720p (1280×720
px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive
HDTV
High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an
aspect ratio (AR) of
16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcasting standards (such as
SMPTE 292M SMPTE 292 is a digital video transmission line standard published by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). This technical standard is usually referred to as HD-SDI; it is part of a family of standards that define a Serial ...
) include a 720p format, which has a resolution of 1280×720; however, there are other formats, including
HDV
HDV is a format for recording of high-definition video on DV cassette tape. The format was originally developed by JVC and supported by Sony, Canon, and Sharp. The four companies formed the HDV Consortium in September 2003.
Conceived as an af ...
Playback and
AVCHD
AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around t ...
for camcorders, that use 720p images with the standard HDTV resolution. The
frame rate is standards-dependent, and for conventional broadcasting appears in 50 progressive frames per second in former PAL/SECAM countries (
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
,
Australia, others), and 59.94 frames per second in former NTSC countries (
North America,
Japan,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, others).
The number ''720'' stands for the 720 horizontal
scan line
A scan line (also scanline) is one line, or row, in a raster scanning pattern, such as a line of video on a cathode ray tube (CRT) display of a television set or computer monitor.
On CRT screens the horizontal scan lines are visually discernible ...
s of image
display resolution
The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor or 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 resolution ...
(also known as 720 pixels of vertical resolution). The ''p'' stands for
progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. When broadcast at 60 frames per second, 720p features the highest
temporal resolution
Temporal resolution (TR) refers to the discrete resolution of a measurement with respect to time.
Physics
Often there is a trade-off between the temporal resolution of a measurement and its spatial resolution, due to Heisenberg's uncertainty p ...
possible under the
ATSC and
DVB
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 ...
standards. The term assumes a
widescreen
Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
aspect ratio of
16:9, thus implying a resolution of 1280×720
px (0.9
megapixels
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...
).
720i (720 lines
interlaced
Interlaced video (also known as interlaced scan) is a technique for doubling the perceived frame rate of a video display without consuming extra bandwidth. The interlaced signal contains two fields of a video frame captured consecutively. This ...
) is an erroneous term found in numerous sources and publications. Typically, it is a typographical error in which the author is referring to the 720p HDTV format. However, in some cases it is incorrectly presented as an actual alternative format to 720p. No proposed or existing broadcast standard permits 720 ''interlaced'' lines in a video frame at any frame rate.
Comparison with 1080i
Progressive scanning reduces the need to prevent flicker by anti-aliasing single high contrast horizontal lines.
It is also easier to perform high-quality 50<-->60 Hz conversion and slow-motion clips with progressive video.
A 720p60 (720p at 59.94 Hz) video has advantage over 480i and 1080i60 (29.97/30 frame/s, 59.94/60 Hz) in that it comparably reduces the number of 3:2 artifacts introduced during transfer from 24 frame/s film. However, 576i and 1080i50 (25 frame/s, 50 Hz), which are common in Europe, generally do not suffer from
pull down artifacts as film frames are simply played at 25 frames and the audio pitch corrected by 25/24. As a result, 720p60 is used for U.S. broadcasts while European HD broadcasts often use 1080i50 24* frame, with a horizontal resolution of 1920 or 1440 depending on bandwidth constraints. However, some European broadcasters do use the 720p50 format, such as German broadcasters
ARD and
ZDF
ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...
, and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (
NRK
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...
).
Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...
, a dual-language French-German channel produced in collaboration by ARD, ZDF and
France Télévisions
France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...
, broadcasts in German at 720p50 but in French at 1080i50. The Flemish Broadcasting Company (
VRT) in Belgium was using 720p50, but switched to 1080i50 a few years ago.
Resolutions
Notes
See also
*
4K,
4320p
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 manuf ...
,
2160p
4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the dominan ...
,
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 screen ve ...
,
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scre ...
,
576p
576p is the shorthand name for a video display resolution. The ''p'' stands for progressive scan, i.e. non- interlaced, the ''576'' for a vertical resolution of 576 pixels (the frame rate can be given explicitly after the letter). Usually it cor ...
,
576i
576i is a standard-definition digital video mode, originally used for digitizing analog television in most countries of the world where the utility frequency for electric power distribution is 50 Hz. Because of its close association with ...
,
480p
480p is the shorthand name for a family of video display resolutions. The p stands for progressive scan, i.e. non-interlaced. The ''480'' denotes a vertical resolution of 480 pixels, usually with a horizontal resolution of 640 pixels and 4:3 ...
,
480i
480i is the video mode used for standard-definition digital television in the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Laos, Western Sahara, and most of the Americas (with the exception of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). The ...
,
360p,
240p
Low-definition television (LDTV) refers to TV systems that have a lower screen resolution than standard-definition TV systems. The term is usually used in reference to digital TV, in particular when broadcasting at the same (or similar) resolut ...
*
High-definition television
High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...
(HDTV)
*
Image resolution
Image resolution is the detail an image holds. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail.
Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies how ...
*
List of common resolutions
This article lists computer monitor screen resolutions that are defined by standards or in common use. Most of them use certain preferred numbers.
Computer graphics
; Pixel aspect ratio (PAR): The horizontal to vertical ratio of each pixel.
; ...
*
Low-definition television
Low-definition television (LDTV) refers to TV systems that have a lower screen resolution than standard-definition TV systems. The term is usually used in reference to digital TV, in particular when broadcasting at the same (or similar) resol ...
(LDTV)
*
Plasma display
A plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display that uses small cells containing plasma: ionized gas that responds to electric fields. Plasma televisions were the first large (over 32 inches diagonal) flat panel displays to be releas ...
References
External links
EBU Technical paper on HDTV formats
{{Video formats
Television terminology
Video formats