Black bars above and below the image when displaying widescreen content on a narrower screen.
Definition
Letterboxing adds black bars to fully display widescreen aspect ratios on 4:3 or 16:9 displays without cropping the image. The opposite of pillarboxing.
Practical Application
Showing 2.35:1 cinema films on 16:9 TVs results in letterbox bars. Streaming services often deliver already letterboxed content. The alternative would be pan & scan, which crops image information.
Technical Details
Letterbox size = (Display Ratio - Content Ratio) / 2. Example: 2.35:1 on 1.78:1 = 13% of the screen is bars. AMOLED TVs: True black in bars. LCD: Not perfect black.
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