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4K resolution refers to a horizontal
display resolution The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor, or other display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resoluti ...
of approximately 4,000
pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
s.
Digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using Digital signal, digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an ...
and
digital cinematography Digital cinematography is the process of capturing (recording) a film, motion picture using digital image sensors rather than through film stock. As digital technology has improved in recent years, this practice has become dominant. Since the 200 ...
commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 ( 4K UHD) with a 16:9 aspect ratio is the dominant standard, whereas the movie projection industry uses 40962160 ( DCI 4K). The 4K television market share increased as prices fell dramatically throughout 2013 and 2014.


4K standards and terminology

The term "4K" is generic and refers to any resolution with a horizontal pixel count of approximately 4,000. Several different 4K resolutions have been standardized by various organizations. The terms "4K" and "
Ultra HD Ultra-high-definition television (also known as Ultra HD television, Ultra HD, UHDTV, UHD and Super Hi-Vision) today includes 4K resolution#Resolutions, 4K UHD and 8K resolution#Resolutions, 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an ...
" are used more widely in marketing than "2160p" (''cf.'' "
1080p 1080p (1920 × 1080 progressively displayed pixels; also known as Full HD or FHD, and BT.709) is a set of HDTV high-definition video modes characterized by 1,920 pixels displayed across the screen horizontally and 1,080 pixels down the sc ...
"). While typically referring to motion pictures, some
digital camera A digital camera, also called a digicam, is a camera that captures photographs in Digital data storage, digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film or film stock. Dig ...
vendors have used the term "4K photo" for still photographs, making it appear like an especially high resolution even though 3840×2160 pixels equal approximately 8.3 megapixels, which is not considered to be especially high for still photographs.


DCI Digital Cinema System Specification

In 2005,
Digital Cinema Initiatives Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) is a consortium of major motion picture studios, formed to establish specifications for a common systems architecture for digital cinema systems. The organization was formed in March 2002 by Metro-Goldwyn- ...
(DCI), a prominent standards organization in the cinema industry, published the Digital Cinema System Specification. This specification establishes standardized 2K and 4K container formats for digital cinema production, with resolutions of and respectively. The resolution of the video content inside follows the SMPTE 428-1 standard, which establishes the following resolutions for a 4K distribution: * 40962160 (full frame, 256135 or ≈1.901 aspect ratio) * 39962160 (flat crop, 1.851 aspect ratio) * 40961716 (CinemaScope crop, ≈2.391 aspect ratio) 2K distributions can have a frame rate of either 24 or 48 FPS, while 4K distributions must have a frame rate of 24FPS. Some articles claim that the terms "2K" and "4K" were coined by DCI and refer exclusively to the 2K and 4K formats defined in the DCI standard. However, usage of these terms in the cinema industry predates the publication of the DCI standard, and they are generally understood as casual terms for any resolution approximately 2000 or 4000 pixels in width, rather than names for specific resolutions.


SMPTE UHDTV standard

In 2007, the
Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) (, rarely ), founded by Charles Francis Jenkins in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture Engineers or SMPE, is a global professional association of engineers, technologists, and e ...
published SMPTE ST 2036-1, which defines parameters for two UHDTV systems called UHDTV1 and UHDTV2. The standard defines the following characteristics for these systems: * A resolution of (UHDTV1) or (UHDTV2) * Square () pixels, for an overall image aspect ratio of * A framerate of 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94, 60, 100, 119.88, or 120Hz with
progressive scan Progressive scanning (alternatively referred to as noninterlaced scanning) is a format of displaying, storing, or transmitting moving images in which all the lines of each frame are drawn in sequence. This is in contrast to interlaced video us ...
* RGB, 4:4:4, 4:2:2, or 4:2:0 pixel encoding * 10bpc (30bit/px) or 12bpc (36bit/px) color depth * Colorimetry characteristics as defined in the standard, including color primaries, quantization parameters, and the electro-optical transfer function. These are the same characteristics later standardized in ITU-R BT.2020. UHDTV1 systems are permitted to use BT.709 color primaries up to 60Hz.


