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Engineers settled on this first-time aspect ratio because it was the geometric mean between 4:3 (standard TV) and 2:35 (an average of typical movie ratios), so that an HDTV set could display both kinds of video without much “masking” by letterbox bars. Example: “To Fly!” (1976), portions of “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012). Much as VistaVision sought to improve resolution and quality by running 35mm film horizontally through the camera and projector, IMAX runs 70mm film horizontally. The film itself was twice as wide (70mm), creating much sharper images at larger projected sizes. By rotating the standard 35mm film 90 degrees, VistaVision scenes could be shot on a larger area of the film, resulting in a higher quality picture. Twentieth-Century Fox sought a similar widescreen image without the hassle and limitations of the three-camera system-by squishing (distorting) the wide image onto standard 35mm film, and then re-expanding it when projected. To combat that trend, special theaters offered this extremely wide picture, created by projecting three standard 35mm images side-by-side onto a giant curved screen. Home television viewing was depressing movie-theater ticket sales. To add sound to movies, engineers recorded an audio track on a thin strip alongside the video frames, resulting in a slight shift of the picture’s shape.

Examples: “A Trip to the Moon” (1902), “The Sting” (1973), and all television until the rise of high definition. William Dickson, working in Thomas Edison’s lab, used multiple frames of standard Eastman Kodak 35mm film to create a video image. The smaller the ratio, the more square the picture the larger the ratio, the wider the image.) (An aspect ratio is expressed as either a horizontal-by-vertical proportion, like 4:3, or as its resulting ratio, like 1.33. This isn’t the first time aspect ratios (screen proportions) have changed-or have given society headaches.

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It’s kind of a mess: Vertical videos look ridiculous on TV sets and computer screens, but traditional horizontal videos play tiny and goofily on smartphones held upright. This month, my Scientific American column tackles the new era of vertical video-videos shot and viewed as tall, thin rectangles, suitable for smartphone screens without having to turn them.

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