Aspect Ratio Calculator
Use RatioForge as a fast aspect ratio calculator for images, videos, designs and screen sizes. Enter a width and height to simplify the ratio, or choose a ratio such as 16:9, 9:16, 4:5 or 1:1 and calculate the missing dimension.
Calculator
Watch how it works
A quick tour of the calculator — pick a ratio, enter one dimension, and copy the exact width or height you need.
Common aspect ratios
| Size / ratio | Label | Use-case |
|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | 1920×1080 | YouTube, TVs, monitors, presentations |
| 9:16 | 1080×1920 | TikTok, Reels, Stories, Shorts |
| 4:5 | 1080×1350 | Instagram portrait feed posts |
| 1:1 | 1080×1080 | Square posts, profile pictures, icons |
| 21:9 | 2560×1080 | Ultrawide monitors and cinematic layouts |
| 3:2 | 3000×2000 | Photography, DSLR and mirrorless cameras |
| 4:3 | 1024×768 | Classic screens, slides and older cameras |
| 2.39:1 | 2048×858 | Anamorphic widescreen cinema |
Formula
- To find height: height = width × ratio height ÷ ratio width
- To find width: width = height × ratio width ÷ ratio height
- To simplify a ratio: divide width and height by their greatest common divisor.
Worked example. For a 1200 px-wide image at 16:9, height = 1200 × 9 ÷ 16 = 675 px. To simplify an existing size, divide both sides by their greatest common divisor: 1920 and 1080 share a GCD of 120, so 1920×1080 reduces to 16:9.
When to use an aspect ratio calculator
The calculator is useful before exporting a YouTube video, cropping an Instagram post, sizing a website image, preparing a presentation slide or checking an existing file. It works with pixels and proportional dimensions, so the same logic applies whether you are planning a 1920×1080 video, a 1080×1350 portrait image or a custom web container.
Aspect ratio describes the shape of a rectangle, not its quality or file size. A small 1280×720 image and a large 3840×2160 video are both 16:9 because they reduce to the same proportion. That is why ratio comes before resolution: choose the shape first, then choose how many pixels you need.
For content work, the wrong ratio usually creates visible problems. A horizontal image may get cropped in a vertical Story, a square logo can look padded inside a widescreen video, and a web hero image may shift awkwardly across breakpoints. Calculating the ratio before exporting avoids stretching, black bars and accidental crops.
Some visitors only need the missing height for a 1200px-wide image; others want to understand why their video has black bars or why two files with different pixel counts can share one ratio. Calculate and copy your result above, then move into a more specific calculator below when you know your destination platform.
Cropping, black bars and stretching
When a file does not match the shape of its destination, you get one of three outcomes. Black bars appear when the player pads a mismatched ratio — pillarboxing (bars left and right) for a wide clip in a tall frame, and letterboxing (bars top and bottom) for an ultrawide clip in a 16:9 player. Cropping trims the edges to fill the frame, which can cut off a subject. Stretching distorts the image to force a fit. The reliable fix is to calculate the target ratio first and export to it, rather than resizing afterwards.
This is the general-purpose calculator. When you already know the destination, the platform-specific calculators below load the right preset and add platform notes — for example the YouTube, TikTok and Instagram calculators.
Frequently asked questions
Related calculators and guides
Popular calculators for specific ratios and platforms:
- 16:9 aspect ratio calculator — widescreen dimensions for HD, 4K and YouTube
- 9:16 aspect ratio calculator — vertical video for TikTok, Reels, Stories and Shorts
- 4:5 aspect ratio calculator — Instagram portrait feed posts
- 1:1 aspect ratio calculator — square posts, avatars and album art
- Instagram aspect ratio calculator — posts, Reels and Stories placements
- YouTube aspect ratio calculator — videos, thumbnails and Shorts
- TikTok aspect ratio calculator — full-screen 9:16 vertical video
- Image aspect ratio calculator — read a file's ratio from its pixels
- CSS aspect-ratio calculator — copyable aspect-ratio and padding CSS
- Social media image sizes — recommended dimensions per platform
- Aspect ratios explained — what 16:9, 4:3 and 1:1 actually mean
- Video aspect ratio guide — ratios and export sizes for YouTube, Reels, TikTok and cinema
- Aspect ratio converter — crop, fit or fill between ratios without distortion
- Open Graph image size guide — the right 1200×630 preview image for shared links
- How to calculate aspect ratio — the formula with worked examples
- Aspect ratio vs. resolution — why a shared ratio can differ in pixel size