ITU-R UHDTV standard

In 2012, the International Telecommunication Union, Radiocommunication Sector published Recommendation ITU-R BT.2020, also known as the Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) standard. It adopts the same image parameters defined in SMPTE ST 2036–1. Although the UHDTV standard does not define any official names for the formats it defines, ITU typically uses the terms "4K", "4K UHD", or "4K UHDTV" to refer to the system in public announcements and press releases (" 8K" for the system). In some of ITU's other standards documents, the terms "UHDTV1" and "UHDTV2" are used as shorthand.


CEA Ultra HD

In October 2012, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) announced their definition of the term Ultra High-Definition (or Ultra HD) for use with marketing consumer display devices. CEA defines an ''Ultra HD'' product as a TV, monitor, or projector with the following characteristics: * A resolution of or larger * An aspect ratio of 1.1 () or wider * Support for color depth of 8bpc (24bit/px) or higher * At least one HDMI input capable of supporting at 24, 30, and 60Hz progressive scan (though not necessarily with RGB / 4:4:4 color), and HDCP2.2 * Capable of processing images according to the color space defined in ITU-R BT.709 * Capable of upscaling HD content (i.e. 720p / 1080p) The CEA definition does allow manufacturers to use other terms—such as ''4K''—alongside the Ultra HD logo. Since the resolution in CEA's definition is only a minimum requirement, displays with higher resolutions such as or also qualify as "Ultra HD" displays, provided they meet the other requirements.


2160p resolution

Some 4K resolutions, like , are often casually referred to as ''2160p''. This name follows from the previous naming convention used by
HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
and
SDTV Standard-definition television (SDTV; also standard definition or SD) is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. ''Standard'' refers to offering a similar resolution to the ...
formats, which refer to a format by the number of pixels/lines along the vertical axis (such as "1080p" for progressive scan, or "480i" for the 480-line interlaced SDTV formats) rather than the horizontal pixel count (≈4000 or "4K" for ). The term "2160p" could be applied to any format with a height of 2160 pixels, but it is most commonly used in reference to the 4K UHDTV resolution of due to its association with the well-known 720p and 1080p HDTV formats. Although is both a 4K resolution and a 2160p resolution, these terms cannot always be used interchangeably since not all 4K resolutions are 2160 pixels tall, and not all 2160p resolutions are ≈4000 pixels wide. However, some companies have begun using the term "4K" to describe devices with support for a 2160p resolution, even if it is not close to 4000 pixels wide. For example, many "4K" dash cams only support a resolution of (43); although this is a 2160p resolution, it is not a 4K resolution. Conversely, Samsung released a ( 6427) TV, but marketed it as a "4K" TV despite its 5K-class resolution.


M+ or RGBW TV controversy

In 2015,
LG Display LG Display Co., Ltd. ( Korean: LG 디스플레이) is one of the world's largest manufacturers and supplier of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display ( TFT-LCD) panels, OLEDs and flexible displays. LG Display is headquartered in Seoul, S ...
announced the implementation of a new technology called M+ which is the addition of white subpixel along with the regular RGB dots in their IPS panel technology. The media and internet users later called this "RGBW" TVs because of the white sub pixel. Most of the new M+ technology was employed on 4K TV sets which led to a controversy after tests showed that the addition of a white sub pixel replacing the traditional RGB structure would reduce the resolution by around 25%. After tests done by
Intertek Intertek Group plc is a British multinational assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company headquartered in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The ...
in which the technical aspects of LG M+ TVs were analyzed and they concluded that "the addressable resolution display is 2,880 X 2,160 for each red, green, blue", in other words, the LG TVs were technically 2.8K as it became known in the controversy. Although LG Display has developed this technology for use in notebook display, outdoor and smartphones, it is more popular in the TV market due to the supposed 4K UHD marketed resolution but still being incapable of achieving true 4K UHD resolution as defined by the CTA as 3840x2160 active pixels with 8-bit per color. This negatively impacts the rendering of text, making it a bit fuzzier, which is especially noticeable when a TV is used as a PC monitor.


CinemaWide 4K

In 2019,
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
was granted the CinemaWide trademark by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), in which the trademark covers 'Class 9' electronic devices, including smartphones. According to Sony and SID, the standard defines a CinemaWide 4K product with the following characteristics: * A resolution of or larger * An aspect ratio of * Capable of playing back 4K resolution video (2160p) in an aspect ratio of * Capable of upscaling non-4K content (i.e. 720p / 1080p) Sony
Xperia is a series of and the sole brand name of smartphones marketed by Sony. It also includes various related mobile hardware such as tablet computer, tablets as well as software. Xperia was originally developed by Sony Ericsson before becoming So ...
smartphones are the most widely known products that equipped with CinemaWide 4K display, such as Xperia 1, Xperia 1 II, Xperia 1 III, Xperia 1 IV and Xperia 1 V.


