360p Movies: A Technical Breakdown of Resolution Terms

If you want to start watching movies on your smartphone, here is a helpful guide to the technical terms that are often used. For starters, think about the resolution of your screen; this is usually measured in pixels or some other unit.

Your screen may have a resolution of 480p or 720p which would be defined (respectively) as 480 and 720 for every 1,280 pixels on the screen. Below is a related blog post about movie watching and downloading:

👉 Movie Watching and Downloading 👈

Most 360p movies are encoded at 15 FPS or 30 FPS meaning they are played back at single-frame increments. On average, a 1080p movie is about 1.5 GB in size which means that that one is going to be pretty smooth with no noticeable judder or stuttering.

There are also p-frames that are displayed at one time - two in each frame - but these typically come with 4K resolutions, meaning that they can display 8 pieces of information per pixel. Well, what is the difference between a 720p and a 480p video?

Does it depend on the frame rate of the movie? Is there a specific number of pixels or frames that will 'make' me have to buy a new phone? Well, not necessarily. So you've found your favourite streaming service.

You're watching your favourite movie on your mobile device when you start wondering about how it was recorded or encoded. It's basically all about value per dollar.

The higher quality the playback and encoding, the more expensive it is to own or rent and stream that content. A typical HD movie is typically around 1 GB in size for SD (standard definition) and 2-3 GB for HD (high definition).

However, the frame rate of movies rarely varies, which is really why this is the most noticeable difference. On average, HD videos have a 30 fps frame rate while SD videos have a 24 fps frame rate.

More specifically, 480p is 24 FPS and 720p is 30 FPS. At first glance, it may seem like an easy-to-tell resolution or frame rate but there are more technical things to consider.

For example, when you watch movies on your cell phone it looks very fluid and is almost in real-time (as long as you're outside of a rental store).

However, when you're watching movies on your computer or another device that you can control, it's only 15 frames per second (fps). So when you have a movie playing on your computer and want to pause, kick, or rewind for a few seconds it can take several frames before the video will start playing again.

The first thing you need to know is the difference between 720p, 1080p, and 360p. Below we have listed the most common resolutions found when streaming movies or TV shows.

This article will cover what resolution terms mean, why they are important for viewing quality, and which resolution is best for you.

720P: This means a video with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. This is considered high definition (HD) since there are more pixels than with a standard definition 480i image (704 x 480; only 0.3 megapixels). HD is a better resolution to stream movies at, although not the best. You will notice more details (resolution) in 720p than you would in 480i.

Most standard definition cable TV channels are broadcasted in 480i and a majority of content is viewed on HD devices such as Blu-ray players, consoles, and streaming devices.

480P: This means a video with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels which is considered low definition (SD) since it has fewer pixels than the standard definition image size.

With an SD image, you may notice compression artefacts and fuzziness when viewing high-motion scenes (sweaty faces during football games). Standard definition is what your cable box uses and it is mostly a 480P signal which means it won't look as good on your HDTV.

However, a lot of people are still watching DVDs and live TV in 480i so it's important that you know this resolution.

1080P: This means a video with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Some consider this full high definition (FHD) since there are more pixels than an Old school digital cable broadcast (720p). However, in most cases FHD refers to 2160p which is 3840 x 2160 pixels or 4K UHD; something only supported by larger screens and some video game consoles.

Just like a smaller resolution is better for watching on an HDTV, the bigger resolution is better for movie-watching comfort. This means 720p comes in a close second to 1080p and should be considered the "sweet spot" for viewing movies.

If you have a moderately sized TV with no extra room and are considering buying a projector, 1080p isn't the best idea since it will cause too many compression artefacts and blurriness when compared to 720p.

To get an idea of how small resolutions affects you, think about what the image looks like when it's rolled up on top of your thumb: that will give you an idea of HD vs SD. A high-resolution image needs more pixels to look sharp.

Thank you,

Hope you like it.