The Display resolution reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Display resolution

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For other meanings of resolution, see Resolution (disambiguation).

The display resolution of a digital television or computer display is the number of pixels that can be displayed on the screen, usually given as a product of the number of columns (horizontal, "X") and lines (vertical, "Y"). For ordinary analog TV sets, the horizontal resolution is measured in signal bandwidth.

Currently, common computer display resolutions are 640×480 (VGA, Video Graphics Array), 800×600 (SVGA, Super VGA), and 1024×768 (XGA/XVGA, eXtended). Some computer users, especially CAD users and video game players, run their computers at 1600×1200 resolution (UXGA, Ultra-eXtended) or higher if they have the necessary equipment. The 640×480 resolution, introduced with the IBM PS/2 VGA and MCGA (Multi-color) built-in graphics chips, was the standard resolution from 1990 to 1997. 800×600 has been the standard resolution from 1998 to the present day. For details, see computer display standards.

When a computer display resolution is set that is too high for the display, some systems make the virtual screen scrollable over the physical screen.

With digital television and HDTV, resolutions of 720 or 1080 scan lines are typical.

See also: computer display standards