Adoption

Video sharing website
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and the television industry have adopted 38402160 as their 4K standard. , 4K content from major broadcasters remained limited. By late 2014, 4K content was becoming more widely available online, including on Apple TV, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. By 2013, some UHDTV models were available to general consumers in the range of US$600. , prices on smaller computer and television panels had dropped below US$400.


ATSC

On March 26, 2013, the Advanced Television Systems Committee announced new proposals of a new standard called
ATSC 3.0 ATSC 3.0 is a major version of the ATSC standards for terrestrial television broadcasting created by the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC). The standards are designed to offer support for newer technologies, including High Effici ...
which would implement UHD broadcasts at resolutions of up to or . The standard would also include framerates of up to 120Hz,
HEVC High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding (AVC, H.264, or MPEG-4 Part 10). In co ...
encoding, wide color gamut, as well as
high dynamic range High dynamic range (HDR), also known as wide dynamic range, extended dynamic range, or expanded dynamic range, is a signal with a higher dynamic range than usual. The term is often used in discussing the dynamic ranges of images, videos, audio o ...
.


DVB

In 2014, the
Digital Video Broadcasting Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...
Project released a new set of standards intended to guide the implementation of high resolution content in broadcast television. Dubbed DVB-UHDTV, it establishes two standards, known as UHD-1 (for 4K content) and UHD-2 (for 8K content). These standards use resolutions of 38402160 and 76804320 respectively, with framerates of up to 60Hz, color depth up to 10bpc (30bit/px), and
HEVC High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding (AVC, H.264, or MPEG-4 Part 10). In co ...
encoding for transmission. DVB is currently focusing on the implementation of the UHD-1 standard. DVB finalized UHD-1 Phase 2 in 2016, with the introduction of service by broadcasters expected in 2017. UHD-1 Phase 2 adds features such as
high dynamic range High dynamic range (HDR), also known as wide dynamic range, extended dynamic range, or expanded dynamic range, is a signal with a higher dynamic range than usual. The term is often used in discussing the dynamic ranges of images, videos, audio o ...
(using HLG and PQ at 10 or 12 bits), wide color gamut ( BT. 2020/
2100 In contemporary history, the third millennium is the current millennium in the ''Anno Domini'' or Common Era, under the Gregorian calendar. It began on 1 January 2001 ( MMI) and will end on 31 December 3000 ( MMM), spanning the 21st to 30th ...
colorimetry), and
high frame rate In motion picture technology—either film or video—high frame rate (HFR) refers to higher frame rates than typical prior practice. The frame rate for motion picture film cameras was typically 24 frames per second (fps) with multiple flashes on ...
(up to 120Hz).


Video streaming

As of February 2025, both YouTube and Vimeo support high-resolution video uploads, with maximum resolutions of 4096 × 2304 pixels (approximately 9.4 megapixels) and 4096 × 2160 pixels (approximately 8.8 megapixels), respectively. The growing availability of 4K content across streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube has made it more accessible to consumers. Vimeo's 4K content is currently limited to mostly nature documentaries and tech coverage.
High Efficiency Video Coding High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding (AVC, H.264, or MPEG-4 Part 10). In compa ...
(HEVC or H.265) facilitates streaming of 4K content at bitrates between 20 to 30
Mbit/s In telecommunications, data transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols (baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are multi ...
, offering efficient compression without significant quality loss. In January 2014, Naughty America launched the first adult video service streaming in 4K. In February 2025, Super Bowl LIX was broadcast in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos sound for the first time. Fox aired the game, and it was also available for free streaming in 4K on Tubi, marking a significant milestone in sports broadcasting.


