14:9

14:9 is a compromise aspect ratio used by some television stations for broadcasting shows made in 16:9 widescreen format. For instance, when BBC ONE or ITV1 broadcasts a widescreen programme, the full 16:9 picture is seen on digital platforms, but viewers watching those channels' analogue broadcasts will see a 14:9 picture cropped horizontally from the original. This is slightly smaller than the 4:3 aspect ratio used by analogue sets and leaves narrow black bands at the top and bottom of the picture. It is considered that viewers who are not used to widescreen will find this less distracting than the letterbox format that would result from broadcasting the full 16:9 picture in analogue, while still seeing more of the picture than would be visible if cropped into 4:3.