1440 - 通常称为QHD 或 Quad HD 分辨率(QHD or Quad HD resolution)，通常在游戏显示器和高端智能手机上看到。1440p 是 720p 高清或“高清就绪(HD ready)”分辨率的四倍。更令人困惑的是，许多高级智能手机具有所谓的 2960x1440 Quad HD+ resolution，它仍然适合 1440p。
- 4K 或 2160p (4K or 2160p) = 3840 x 2160 - 通常称为4K、UHD 或 Ultra HD 分辨率(UHD or Ultra HD resolution)。这是一个巨大的显示分辨率(display resolution)，它可以在高级电视和电脑显示器(TVs and computer monitors)上找到。2160p 之所以称为 4K，是因为宽度接近 4000 像素。换句话说，它提供的像素是 1080p FHD或“全高清”的(Full HD)四倍(four)。
- 8K 或 4320p (8K or 4320p) = 7680 x 4320 - 被称为 8K，它提供的像素是常规 1080p FHD或“全高清”分辨率的 16 倍。目前，您只能在三星和 LG(Samsung and LG)的昂贵电视上看到 8K 。但是，您可以使用此 8K视频样本(video sample)测试您的计算机是否可以渲染如此大量的数据：
2K 的问题在于消费设备不存在
在电影摄影中，存在2K 分辨率(2K resolution)，它指的是 2048 × 1080。但是，在消费市场上(consumer market)，它会被认为是 1080p。更糟糕的是，一些显示器制造商使用术语 2K(term 2K)来表示 2560x1440 等分辨率，因为他们的显示器具有 2000 像素或更高的水平分辨率。不幸的是，这是不正确的，因为此分辨率是 1440p 或Quad HD，而不是 2K。
因此，当您听说有 2K 分辨率的电视、电脑显示器(computer monitor)、智能手机或平板电脑(smartphone or tablet)时，这种说法是不正确的。真正的分辨率可能是 1440p 或Quad HD。
你能在低分辨率屏幕上看到高分辨率视频吗？
您可能想知道是否可以在较小分辨率的屏幕上观看(resolution screen)高分辨率视频(high-resolution video)。例如，是否可以使用 720p 电视观看 1080p 视频？答案是肯定的！无论(Regardless)您的屏幕分辨率是多少，您都可以在其上观看任何视频，无论视频的分辨率如何（更高或更低）。但是，如果您要观看的视频的分辨率高于显示器的分辨率，您的设备会将视频的分辨率转换为适合您显示器分辨率的分辨率。这称为下采样(downsampling)。
例如，如果您想在 720p 屏幕上观看 4K 分辨率的视频，则该视频将以 720p 分辨率显示，因为这就是您的屏幕所能提供的全部。
什么是纵横比？
纵横比(term aspect ratio)一词最初用于电影中，表示图片相对于其高度的宽度。电影最初采用 4:3 的纵横比(aspect ratio)，这延续到了电视和早期的计算机显示器中。电影(Motion picture) 长宽比(aspect ratio)变化得更快，屏幕更宽(wider screen)，这意味着当电影在电视上播放时，必须裁剪它们或以其他方式处理图像以适应电视屏幕(TV screen)。
随着显示技术(display technology)的进步，电视和显示器制造商(TV and monitor manufacturers)也开始转向宽屏显示器。最初“宽屏”指的是比典型的 4:3 显示器更宽的任何东西，但很快就意味着 16:10 的比例和后来的 16:9。如今，几乎所有的电脑显示器和电视都只有宽屏，电视广播和网页已经适应了匹配。
直到 2010 年，16:10 是最流行的宽屏电脑显示器宽高比(aspect ratio)。然而，随着高清电视的普及，使用720p和1080p等高清分辨率，使这些术语成为高清的同义词，16：9已成为高清标准纵横比(standard aspect ratio)。
根据显示器的纵横比(aspect ratio)，您只能使用特定于其宽度和高度(width and height)的分辨率。可用于每个纵横比(aspect ratio)的一些最常见的分辨率如下：
- 4:3宽高比分辨率：640×480、800×600、960×720、1024×768、1280×960、1400×1050、1440×1080、1600×1200、1856×1392、1920×1440和2048× 1536.