Mobile phone cameras

The first mobile phones to be able to record at 2160p () were released in late 2013, including the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which is able to record 2160p at 30 frames per second. In the year 2014, the
OnePlus One The OnePlus One (colloquially abbreviated to OPO and also known as OnePlus 1) is an Android smartphone manufactured by OnePlus. Unveiled in April 2014, it is the first product by OnePlus. The OnePlus One was designed to compare favorably – ...
was released with the option to record DCI 4K () at 24 frames per second, as well as LG G3 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with
optical image stabilization Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure. Generally, it compensates for pan and tilt (angular movement, equivalent to yaw and pi ...
. In the year 2015,
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
announced the iPhone 6s was released with the 12megapixel camera that has the option to record 4K at 25 or 30 frames per second. In the years 2017 and 2018, mobile phone chipsets reached sufficient processing power that mobile phone vendors started releasing mobile phones that allow recording 2160p footage at 60 frames per second for a smoother and more realistic appearance.


Personal computers

iMac with Retina Display (2014) is one of the earliest computers that utilise 4K widescreen.


History

In 1984,
Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...
released the ARTC HD63484 graphics processor, which was capable of displaying up to 4K resolution when in
monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, mon ...
mode. The resolution was targeted at the bit-mapped
desktop publishing Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using dedicated software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online co ...
market. The first commercially available 4K camera for cinematographic purposes was the Dalsa Origin, released in 2003. 4K technology was developed by several research groups in universities around the world, such as
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
, CALIT2,
Keio University , abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university located in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was originally established as a school for Rangaku, Western studies in 1858 in Edo. It was granted university status in 1920, becomi ...
,
Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...
and others that realized several demonstrations in venues such as IGrid in 2004 and CineGrid.
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
began supporting 4K for video uploads in 2010 as a result of leading manufacturers producing 4K cameras. Users could view 4K video by selecting "Original" from the quality settings until December 2013, when the 2160p option appeared in the quality menu. In November 2013, YouTube began to use the VP9 video compression standard, saying that it was more suitable for 4K than
High Efficiency Video Coding High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding (AVC, H.264, or MPEG-4 Part 10). In compa ...
(HEVC).
Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
, which owns YouTube, developed VP9. Theaters began projecting movies at 4K resolution in 2011. Sony was offering 4K projectors as early as 2004. The first 4K home theater projector was released by
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
in 2012. Despite this, there's not many finished films with 4K resolution as of 2023. Even for movies and TV shows shot using 6K or 8K cameras, almost all finished films are edited in HD resolution and enlarged to fit a 4K format. Sony is one of the leading studios promoting UHDTV content, offering a little over 70 movie and television titles via digital download to a specialized player that stores and decodes the video. The large files (≈40GB), distributed through consumer broadband connections, raise concerns about data caps. In 2014,
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
began streaming ''
House of Cards A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a struc ...
'', ''
Breaking Bad ''Breaking Bad'' is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan for AMC (TV channel), AMC. Set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the series follows Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White (Bryan Cran ...
'', and "some nature documentaries" at 4K to compatible televisions with an HEVC decoder. Most 4K televisions sold in 2013 did not natively support HEVC, with most major manufacturers announcing support in 2014.
Amazon Studios Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...
began shooting their full-length original series and new pilots with 4K resolution in 2014. They are now currently available through
Amazon Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
. In March 2016 the first players and discs for
Ultra HD Blu-ray Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K Ultra HD, UHD-BD, or 4K Blu-ray) is a digital optical disc data storage format that is an enhanced variant of Blu-ray. Ultra HD Blu-ray supports 4K UHD (3840 × 2160 pixel resolution) video at frame rates up to 60 progre ...
—a physical optical disc format supporting 4K resolution and
high-dynamic-range video High dynamic range (HDR), also known as wide dynamic range, extended dynamic range, or expanded dynamic range, is a signal with a higher dynamic range than usual. The term is often used in discussing the dynamic ranges of images, videos, audio or ...
(HDR) at 60 frames per second—were released. On August 2, 2016, Microsoft released the Xbox One S, which supports 4K streaming and has an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive, but does not support 4K gaming. On November 10, 2016, Sony released the PlayStation 4 Pro, which supports 4K streaming and gaming, though many games use checkerboard rendering or are upscaled 4K. On November 7, 2017, Microsoft released the
Xbox One X The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Australia, and South ...
, which supports 4K streaming and gaming, though not all games are rendered at native 4K.


