Markdown

1440p

1440p is the Acronym for 1440 Progressive

Computer monitors use this widescreen picture far more often than broadcast systems do.

The number in the name is the vertical line count. The stored grid is 2560×1440 square pixels in a 16:9 frame, 3,686,400 pixels in all.

Pixel Geometry

Sample shape and screen packing are separate from that total. The samples are square, so the stored frame and the intended picture share one shape. Pixels Per Inch (PPI) still changes with the panel’s size, because a smaller or larger screen can hold the same grid.

  • Vertical lines: The stored picture is 2560 samples across and 1440 lines down.
  • Aspect ratio: Width divided by height is 16:9, the usual widescreen proportion.
  • Square samples: Each addressable sample is square. Many older Standard Definition (SD) frames used non-square samples, so a raw sample count was not the shape viewers saw.
  • Pixels, not subpixels: The total 3,686,400 counts pixels. On a typical Red Green Blue (RGB) panel, three subpixels make one pixel, which raises the subpixel count and leaves the addressable grid unchanged.

Area and Marketing Names

Each axis is double a 1280×720 frame, so the area is exactly four times a 720 Progressive (720p) picture. A 1920×1080 frame does not work that way. Multiply each axis of that frame by about 1.333 and the result is about this grid. The area is about 1.78 times a 1080 Progressive (1080p) picture, not four times that picture. That 1920×1080 progressive frame is the usual Full High Definition (FHD) picture in High Definition (HD) video.

Marketing calls this grid Quad High Definition (QHD). When the 16:9 shape is stressed, the longer name is wide quad high definition. The next common television step is a 3840×2160 frame, 2160 Progressive (2160p), in Ultra High Definition (UHD). Beyond that, 4320 Progressive (4320p) names the 7680×4320 frame.

Scan, Refresh, and the Picture Family

Common use is progressive scan only. Every line of a frame is drawn in one pass. There is no mainstream 1440i. Interlaced scan draws a frame as two fields. It remains in older broadcast systems and is not how this computer mode is specified.

A panel showing this grid commonly refreshes at 60, 120, or 144 Frames Per Second (FPS). The refresh rate does not change the stored pixel count. Dynamic range is independent as well: the picture may be High Dynamic Range (HDR) or Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) with the same 2560×1440 grid.

The mode is rarely a broadcast format, and it is not a core High Definition Television (HDTV) raster. Those systems centered on 720-line progressive video and on 1080-line interlaced and progressive video. A monitor link such as High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) can carry the grid. Broadcast sample structures are specified through the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), and this grid is seldom one of those structures.

The rows below are the usual active grids for this family. Totals on the 480-line and 576-line rows are digital sample counts, often displayed with non-square pixels, so they are not square-pixel areas. From 1280×720 upward, the samples are square.

LabelStored GridSample CountRole
480 Interlaced (480i)720×480345,600Interlaced standard-definition grid used with National Television System Committee (NTSC) video.
480 Progressive (480p)720×480345,600Progressive scan of the same digital grid as 480i.
576 Interlaced (576i)720×576414,720Interlaced standard-definition grid used with Phase Alternating Line (PAL) video.
576 Progressive (576p)720×576414,720Progressive scan of the same digital grid as 576i.
720p1280×720921,600High definition progressive frame with exactly one quarter of this mode’s area.
1080 Interlaced (1080i)1920×10802,073,600Interlaced high definition frame with the same stored grid as 1080-line progressive video.
1080p1920×10802,073,600Full high definition progressive frame. This mode has about 1.78 times as many square pixels.
1440p2560×14403,686,400Computer and monitor mode. Rarely a broadcast format.
2160p3840×21608,294,400Ultra high definition progressive television frame.
4320p7680×432033,177,600Progressive frame a further step above ultra high definition.