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4:3 vs 16:9 Aspect Ratio in CS:GO

4:3 vs 16:9 aspect ratio in CS:GO

Table of Contents - CS:GO Dictionary

What is aspect ratio in CS:GO?

When you watch the professionals play on stage and you see their monitors. You might notice that most of them are playing 4:3, which means they have black bars on the sides. The reason for this is that the majority of the players started their career in counter-strike 1.6, where all monitors were quadratic (4:3). Since they have spent so many hours with that resolution some find it easier to keep it, than adapting to a new
resolution. While others choose to play with black bars because it’s less “noise” that they need to pay attention too. Every resolution has an advantage but with every advantage comes a disadvantage. If you have been known to Counter-Strike for a while, you might have come across people talking about 4:3 stretched.

What is the difference between, 4:3, 16:9 and 4:3 stretched and what should you pick?

When playing with 4:3 resolution, you will get a quadratic view of the game and have black bars on the sides of your screen. This resolution takes away a lot of your field view and will make it harder to notice someone sneaking up on you from the side. But it can also make it easier to concentrate on the center of the screen and be more focused on what is happening in front of you. Besides the visual impact of this resolution, some people also prefer to play with 4:3, because it gives you slightly more FPS (Frames Pr. Second), which allows your game to run more smooth 

resovsreso min CS:GO

4:3 stretched aspect ratio has the same field of view as 4:3 aspect ratio. The view is simply stretched to the sides and gives the image a wider look. This makes the players appear fatter and small gaps appear wider. This does not mean the players are easier to hit, but it does give you a small visual advantage, as the players will be easier to spot. If you change your resolution to stretched, you will notice that your crosshair movement might feel a bit weird. This is because the width appears wider than it actually is. Therefore your crosshair will seem to move faster horizontally than vertically. But as with everything else in Counter-Strike, it only takes some practice to get used to. When choosing the stretched resolution you should also be wary of the enemies peeking feeling faster. If you are new to CS:GO you might not know what “peeking” refers to, but don’t worry we will get into that later. 

The 16:9 aspect ratio is your native resolution which you will be given by default when playing the game for the first time. My best advice when it comes to resolutions is to stick with the one you have. Don’t change because a pro player hit a good shot with a different resolution to yours. The picture beneath gives you an illustration of the real difference between stretched and native resolution.

Conclusion

Finding the right monitor settings is just as hard as finding the right mouse sensitivity since there is no “right” or “wrong”. It is once again a preference choice to make. But there are some settings that will give you an advantage in a couple of ways.

  • 16:9 for a wide and bigger field of view (Default resolution).
  •  4:3 for a small and more focused field of view.
  • 4:3 stretched for a small field of view, but wider appearing models.