- 16:10 纵横比分辨率：1280×800、1440×900、1680×1050、1920×1200 和 2560×1600。
- 16:9 宽高比分辨率：1024×576、1152×648、1280×720（高清）、1366×768、1600×900、1920×1080（全(FHD)高清） 、2560×1440（QHD）、3840×2160（4K）和 7680 x 4320 (8K)。
纵横比和显示方向(ratio and display orientation)之间有关系吗？
显示方向(display orientation)是指您如何看待屏幕：最常用的屏幕方向是横向(landscape)和纵向(portrait)。横向(Landscape orientation)意味着屏幕的宽度大于其高度，而纵向意味着相反。大多数大屏幕，例如我们在计算机、笔记本电脑或电视(TVs)上使用的大屏幕，都使用横向(use landscape orientation)。较小的(Smaller)屏幕，例如我们智能手机上的屏幕，通常用于纵向模式(portrait mode)，但由于它们的尺寸允许您轻松旋转它们，它们也可以用于横向模式(landscape mode). 屏幕的纵横比定义了其长边与短边的比率。因此，这意味着当您在横向模式下查看屏幕时，屏幕的纵横比会告诉您(landscape mode)宽高比(ratio of the width to height)。纵横比不用于描述纵向模式下(portrait mode)的屏幕（或任何矩形）。
换句话说，您可以说 16x9 的纵横比与 9x16 相同，但后者不是指纵横比的公认形式。但是，您可以通过两种方式参考屏幕分辨率(screen resolution)。例如，1920x1080 像素的分辨率与 1080x1920 像素相同(a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels is the same as 1080x1920 pixels)；只是方向不同(the orientation differs)而已。
屏幕大小如何影响分辨率？
虽然 4:3 电视的显示器可以调整为在屏幕的顶部和底部显示黑条，但在显示宽屏电影或节目(movie or show)时，这对于显示器来说没有意义，因此Windows甚至没有为您提供宽屏显示作为一种选择。您可以像观看电视屏幕(TV screen)一样观看带有黑条的电影，但这是由您的媒体播放器完成的。
最重要的不是显示器尺寸(monitor size)，而是它显示更高分辨率图像的能力。您设置的分辨率越高，屏幕上的图像就越小，并且屏幕上的文本会变得非常小以至于无法阅读。在较大的显示器上，确实可以将分辨率推得很高，但如果该显示器的像素密度(pixel density)达不到标准，在图像变得不可读之前，您将无法获得最大可能的分辨率。在许多情况下，如果您告诉 Windows 使用显示器无法处理的分辨率，显示器根本不会显示任何内容。换句话说，不要指望廉价显示器会带来奇迹。当谈到高清显示器时，你肯定会得到你所支付的。
您对屏幕分辨率还有其他问题吗？
如果您不是技术人员，那么您可能会被关于显示和分辨率的许多技术性所迷惑。希望本文能够帮助您理解显示器最基本的特性：纵横比(aspect ratio)、分辨率或类型。如果您对此主题有任何疑问，请随时在下面的评论部分中提问。
What do the 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 2K, 4K resolutions mean? What are the aspect ratio & orientation?
In the old days of technology, the screеn resolution or disрlay resolutіon was not much of an issue. Windows came with a few preset options and, tо get higher resolution, more colors or both, you would install a driver for your video card. As time went on, уou could choose better video cаrds and better monitors as well. Today we have lots of options whеn it comes to displays, their quality, аnd the supported resolutions. In this article, we take you through a bit of history and explain all the essential concepts, inсluding common acronyms for screen resоlutions, like 1080р, 2K, QHD оr 4K. Let's get startеd:
It all started with IBM and CGA
The color graphics technology was first developed by IBM. CGA was first, followed by EGA and VGA - color graphics adapter, enhanced graphics adapter, video graphics array. Regardless of the capability of your monitor, you would still have to choose from one of the few options available through your graphics card's drivers. For the sake of nostalgia, here is a look at how things looked on a once well-known CGA display.
Image source: Wikipedia
With the advent of high definition video and the increased popularity of the 16:9 aspect ratio (we explain aspect ratios in a bit), selecting a screen resolution is not the simple affair it once was. However, this also means that there are a lot more options to choose from, with something to suit almost everyone's preferences. Let's look at what today's terminology is, and what it means:
The screen is what by what?
The term "resolution" is not correct when it is used to refer to the number of pixels on a screen. That says nothing about how densely the pixels are clustered. That is covered by another metric, called PPI (Pixels Per Inch).
"Resolution" is technically the number of pixels per unit of area, rather than the total number of pixels. In this article, we are using the term as it is commonly understood, rather than the absolutely technologically correct usage. Since the beginning, the resolution has been described (accurately or not) by the number of pixels arranged horizontally and vertically on a monitor. For example, 640 x 480 = 307200 pixels. The choices available were determined by the capability of the video card, and they differed from manufacturer to manufacturer.
