right|thumbnail|240px|The red outline frames an approximately 16:9 picture. The yellow outline, not including the black bars at top and bottom, shows the same picture cropped to 14:9, while the whole yellow box frames a 4:3 picture.
14:9 (1.:1) is a compromise aspect ratio between 4:3 and 16:9. It is used to create an acceptable picture on both 4:3 and 16:9 TV, conceived following audience tests conducted by the BBC. It has been used by most UK, Irish, French, Spanish, Colombian and Australian terrestrial analogue networks, and in the US on Warner Bros. Discovery' HD simulcast channels with programming and advertising originally compiled in 4:3. Note that 14:9 is not a shooting format; 14:9 material is almost always derived from either a 16:9 or 4:3 shot. As the name suggests, footage is shot in 16:9 but important visual information is protected inside the 14:9 or 4:3 safe areas.
With native 4:3 material
thumb|14:9 pillarbox as broadcast in 16:9: the top and bottom of the image are cropped to 14:9, and black bars are added to either side.
Another use is for material shot on a 4:3 format. When broadcast in 16:9, the top and bottom of the original frame are cropped to 14:9, and black bars (called pillarboxes) are added to either side. (the precise geometric mean is <math>\sqrt{(16/9)\times (4/3)} \approx 1.5396 \approx 13.8:9 </math>), and in this sense is mathematically a compromise between these two aspect ratios: two equal area pictures (at 16:9 and 4:3) will intersect in a box with aspect ratio the geometric mean, as demonstrated in the image at top (14:9 is just slightly wider than the intersection). In this way 14:9 balances the needs of both 16:9 and 4:3, cropping or distorting both about equally. Similar considerations were used in the choice of 16:9 by the SMPTE, which balanced 2.35:1 and 4:3.
See also
- Shoot and protect
- Pillarbox
- Widescreen signaling
References
it:Aspect ratio (immagine)#Il 14:9