Home video projection

Though the price of home cinema viewing devices began to drop rapidly from 2013, the digital video projector market saw limited expansion as very few manufacturers had fully 4K-capable lineups. Native 4K projectors remained priced in the five-figure range well into 2015, only falling below US$10,000 later that year. Sony was the sole major manufacturer offering a comprehensive 4K projection solution as of 2015. Critics argue that, at typical direct-view panel sizes and viewing distances, the extra pixels of 4K are unnecessary for normal human vision. In contrast, home cinema projectors use larger screens without necessarily increasing the viewing distance to match the scale. One technique to provide a more affordable 4K experience in home cinema projectors is "e-shift." Developed by some manufacturers, e-shift extrapolates additional pixels from 1080p sources to either upscale to 4K or display 4K from native 4K sources at a much lower price point than native 4K projectors. This technology reached its fourth generation in 2016. JVC applied this technology to create an 8K flight simulation system for Boeing, meeting the visual acuity limits of 20/25. The first pixel-shifted 4K UHD projectors adopted by the market are Optoma, BenQ, Dell, et al., for those adopt a 2718×1528 pixel structure. The amount of data these projectors process is true 4K, but they overlap the pixels, which is what pixel shifting is. In fact, each of those pixels is far larger. In fact, each one has 50% more area than true 4K. Pixel shifting projectors. This way, they project a pixel and shift it up to the right by a half diameter and project it again with modified data—the second pixel overlaid on the first. This would result in adjacent red and green pixels effectively forming yellow, with a fringe on one side of red, on the other of green—except that the fringe takes on another color as the next line of pixels overlaps too. 4K UHD or 1080p pixel shifting cannot reveal the fine detail of a true 4K projector such as those Sony ships in the business, education, and home markets. JVC has one true 4K at $35,000 (in mid-2017) and another for $120,000. While projecting UHD, it might look as though the pixel structures would have 1/4 the area of 1080p; it just doesn't happen with pixel shifting. That much resolution is only carried by a true 4K projector. This is why "true" 4K costs so much more than 4K UHD projectors that have more or less similar feature sets. They produce smaller pixels, finer resolution—no loss of detail or color from the overlapping pixels. This is in stark contrast to the small variation in the aspect ratio difference, which would be capable of being noticeable in a few companies, such as Kaleidescape, offering media servers that enable 4K UHD Blu-ray movies with a wide dynamic range in a home theater.


