Apple Final Cut Pro 6 - Manual (Page 1864)

Appendix A Video Formats 381
V
Below is a list of commonly used aspect ratios, mostly from the film and television
industry, plus a few others for comparison.
Footage with different aspect ratios can be combined using a variety of techniques.
Letterboxing
Letterboxing preserves the aspect ratio of widescreen movies on a narrower screen.
The movie is scaled until it fits within the width of the screen, resulting in blacks bars at
the top and bottom of the frame.
Pan and Scan
The pan and scan technique crops widescreen movies to fit on a narrower screen. In
some cases, artificial camera moves may even be added to show the entire content of a
widescreen frame. Pan and scan does not preserve the aspect ratio of widescreen movies.
Aspect ratio Medium
1.33 (4:3) Early 35 mm film and SD television
1.37 4-perforation 35 mm camera footage (prior to projection)—
also known as “Academy” aspect ratio
1.66 (15:9) Standard European film; masked in projector
1.78 (16:9) HD television
1.85 Standard North American and UK film; masked in projector
2.40 (also referred
to as 2.35 and 2.39) Widescreen (anamorphic) film projection
1.78 letterbox
1.33 frame 1.33 frame 1.78 frame
2.40 letterbox 2.40 letterbox
1.78 pan and scan 2.40 pan and scan
1.33 frame 1.33 frame