widescreen

Widescreen refers to projection systems in which the aspect ratio is wider than the 1.33:1 ratio that dominated sound film before the 1950s. In the 1950s, many widescreen processes were introduced (to combat the growing popularity of television), such as CinemaScope (an anamorphic system), VistaVision (a non-anamorphic production technique in which the film is run horizontally through the camera instead of vertically), and Todd-AO and Super Panavision (that both used wider-gauge film). Also known as "letterboxing."