Broadcasting

In November 2014, American satellite provider
DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
(owned by AT&T) became the first pay-TV provider to offer access to 4K content, although limited to selected video-on-demand films. In August 2015, British sports network
BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...
launched a 4K feed, with its first broadcast being the 2015 FA Community Shield football match. Two production units were used, producing the traditional broadcast in high-definition, and a separate 4K broadcast. As the network did not want to mix 4K footage with upconverted HD footage, this telecast did not feature traditional studio segments at pre-game or half-time, but those hosted from the stadium by the match commentators using a 4K camera. BT envisioned that if viewers wanted to watch studio analysis, they would switch to the HD broadcast and then back for the game. Footage was compressed using H.264 encoders and transmitted to
BT Tower The BT Communications Tower, also known simply as the BT Tower, is a Listed building, grade II listed Radio masts and towers, communications tower in Fitzrovia, London, England, owned by BT Group. It has also been known as the GPO Tower, the P ...
, where it was then transmitted back to BT Sport studios and decompressed for distribution, via 4K-compatible
BT TV EE TV (formerly BT Vision and then BT TV until 2023) is a subscription IPTV service offered by EE; a brand of British telecommunications company BT Group. It requires the signing up to and use of the EE Broadband internet and phone service, w ...
set-top boxes on an eligible BT Infinity internet plan with at least a 25 Mbit/s connection. In late 2015 and January 2016, three of Canada's television providersincluding
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
-based
Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company founded in 1964. It's active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Qu ...
, Ontario-based
Rogers Cable Rogers Cable is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern and Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Roger ...
, and Bell Fibe TV, announced that they would begin to offer 4K compatible set-top boxes that can stream 4K content to subscribers over gigabit internet service. On October 5, 2015, alongside the announcement of its 4K set-top box and gigabit internet, Canadian media conglomerate
Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...
announced that it planned to produce 101 sports telecasts in 4K in 2016 via its
Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...
division, including all
Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
home games, and "marquee"
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
games beginning in January 2016. Bell Media announced via its TSN division a slate of 4K telecasts to begin on January 20, 2016, including selected
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
games and regional NHL games. On January 14, 2016, in cooperation with BT Sport, Sportsnet broadcast the first ever
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
game produced in 4Ka
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
/
Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...
game at O2 Arena in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. On January 20, also during a Raptors game, TSN presented the first live 4K telecast produced in North America. Three days later, Sportsnet presented the first NHL game in 4K. Dome Productions, a joint venture of Bell Media and Rogers Media (the respective owners of TSN and Sportsnet), constructed a "side-by-side" 4K mobile production unit shared by Sportsnet and TSN's first 4K telecasts; it was designed to operate alongside a separate HD truck and utilize cameras capable of output in both formats. For the opening game of the
2016 Toronto Blue Jays season The 2016 Toronto Blue Jays season was the 40th season of the franchise in Major League Baseball, and the 27th full season of play (28th overall) at Rogers Centre. They advanced to the playoffs where they defeated the 2016 Baltimore Orioles seaso ...
, Dome constructed "Trillium"a production truck integrating both 4K and 1080i high-definition units. Bell Media's CTV also broadcast the 2016 Juno Awards in 4K as the first awards show presented in the format. In February 2016, Spanish-language
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
trialed 4K by producing a closed-circuit TV broadcast of a football friendly between the national teams of
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and
Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...
from
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
(America) in the format. The broadcast was streamed privately to several special viewing locations. Univision aimed to develop a 4K streaming app to publicly televise the final of Copa América Centenario in 4K. In March 2016,
DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
and
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...
announced that they would produce the "Amen Corner" supplemental coverage from the Masters
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
tournament in 4K. In late 2016,
Telus TV TELUS Optik TV is a product of Telus Communications, TELUS Communications, a subsidiary of TELUS Corporation, that provides IPTV service in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. The service offers over 630 digital chan ...
announced that they would begin to offer 4K compatible set-top boxes. After having trialed the technology in limited matches at the
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourn ...
, and the
2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...
(via private tests and public viewings in the host city of
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
), the
2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...
was the first
FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
in which all matches were produced in 4K. Host Broadcasting Services stated that at least 75% of the broadcast cut on each match would come from 4K cameras (covering the majority of main angles), with instant replays and some camera angles being upconverted from 1080p sources. These broadcasts were made available from selected rightsholders, such as the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
in the UK, and selected television providers in the United States. Technical limitations in distributing 4K broadcasts (including the increased cost of 4K-compatible production equipment) have led to some broadcasters deciding against the format in favour of emphasizing 1080p/HDR broadcasts instead. After having broadcast UEFA Euro and the Champions League final in the format,
UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...
discontinued 4K coverage for both in 2024, as broadcasters elected to put resources behind HDR and other on-air features instead. Some U.S. broadcasters, such as
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...
,
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
, and
USA Network USA Network (or simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports ...
have broadcast events promoted as having "4K" feeds, but are actually 1080p/HDR broadcasts upconverted to 4K. For the
2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
, USA Network's "4K" coverage was sourced from host broadcaster Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) in 4K, but downconverted to 1080p when received by
NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...
' studios, and then upconverted to 4K for distribution.


Resolutions


38402160

The resolution of is the dominant 4K resolution in the consumer media and display industries. This is the resolution of the UHDTV1 format defined in SMPTE ST 2036–1, as well as the 4K UHDTV format defined by ITU-R in Rec. 2020, and is also the minimum resolution for CEA's definition of ''Ultra HD'' displays and projectors. The resolution of was also chosen by the DVB project for their 4K broadcasting standard, UHD-1. This resolution has an aspect ratio of 169, with 8,294,400 total pixels. It is exactly double the horizontal and vertical resolution of 1080p () for a total of 4 times as many pixels, and triple the horizontal and vertical resolution of 720p () for a total of 9 times as many pixels. It is sometimes referred to as "2160p", based on the naming patterns established by the previous 720p and 1080p
HDTV High-definition television (HDTV) describes a television or video system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since at least 1933; in more recent times, it ref ...
standards. In 2013, televisions capable of displaying UHD resolutions were seen by
consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...
companies as the next trigger for an upgrade cycle after a lack of consumer interest in
3D television 3D television (3DTV) is television that conveys depth perception to the viewer by employing techniques such as stereoscopy, stereoscopic display, free viewpoint television, multi-view display, or any other form of 3D display. Most modern 3D te ...
.