The resolutions built into Windows were limited, so if you did not have the driver for your video card, you would be stuck with the lower-resolution screen that Windows provided. If you have watched the old Windows Setup or installed a newer version of a video driver, you may have seen the 640 x 480 low-resolution screen for a moment or two. It was ugly, but that was the Windows default.
As monitor quality improved, Windows began offering a few more built-in options, but the burden was still mostly on the graphics card manufacturers, especially if you wanted a really high-resolution display. The more recent versions of Windows can detect the default screen resolution for your monitor and graphics card and adjust accordingly. This does not mean that what Windows chooses is always the best option, but it works, and you can change it if you wish, after you see what it looks like. If you need guidance, read Change the screen resolution and make text and icons bigger in Windows 10.
Also, if you are curious to find out the resolution of your screen, you should check:
Mind your P's, and I's about screen resolutions
You may have seen the screen resolution described as something like 720p, 1080i or 1080p. What does that mean? To begin with, the letters tell you how the picture is "painted" on the monitor. A "p" stands for progressive, and an "i" stands for interlaced.
The interlaced scan is a holdover from television and early CRT monitors. The monitor or TV screen has lines of pixels arranged horizontally across it. The lines were relatively easy to see if you got up close to an older monitor or TV, but nowadays the pixels on the screen are so small that they are hard to see even with magnification. The monitor's electronics "paint" each screen line by line, too quickly for the eye to see. An interlaced display paints all the odd lines first, then all the even lines. Since the screen is being painted in alternate lines, flicker has always been a problem with interlaced scans. Manufacturers have tried to overcome this problem in various ways. The most common way is to increase the number of times an entire screen is painted in a second, which is called the refresh rate. The most common refresh rate was 60 times per second, which is acceptable for most people, but it could be pushed a bit higher to get rid of the flicker that some people still perceived.
As people moved away from the older CRT displays, the terminology changed from refresh rate to frame rate, because of the difference in the way an LED monitor works. The frame rate is the speed with which the monitor displays each separate frame of data. The most recent versions of Windows set the framerate at 60 Hertz or 60 cycles per second, and LED screens do not flicker. Moreover, the system changed from interlaced scan to progressive scan because the new digital displays are so much faster. In a progressive scan, the lines are painted on the screen in sequence rather than first the odd lines and then the even lines. If you want to translate, 1080p, for example, is used for displays that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of vertical resolution and a progressive scan. There's a rather eye-boggling illustration of the differences between progressive and interlaced scans on Wikipedia here: Progressive scan. For another fascinating history lesson, also read Interlaced video.
What about the numbers: 720p, 1080p, 1440p, 2K, 4K and 8K?
When high-definition TVs became the norm, manufacturers developed a shorthand to explain their display resolution. The most common numbers you see are 720p, 1080p, 1140p or 4K. As we have seen, the "p" and the "i" tell you whether it is a progressive-scan or an interlaced-scan display. Moreover, these shorthand numbers are sometimes used to describe computer monitors as well, even though in general a monitor is capable of a higher definition display than a TV. The number always refers to the number of horizontal lines on the display.
Here's how the shorthand translates:
- 720p = 1280 x 720 - is usually known as HD or "HD Ready" resolution
- 1080p = 1920 x 1080 - is usually known as FHD or "Full HD" resolution
- 1440p = 2560 x 1440 - is commonly known as QHD or Quad HD resolution, and it is typically seen on gaming monitors and on high-end smartphones. 1440p is four times the resolution of 720p HD or "HD ready." To make things even more confusing, many premium smartphones feature a so-called 2960x1440 Quad HD+ resolution, which still fits into 1440p.
- 4K or 2160p = 3840 x 2160 - is commonly known as 4K, UHD or Ultra HD resolution. It is a huge display resolution, and it is found on premium TVs and computer monitors. 2160p is called 4K because the width is close to 4000 pixels. In other words, it offers four times the pixels of 1080p FHD or "Full HD."
- 8K or 4320p = 7680 x 4320 - is known as 8K and it offers 16 times more pixels than the regular 1080p FHD or "Full HD" resolution. For now, you see 8K only on expensive TVs from Samsung and LG. However, you can test whether your computer can render such a large amount of data using this 8K video sample:
The problem with 2K is that it does not exist for consumer devices
In cinematography, the 2K resolution exists, and it refers to 2048 × 1080. However, in the consumer market, it would be considered 1080p. To make things worse, some display manufacturers use the term 2K for resolutions like 2560x1440, because their displays have a horizontal resolution of 2000 pixels or more. Unfortunately, that is incorrect, as this resolution is 1440p, or Quad HD, and not 2K.
