what is ultra hd 4k?

For many customers, the hardest part of buying a new TV is figuring out all the lingo. One of the terms you’ll see most often is “Ultra HD” or “4K.” What does this mean?

For a long time, the best clarity a consumer TV could achieve was Standard Definition (SD), most often 720 pixels tall by 480 pixels across. This resolution is expressed like this: “720x480” or simply “480p.”

With technological advancements and the development of flat panel TVs came higher resolutions, called High Definition or HD. There are two main types of HD still in some use: 1280x720 (720p) or “HD” and 1920x1080 (1080p), or “Full HD.” Both resolutions are still in limited use today: some of your older or smaller TV sets are likely 1080p or 720p.

The most common resolution for new TVs is 4K or Ultra HD (3840x2160). Most new content is being filmed and distributed in this format and it will be the dominant resolution for the foreseeable future. While 8K TVs do exist, they’re rare, quite expensive, and there is virtually no 8K content available for viewing.

Ultra HD isn’t just about sharpness: it also includes color-enhancement. As resolutions get higher, differences in sharpness become a lot less noticeable. So, TV manufacturers and filmmakers are focusing on enhancing the color and contrast instead. Modern content is processed to take advantage of extremely bright/high-contrast screens like OLEDs or MiniLEDs. Content filmed with this sort of processing in mind is typically called HDR or “High Dynamic Range” and will have much more dramatic differences between dark and light areas compared to non-HDR content.

A modern 4K TV can display all of this content fairly well. 480p will look fine, HD will look better, and a full-on 4K HDR movie will really shine!

As a general rule, most of the older content on streaming services will be 1080p with newer content being 4K HDR. If you stream live TV, it will often be in 1080p with HDR or even true 4K. Over-the-air broadcasts, satellite, and traditional cable typically max out at 720p. In terms of physical media, DVDs are 480p, Blurays are 1080p, and 4K Blurays are… 4k