Why did we Abandon 4:3? | Nostalgia Nerd
Check out sponsor AMD Ryzen Pro Processors for laptop PCs https://ryzen.pro/en/laptop/ ~ Aspect ratios! It’s important. The world seemed to shift dramatically from 4:3 to 16:9 aspect, but the question I often ask is why? Why did we all do that? Like a bunch of zombies walking brainlessly towards the goal. It’s kinda wrapped up in the swap from CRT screens to flat panel, but it’s a little more intricate than that. So, let’s investigate.
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⌚Timings⌚
00:00-00:57 Intro
00:57-06:16 Film aspect ratios
06:16-11:34 HDTV
11:34-13:10 PC Monitor Aspect Ratios
13:10-14:21 AMD
14:21-16:08 Conclusion
16:08-16:39 Credits
🔗Video Links🔗
World’s Largest CRT Monitor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCVa-Vu1C5g
Microsoft Word Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk71bPz5VLo
Welcome to Cinerama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R_Mh5snsZU
VistaVision Promotional Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgLqb6G1Ihw
Macintosh Portrait Display: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GGXQBoa-nQ
DVD Intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCnZ7WBTs7g
Steam Holiday Sale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3wPU0kEh5w
Kodak Camera: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_760118
ITU-R BT.709 Recommendation: https://www.itu.int/dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/bt/R-REC-BT.709-6-201506-I!!PDF-E.pdf
HDTV Timeline: https://www.itu.int/net/ITU-R/information/docs/flyers/hdtv-25th-anniversary-en.pdf
16:10 to 16:9 Market Research: https://web.archive.org/web/20150319214631/http://www.displaysearch.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-0A424DE8-28DF6E59/displaysearch/hs.xsl/070108_16by9_PR.asp
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@zacharyhildebrandt4634
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
If I were to have a home theater, I would personally think that a 16:9 TV set would be for the living room and that a 4:3 TV set would be for the bedroom.
@jayteknica1175
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
16:10 is definitely superior on PC
@gimmybhullar574
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I wish 5:3 would of bin a thing because its between 4:3 & 16:9
@TekkenBones
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I know for a fact that i prefered racing games and FPS games on 4:3 or 5:4 ratio monitors. It felt like the games had better vertical FOV back then. I hate playing modern racing games where the car takes up the entire view and you cannot see the track in the far distance.
@wiiztec
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I thought this was gonna be about computer monitors, I've got 2 Dell 2007 FPB's I'm holding out with until the world comes to their senses, might get one or 2 more just in case before they get too hard to find on ebay
@GodlikeIridium
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Because we have two eyes.
@gamesonsols
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I still use a crt on my pc. 1600×1200 at 85 hrz. Feels faster than my 165hrz lcd . Its a thong af beauty
@hewiebecker6165
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I'm still puzzled about if Google really thinks I watch that much youtube that the oled screen on my iPhone will burn in letterboxes within two years and therefore don't give me an option for perfect black letterboxes on the youtube app
@mellowmike4306
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
video isn't in 4:3 lol
@eastwood-1776
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
4:3 plainly sucks! And if you like it you are wrong! But I can say I do miss 16:10 because that extra :1 does a lot in many games.
@Blank00
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Any iPad with a home button, as well as the bigger ipads, still have 4:3. The newer standard size and mini iPads that don’t have the home button have a 3:2 ratio
@LU5Jh1VuJhJnCypjyPmtBtKHKHhMQN
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
4:3 was abandoned because when a screen is wide but short the manufacturers can legally call the screen size whatever the diagonal measurement is, and that's more profitable. You can close the tab now. You're welcome.
@sauercrowder
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Computer aspect ratios are for some reason going off the rails again. My work laptop is 16;10, which can be annoying when I connect it to a dock/monitor or conference room. The Surface Pro I'm retiring and my new Framework 13 are both 3:2.
@cianmoriarty7345
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
16:10 is best aspect ratio
@----.__
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I'm still using my trusty old 1084S
I let the normies be the consumers
@QuickTimeVelocity
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Little off topic, but wow, that Panasonic HDTV commercial is a fun one! Makes me wish there were modern tech companies that would put out fun little commercials like that again.
@L3nny666
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
you know you could ve just said that it's more natural for our eyes to look at a wider image. but that wouldn't have made a 15 minute video.
@gamephreak5
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I wish 16:10 was the norm again…I briefly used a 16:10 computer monitor and it was like having a 4:3 screen again with all the benefits of 16:9 viewing space.
@64BrokeNCrayolas
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Correction: slightly wide square
@svenlima
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
For making photos on mobile phones the 4:3 format is the best because people are lazy and they hardly ever flip their phone to the side to watch a phonto in landscape mode – although it would be a nicer view. In 4:3 format the photos look good on the phone but also on a pc. It's a compromise.
