Multi-Aspect Ratio Capability

Some DVD software enables the effective display of widescreen pictures on TV sets with different aspect rations (e.g. 4:3).

Pictures with a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio may be compressed horizontally; when playing them back on a widescreen 16:9 television, the pictures are decompressed and reproduced in the 16:9 aspect ratio, completely filling the screen. However, when viewing on a 4:3 TV screen, the disc may use 'Letterbox' mode pictures (pictures are reproduced with black bands above and below the picture) or the 'pan and scan' aspect ratio (trimming the left and right portions of the playback picture).