Editing Pan and scan (section)

==History ==
For the first several decades of television broadcasting, sets displayed images with a 4:3 (1.33:1) [[aspect ratio (image)|aspect ratio]], which was standard for most theatrical films before 1960.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Conaboy |first=Kelly |date=2020-09-11 |title=The Rise, Fall, and Return of the 4:3 Aspect Ratio |url=https://a24films.com/notes/2020/09/the-rise-fall-and-return-of-the-43-aspect-ratio |url-status=live |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=a24films.com |language=en}}</ref> In the early to mid-1950s, filmmakers began using widescreen formats such as [[CinemaScope]] and [[Todd-AO]] to compete with television and attract audiences to theaters by providing wider visual perspectives and compositional possibilities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Salt |first=Barry |url=https://archive.org/details/filmstyletechnol0000salt |title=Film style and technology : history and analysis |date=1992 |publisher=London : Starword |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-9509066-2-1}}</ref>

To accommodate the wider aspect ratio of films, [[Television broadcaster|television broadcasters]] adopted the pan and scan technique, which maintained image quality and size but sacrificed the ability to view the entire image. A film subjected to pan and scan often loses around half its horizontal size due to cropping.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Pan and Scan |url=https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PanAndScan |access-date=2025-02-04 |website=TV Tropes}}</ref> [[Letterboxing (filming)|Letterboxing]] was an alternative method of displaying widescreen films on a 4:3 screen, maintaining the original aspect ratio by adding black space above and below the image but reducing the image's size and quality.

In 1986, the [[Voyager Company]] made it [[Company police|company policy]] to release widescreen films on LaserDisc only in their original aspect ratio rather than in pan and scan formats, which were common for home media releases. Many other home video labels followed suit.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=November 6, 1993|title=Letterbox Format's Popularity Widens|last=McGowan|first=Chris|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1993/BB-1993-11-06.pdf|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=73|access-date=February 4, 2024}}</ref>

In the 1990s, [[widescreen]] [[Television set|televisions]] offered a wider 16:9 aspect ratio (1.78 times the height), allowing films with aspect ratios of 1.66:1 and 1.85:1 to fill most or all of the screen with minimal letterboxing or cropping. DVD packaging began to use the expression, "16:9 – Enhanced for Widescreen TVs."

Films shot with aspect ratios of 2.20:1, 2.35:1, 2.39:1, 2.55:1, and especially 2.76:1 (''[[Ben-Hur (1959 film)|Ben-Hur]],'' for example), might still be problematic when displayed on televisions of any type. However, when the DVD is "[[Anamorphic format|anamorphically]] enhanced for widescreen", or the film is telecast on a [[High-definition television|high-definition]] channel and viewed on a widescreen TV, the black spaces are smaller, and the effect is much like watching a film on a theatrical widescreen.

{{As of|2018}}, though aspect ratios of 16:9 (and occasionally 16:10, mostly for computers and tablets) remain standard, wider-screen consumer TVs in 21:9 have been marketed by several manufacturers.