@kristerlund8845
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I like 4:3 a lot better for games and apps, 16:9 is mainly for watching movies.
@SeikoSKO
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I am a year late and 2025 I still have my TV at 4:3. I LOVE 4:3
@silikon2
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
And it makes zero sense to make laptop screens and computer monitors 16:9. It's giving up screen real estate so that you don't have black bars when you occasionally watch a movie.
Really it doesn't make sense in TVs either, especially since TVs are essentially computer monitors now anyway.
@Dewaxel
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
But nobody mentions how frustraiting is to watch so many movies shot or worse cut to widescreen. You can't have peace even on 16:9 with the black bars up and running again.
@JackStavris
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
16:9 was a mistake. Even back in the early 2010s I hated it for smaller screens, laptops suffered bigtime during this time, and it wasn't until Microsoft went with 3:2 displays in the Surface devices that we finally started to correct this and went back to 16:10. I've switched my desktop setup back to all 16:10 displays too, after many years of using dual 24" 16:9 1080p screens, I've upgraded to a 30" 16:10 2560×1600 primary display, and two 24" 16:10 1920×1200 displays in portrait. It's so much better and I could never go back to a 16:9 display ever again.
@Pixeltoaster-TV
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
For whatever reason my pretty new laptop is 16:10 because I guess HP just had to be different.
@JosephRobinsonSMBX
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I swear by 16:10, or, as it should be called and as I call it, 8:5. It's much better than 16:9 for watching 4:3 content, and is way better for work, as it's essentially two Word documents next to each other. I play a lot of retro games, almost all 4:3, and also, the specific 8:5 resolution that's most common (1920*1200) scales to exactly 5*240p, which is great for those games.
@RandomOkie
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I didn't mind when 16:9 movies were cropped to fit my 4:3 TV. I actively hate it when old 4:3 shows are cropped to fit my 16:9 TV. I can't even watch shows like M*A*S*H anymore.
@N1Zer0
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Heck! My favorite 1950~1960 movies like Yojimbo and Sanjuro are for wide screens.
@jutuberz5016
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
i like cs2 4:3 1440×1080
@amalirfankc8
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I just realised 16:9 is the square of 4:3
@namco003
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I went to a local tech college for PC repair in early 2000, and in my presentation class, I did mine on the difference between "LETTERBOX" and Standard, and WHY Widescreen was better. I used the Pixar movie "A Bugs Life", because I had the special edition DVD that contained both versions, and I came in with screen shots showing how the "BLACK BARS" are not so bad when you can see WAY MORE movie that was hidden off to the sides. I also worked at Blockbuster Video, which movies used the code P/S or WS, Pan and Scan, Widescreen. I had been collecting widescreen movies since the VHS release of Pulp Fiction in the mid 90s. A lot of people in the class were shocked at the difference.
@Mcfreddo
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Who cares about black bars
@Mcfreddo
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Many twists and turns.
@Billypoopkins
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
0:38 I NEED THIS
@stevelester6276
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Bloody PC owners? BLOODY HOLLYWOOD! The real financial parasites with overpaid everybody! Actors who think they are God and producers who act like Caligula of ancient Rome. The real future of entertainment will be CGI and AI – no more actors getting old and ugly, and no more astronomic salaries for talking heads. All made for streaming at a tenth of the cost and time
@EricBlack5150
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I miss the days of having an ion gun fired at my eyes and brain for hours and hours and hours…….
@RennieAsh
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Why do we not produce bigger 16:10 monitors in today's age?
@Derpy1969
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Home theater enthusiasts in the 90s loathed the pan and scan cropping of widescreen movies for viewing on a 4:3 tv. Laserdisc welcomed letterboxing and introduced us to the black bars.
The average moron hated them. “Use the whole screen” was shouted.
Now, with HDTV Adopting 16×9, the opposite happened to old 4:3 content.
No one is happy.
@BaroqueEnjoyer
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
16:9 was a disaster for computer monitors and desk space everywhere.
@RetroMadnessOC
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
at least they kept the settings, so video gamers like me play on 4:3 stretched or people use black bars.
@fr4gg3rd00d
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
LONG LIVE 16:10!!!
@mchenrynick
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I see so many recent YouTube videos, especially music videos, in the 2.35 ratio, because of elongated cell phone screens turned landscape.
@FluffyPuppyKasey
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I just bought a new laptop. That laptop came with a 2560×1600 16:10 display. I'm SO glad 16:10 is making a comeback
@gentlemangeek
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
I was wondering the same thing myself.
@80n3y4rd
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
to aid the rise of global obesity, Q.E.D money
@radenmulyadi2589
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
ipad mini 5 is the latest 4:3 screen simulator i still checking
@Warg666
February 10, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Why I pick J or K 13 or 14 when going to see a movie in IMAX, best seating an viewing spots!~
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