Glossary

Resolution

The number of pixels that make up the picture, such as 1920 × 1080 (1080p, “Full HD”) or 3840 × 2160 (4K).

The more pixels, the finer the picture. Resolution is usually named after the shorter side: 720p, 1080p, 2160p (4K). In vertical, a 1080p video is 1080 pixels wide and 1920 high.

For social media, 1080p is enough: the apps recompress videos anyway, and a phone screen is small. 4K is mainly useful if you want to crop or zoom into the picture in the edit.

What spoils a video most is rarely resolution, it is light: a well-lit 1080p looks sharper than 4K shot in the gloom.