WUXGA Resolution Explained

WUXGA refers to a resolution of 1920x1200, once popular on laptops but now largely replaced by 1920x1080, 4K, and all the other resolutions you’re used to seeing. WUXGA stands for Widescreen Ultra Extended Graphics Array, which is not very useful because like most tech acronyms and initialisms, it describes basically nothing.

WUXGA has an aspect ratio of 16:10. This might not mean much to most people, so let's put that into context. Most screens in your home, such as your TV and computer monitor, have an aspect Ratio of 16:9. This describes the width to height ratio, so a 16:10 screen will be slightly taller for any given screen size compared to most screens you’re used to.

It might not sound like much of a difference, but there are staunch 16:10 loyalists who swear by the extra height. This isn't simply a weirdly specific hill to die on either, as WUXGA, after a period of dormancy, is enjoying a comeback.

Because of the extra height, WUXGA can be very handy for productivity tasks, as it allows more information to be shown vertically. Programmers and developers find this useful, as it shows a few more lines of code. Regular users benefit too, since managerial or financial folks will appreciate being able to see a few additional rows on their spreadsheets.

In fact, the only thing WUXGA (and other 16:10 resolutions) is bad at is video content. Gaming, YouTube videos, movies, and TV shows are all usually presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio. This means that the increased height of 16:10 screens is not utilized.

Because of all this, many laptops these days are equipped with 16:10 screens, as squeezing every ounce of productivity out of a laptop can help mitigate the inherent drawbacks of working on the move.

Of course, 1920x1200 doesn’t cut it anymore, so there are more modern expansions of this resolution that preserve the 16:10 aspect ratio, but offer higher definition to meet today’s expectations.