Therefore, when you hear about a TV, computer monitor, smartphone or tablet having a 2K resolution, this statement is incorrect. The real resolution is likely to be something like 1440p or Quad HD.
Can you see high-resolution videos on lower resolution screens?
You might wonder whether you can watch a high-resolution video on a smaller resolution screen. For example, is it possible to use a 720p TV to watch a 1080p video? The answer is yes! Regardless of what your screen resolution is, you can watch any video on it, no matter the video's resolution (higher or lower). However, if the video you want to watch has a higher resolution than that of your display, your device converts the video's resolution to one that fits the resolution of your display. This is called downsampling.
For example, if you want to watch a video with a 4K resolution on a 720p screen, that video is shown at 720p resolution, because that is all that your screen can offer.
What is the Aspect Ratio?
The term aspect ratio was initially used in motion pictures, indicating how wide the picture was in relation to its height. Movies were initially in 4:3 aspect ratio, and this carried over into television and early computer displays. Motion picture aspect ratio changed much more quickly to a wider screen, which meant that, when movies were shown on TV, they had to be cropped or the image had to be manipulated in other ways to fit the TV screen.
As display technology improved, TV and monitor manufacturers began to move toward widescreen displays as well. Originally "widescreen" referred to anything wider than the typical 4:3 display, but it quickly came to mean a 16:10 ratio and later 16:9. Nowadays, nearly all computer monitors and TVs are only available in widescreen, and TV broadcasts and web pages have adapted to match.
Until 2010, 16:10 was the most popular aspect ratio for widescreen computer displays. However, with the rise in popularity of high definition televisions, which were using high definition resolutions such as 720p and 1080p and made these terms synonyms with high-definition, 16:9 has become the high-definition standard aspect ratio.
Depending on the aspect ratio of your display, you can use only resolutions that are specific to its width and height. Some of the most common resolutions that can be used for each aspect ratio are the following:
- 4:3 aspect ratio resolutions: 640×480, 800×600, 960×720, 1024×768, 1280×960, 1400×1050, 1440×1080, 1600×1200, 1856×1392, 1920×1440, and 2048×1536.
- 16:10 aspect ratio resolutions: 1280×800, 1440×900, 1680×1050, 1920×1200, and 2560×1600.
- 16:9 aspect ratio resolutions: 1024×576, 1152×648, 1280×720 (HD), 1366×768, 1600×900, 1920×1080 (FHD), 2560×1440 (QHD), 3840×2160 (4K), and 7680 x 4320 (8K).
Is there a relation between aspect ratio and display orientation?
The display orientation refers to how you look at a screen: the most common screen orientations used are landscape and portrait. Landscape orientation means that the width of the screen is larger than its height, while portrait orientation means the opposite. Most large screens, such as the ones we use on our computers, laptops, or TVs, use landscape orientation. Smaller screens, such as the ones on our smartphones, are normally used in portrait mode, but, because their size allows you to easily rotate them, they can also be used in landscape mode. The aspect ratio of the screen defines the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side. Consequently, that means that the aspect ratio of the screen tells you the ratio of the width to height when you look at it in landscape mode. The aspect ratio is not used to describe screens (or any rectangular shapes) in portrait mode.
In other words, you could say that an aspect ratio of 16x9 is the same as 9x16, but the latter is not an accepted form of referring to aspect ratio. However, you can refer to the screen resolution in both ways. For example, a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels is the same as 1080x1920 pixels; it is just that the orientation differs.
How does the size of the screen affect resolution?
Although a 4:3 TV's display can be adjusted to show black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, while a widescreen movie or show is being displayed, this does not make sense with a monitor, so Windows does not even offer you the widescreen display as a choice. You can watch movies with black bars as if you were watching a TV screen, but this is done by your media player.
The most important thing is not the monitor size, but its ability to display higher resolution images. The higher you set the resolution, the smaller the images on the screen are, and there comes a point at which the text on the screen becomes so small it is not readable. On a larger monitor it is possible to push the resolution very high indeed, but if that monitor's pixel density is not up to par, you won't get the maximum possible resolution before the image becomes unreadable. In many cases, the monitor does not display anything at all if you tell Windows to use a resolution that the monitor cannot handle. In other words, do not expect miracles out of a cheap monitor. When it comes to high-definition displays, you definitely get what you pay for.
Do you have any other questions about screen resolutions?
If you are not technical, it is likely that you are confused by so many technicalities about displays and resolutions. Hopefully, this article has managed to help in your understanding of the most essential characteristics of a display: aspect ratio, resolutions or type. If you have any questions on this subject, do not hesitate to ask in the comments section below.
