What screen resolution actually means
Your screen is a grid of tiny coloured dots called pixels, and the resolution is simply the grid's size: pixels across × pixels down. A 1920 × 1080 screen lights up 2,073,600 dots for every picture it shows. More pixels in the same physical size means a finer grid, and a finer grid means smoother text edges, sharper photos and more room on the desk(top) at once. The figure this page leads with is read from your device at this moment — not guessed from your browser's name or model — and the panel breaks it down further: the name shops use for it, its shape (aspect ratio), the space your browser window actually gets, and the scaling your system applies.
People usually land here for one of four reasons: setting a wallpaper or a virtual-meeting background to the right size, checking whether a new monitor is running at its full resolution, telling a support technician (or a game, or a designer) "what your screen is," or figuring out why a website looks different on two devices. For all four, the honest answer involves more than one number — which is why this checker shows the whole panel, with a copyable summary at the bottom.
The common resolutions, named
| Resolution | Sold as | Where you meet it |
|---|---|---|
| 1280 × 720 | HD / 720p | Small TVs, older laptops, budget phones' logical size |
| 1366 × 768 | HD | Years of budget laptops — millions still in service |
| 1920 × 1080 | Full HD / 1080p | The most common monitor and TV resolution in the world |
| 2560 × 1440 | QHD / 1440p | 27-inch monitors, gaming displays, flagship phones |
| 3440 × 1440 | Ultrawide QHD | Curved ultrawide monitors (21:9) |
| 3840 × 2160 | 4K UHD | Modern TVs, large monitors, high-end laptops |
| 7680 × 4320 | 8K UHD | Flagship TVs — still rare at desks |
Resolution is not the whole picture
Two subtleties explain most resolution mysteries. First, scaling: modern systems deliberately render text and controls larger than one-to-one — at 150% scaling, a 2560 × 1440 panel presents itself to websites as 1707 × 960 and looks wonderfully crisp doing it. The checker shows the working (logical) resolution, and dividing by the device pixel ratio is the bridge between the two worlds. Second, the window is not the screen: your browser viewport is what's left after the operating system, the taskbar and the browser's own bars take their share, and it is the viewport — not the headline resolution — that decides how a website lays itself out on your machine. Resize this window slowly and watch the viewport row change while the screen row stays put: that difference, live, is the whole lesson.
Frequently asked questions
What is my screen resolution?
It is printed at the top of this page, read live from your device. Screen resolution is the number of pixels your display shows across by the number down — for example 1920 × 1080, sold as Full HD or 1080p. The same panel also shows your browser window (viewport) size, which is smaller than the full screen, and the available area left after the taskbar or dock.
Why is my browser window size smaller than my screen resolution?
Because the browser window lives inside the screen along with everything else. The window itself loses space to its title bar, tabs and address bar, and if it is not maximised it only covers part of the screen. The 'available screen' figure subtracts your taskbar or dock as well. Web designers care about the viewport size; the screen resolution is the hardware's full canvas.
What is device pixel ratio?
It is how many physical pixels your screen uses to draw one CSS pixel — the unit websites are laid out in. A ratio of 1 means one-to-one. Phones and 'Retina' or HiDPI laptops are usually 2 or 3, which is why a phone with a 1170-pixel-wide screen can honestly have a much sharper display than an old 1280-pixel monitor: it packs several hardware pixels into every logical one.
Why does my resolution look different from the number on the box?
Most often because of display scaling. If your system is set to 150% scaling, everything is drawn larger and the browser reports the smaller, logical resolution it works with (for example 1707 × 960 on a 2560 × 1440 panel). The panel's true pixel count has not changed — the checker shows the resolution your software actually uses, and the device-pixel-ratio figure lets you work back to the physical one.
What resolution should I choose when buying a monitor?
Match it to size. At 24 inches, 1920 × 1080 (Full HD) is fine; at 27 inches, 2560 × 1440 (QHD) is noticeably crisper and the current sweet spot; 4K (3840 × 2160) earns its price at 32 inches and up, or for photographic work. On a small screen, extra pixels mostly buy sharper text at the cost of smaller controls, which the operating system then scales back up anyway.
Private by design: your screen figures are read and shown inside your browser only. Nothing about your display is uploaded, stored or shared.