40962160

This resolution is used mainly in digital cinema production, and has a total of 8,847,360 pixels with an aspect ratio of 256135 (≈1910). It was standardized as the resolution of the 4K container format defined by
Digital Cinema Initiatives Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) is a consortium of major motion picture studios, formed to establish specifications for a common systems architecture for digital cinema systems. The organization was formed in March 2002 by Metro-Goldwyn- ...
in the Digital Cinema System specification, and is the
native resolution The native resolution of a liquid crystal display (LCD), liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) or other flat panel display refers to its single fixed resolution. As an LCD consists of a fixed raster, it cannot change the resolution to match the ...
of all DCI-compliant 4K
digital projector A video projector is an image projector that receives a video signal and projects the corresponding image onto a projection screen using a lens (optics), lens system. Video projectors use a very bright ultra-high-performance lamp (a special me ...
s and monitors. The DCI specification allows several different resolutions for the content inside the container, depending on the desired aspect ratio. The allowed resolutions are defined in SMPTE 428-1: * 40962160 (full frame, 256135 or ≈1.901 aspect ratio) * 39962160 (flat crop, 1.851 aspect ratio) * 40961716 (CinemaScope crop, ≈2.391 aspect ratio) The DCI 4K standard has twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of DCI 2K (), with four times as many pixels overall. Digital movies made in 4K may be produced, scanned, or stored in a number of other resolutions depending on what storage aspect ratio is used. In the digital cinema production chain, a resolution of 4096 × 3112 is often used for acquiring "open gate" or anamorphic input material, a resolution based on the historical resolution of scanned Super 35 mm film.


Other 4K resolutions

Various other non-standardized 4K resolutions have been used in displays, including: * 40962560 (1.60:1 or 16:10); this resolution was used in the
Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
DP-V3010, a 4K reference monitor designed for reviewing cinema footage in
post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...
, released in 2013. * 40962304 (1.:1 or 16:9); this resolution was used in the LG UltraFine 22MD4KA 4K monitor, jointly announced by LG and
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
in 2016 and used in the 21.5" 4K
Retina The retina (; or retinas) is the innermost, photosensitivity, light-sensitive layer of tissue (biology), tissue of the eye of most vertebrates and some Mollusca, molluscs. The optics of the eye create a focus (optics), focused two-dimensional ...
iMac The iMac is a series of all-in-one computers from Apple Inc., sold as part of the company's Mac (computer), Mac family of computers. First introduced in 1998, it has remained a primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since and evol ...
computer. * 38402400 (1.60:1 or 16:10); this resolution was used in the
IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
T220 and T221 monitors, released in 2001 and 2002 respectively. This resolution is also referred to as "WQUXGA", and is four times the resolution of WUXGA (19201200). More recently, this resolution has returned in the Dell XPS Laptop series, under the name "UHD+". * 38401920 (2:1 or 16:8); this resolution is largely used by 360° videos as they largely use a 2:1 aspect ratio. The reason is to represent a 360° on the horizontal axis and a 180° on the vertical. * 38401600 (2.40:1 or 12:5); a number of computer monitors with this resolution have been produced, the first being the LG 38UC99-W released in 2016. This resolution is equivalent to WQXGA (25601600) extended in width by 50%, or 38402160 reduced in height by ≈26%. LG refers to this resolution as "WQHD+" (Wide Quad HD+), while Acer uses the term "UW-QHD+" (Ultra-wide Quad HD+) and some media outlets have used the term "UW4K" (Ultra-wide 4K). * 38401080 (3.:1 or 32:9); this resolution was first used in the Samsung C49HG70, a curved gaming monitor released in 2017. This resolution is equivalent to dual 1080p displays (19201080) side-by-side, but with no border interrupting the image. It is also exactly one half of a 4K UHD (38402160) display. Samsung refers to this resolution as "DFHD" (Dual Full HD).


