800x600 resolution
800 × 600
SVGA · 4:3 · 480,000 pixels · 0.48 megapixels · Legacy
What 800x600 is
The step past VGA, and for most of the 1990s the resolution a web page was designed for. Projectors still list it as a native mode.
The numbers
| Width | 800 px |
| Height | 600 px |
| Aspect ratio | 4:3 |
| Total pixels | 480,000 |
| Megapixels | 0.48 MP |
| Compared with 1080p | 0.23× the pixels |
| Compared with 4K UHD | 0.06× the pixels |
What 800x600 costs to move and to store
A frame is width × height × three bytes of colour, before any compression touches it. At 800 × 600 that is 1.44 MB per frame, and video is frames per second:
| Frame rate | Uncompressed | An hour of it |
|---|---|---|
| 24 fps | 35 MB/s | 0.12 TB |
| 30 fps | 43 MB/s | 0.16 TB |
| 60 fps | 86 MB/s | 0.31 TB |
| 120 fps | 173 MB/s | 0.62 TB |
Nobody ships that. It is the number codecs exist to get away from — a streamed 800x600 feed runs at a few tens of megabits, which is a compression ratio of several hundred to one, and it is why a still frame from a stream looks worse than a photograph of the same scene.
How close you have to sit for 800x600 to be worth it
The eye resolves about one arcminute of detail. Past a certain distance the pixels merge whatever the panel does, and a higher resolution stops being visible rather than stopping being better. That distance is the pixel pitch divided by the tangent of one arcminute:
| Screen | Pixels merge beyond |
|---|---|
| 13.3 in monitor or laptop | 1.16 m (3.8 ft) |
| 15.6 in monitor or laptop | 1.36 m (4.5 ft) |
| 24 in monitor or laptop | 2.1 m (6.9 ft) |
| 27 in monitor or laptop | 2.36 m (7.7 ft) |
| 32 in monitor or laptop | 2.79 m (9.2 ft) |
| 43 in television | 3.75 m (12.3 ft) |
| 55 in television | 4.8 m (15.8 ft) |
| 65 in television | 5.68 m (18.6 ft) |
| 75 in television | 6.55 m (21.5 ft) |
Sitting further back than the figure for your screen, 800x600 and the next resolution down look the same. That is the whole argument about 4K televisions in ordinary living rooms: the resolution is real and the seating position usually is not close enough to show it.
Pixel density at common screen sizes
A resolution on its own says nothing about sharpness — the same 800x600 panel is dense on a laptop and coarse on a television. Density is the diagonal in pixels divided by the diagonal in inches.
| Diagonal | Pixel density | |
|---|---|---|
| 13.3 in | 75 PPI | Coarse — individual pixels are visible at desk distance |
| 15.6 in | 64 PPI | Coarse — individual pixels are visible at desk distance |
| 24 in | 42 PPI | Coarse — individual pixels are visible at desk distance |
| 27 in | 37 PPI | Coarse — individual pixels are visible at desk distance |
| 32 in | 31 PPI | Coarse — individual pixels are visible at desk distance |
Other legacy resolutions
| Resolution | Name | Ratio | Megapixels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 640×480 | VGA | 4:3 | 0.31 MP |
| 1024×768 | XGA | 4:3 | 0.79 MP |
| 1280×1024 | SXGA | 5:4 | 1.31 MP |
| 1600×1200 | UXGA | 4:3 | 1.92 MP |
| 1680×1050 | WSXGA+ | 8:5 | 1.76 MP |
Closest in total pixels
- 640×480 — VGA
- 1024×768 — XGA
- 1280×720 — HD (720p)
- 1280×800 — WXGA
- 1366×768 — HD (laptop)
- 1440×900 — WXGA+
- 1280×1024 — SXGA
- 1600×900 — HD+
Frequently asked questions
What is the aspect ratio of 800x600?
4:3.
How many pixels is 800x600?
480,000 pixels, or 0.48 megapixels.
Is 800x600 higher resolution than 1080p?
800x600 has 23% of the pixels of a 1920×1080 frame.
What size screen suits 800x600?
Pixel density is what decides that. 75 PPI at 13.3 in, 64 PPI at 15.6 in, 42 PPI at 24 in, 37 PPI at 27 in, 31 PPI at 32 in. Below roughly 110 PPI text starts to look coarse; above about 200 the operating system will usually scale the interface rather than render it at native size.