Recording


Detail benefit

The main advantage of recording video at the 4K standard is that fine spatial detail is resolved well. Individual still frames extracted from 3840×2160-pixel video footage can act as 8.3
megapixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...
still photographs, while only 2.1 megapixels at 1080p and 0.9 megapixels at 720p. If the final video resolution is reduced to 2K from a 4K recording, more detail is apparent than would have been achieved from a native 2K recording. Increased fineness and contrast is then possible with output to
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
and
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
. Some cinematographers record at 4K with the Super 35 film format to offset any resolution loss that may occur during
video processing In electronics engineering, video processing is a particular case of signal processing, in particular image processing, which often employs filter (video), video filters and where the input and output Signal (electrical engineering), signals are vid ...
.


Chroma subsampling

Many consumer electronics such as
mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...
s store video footage in format with 4:2:0
chroma subsampling Chroma subsampling is the practice of encoding images by implementing less resolution for Chrominance, chroma information than for luma (video), luma information, taking advantage of the human visual system's lower acuity for color differences t ...
, which records color information at only one quarter the resolution as the brightness information.Poynton, Charles. "YUV and ''luminance'' considered harmful: A plea for precise terminology in video

/ref> For video, this means that the color information is only stored at .


Bit rates

Consumer cameras and mobile phones record 2160p footage at much higher
bit rate In telecommunications and computing, bit rate (bitrate or as a variable ''R'') is the number of bits that are conveyed or processed per unit of time. The bit rate is expressed in the unit bit per second (symbol: bit/s), often in conjunction ...
s (usually 50 to 100Mbit/s) than 1080p (usually 10 to 30Mbit/s). This higher bit rate reduces the visibility of
compression artifact A compression artifact (or artefact) is a noticeable distortion of media (including Image, images, Sound recording, audio, and video) caused by the application of lossy compression. Lossy data compression involves discarding some of the medi ...
s, even if viewed on monitors with a lower resolution than 2160p.


See also

* 1080p Full HD digital video format with a resolution of , with vertical resolution of 1080 lines *
1440p 1440p is a family of video display resolutions that have a resolution of 1440 pixels on one side. In a display with a landscape orientation, 1440p refers to the vertical resolution. The ''p'' stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. The ...
(WQHD) – vertical resolution of 1440 lines * List of 4K video recording devices *
2K resolution 2K resolution is a generic term for display devices or content having a horizontal resolution of approximately 2,000 pixels. In the movie projection industry, Digital Cinema Initiatives Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) is a consortium ...
digital video formats with a horizontal resolution of around 2,000 pixels * 5K resolution digital video formats with a horizontal resolution of around 5,000 pixels, aimed at non-television computer monitor usage *
8K resolution 8K resolution refers to an image or display resolution with a width of approximately 8,000 pixels. 8K UHD () is the highest resolution defined in the Rec. 2020 ( UHDTV) standard. 8K display resolution is the successor to 4K resolution. TV m ...
digital video formats with a horizontal resolution of around 8,000 pixels * 10K resolution digital video formats with a horizontal resolution of around 10,000 pixels * 16K resolution experimental VR format * 32K resolution *
Aspect ratio (image) The aspect ratio of an image is the ratio of its width to its height. It is expressed as two numbers separated by a colon, in the format width:height. Common aspect ratios are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1 in cinematography, 4:3 and 16:9 in television, and 3 ...
proportional relationship between an image's width and height *
Digital cinema Digital cinema is the digital technology used within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be shipped to mo ...
*
Display resolution standards A display resolution standard is a commonly used width and height dimension (display resolution) of an electronic visual display device, measured in pixels. This information is used for electronic devices such as a computer monitor. Certain com ...
*
High Efficiency Video Coding High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), also known as H.265 and MPEG-H Part 2, is a video compression standard designed as part of the MPEG-H project as a successor to the widely used Advanced Video Coding (AVC, H.264, or MPEG-4 Part 10). In compa ...
(HEVC) video standard that supports 4K & 8K UHDTV and resolutions up to * Rec. 2020 ITU-R recommendation for UHDTV, defining formats with resolutions of 4K () and 8K () *
Ultrawide formats Ultrawide formats refers to photos, videos, and displays with Aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios greater than 2. There were multiple moves in history towards wider formats, including one by Disney,p20, Sherlock, Daniel J"Wide Screen Movies" C ...


References


External links


Articles

* * * * * * . * * * * * , 2015 follow-up article:


Official sites of NHK

* . * . * .


Video

* . {{Video formats Digital imaging Film and video technology Ultra-high-definition television