# Change aspect ratio on widescreen monitor.



## heidalloon (Sep 22, 2007)

Hi. I just got my Inspiron 1720 in the mail today running Windows Vista. I noticed that some of the games I run look bad when they're stretched to widescreen mode. Is there anyway I can change the aspect ratio on my monitor to 4:3?


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## heidalloon (Sep 22, 2007)

Bump


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

What monitor do you have ???

Right Click in a blank spot on your desktop ... 
Choose Properties > Settings > and set the screen resolution to something like ..
1024x768 or maybe 800x600 (to start with)

The attached Perfect Circle/Square should look as such when displayed ... 
then you have the correct aspect ratio setting to match your monitor.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Whoops ... Looks like you have a laptop.

Then you need one of these settings...
17" UltraSharpTM Wide Screen UXGA (*1920x1200*) display with TrueLifeTM 
17" Wide Screen XGA+ (*1440x900*) display with TrueLifeTM


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## heidalloon (Sep 22, 2007)

I already have the screen in its native 1920x1200 resolution. 

My problem is that I'd like to view things in full screen, but I don't want it to actually take up the whole 16:10 screen, but just a 4:3 aspect ratio. I only want to do this with a few programs and video files, so it'd be nice if there was just an option where I can toggle between full (16:10) and standard (4:3) aspect ratio.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

Don't think so .. but I'll be watching to see if someone proves me wrong.
If the above perfect circle/square displays as such .. then your computer/display is set properly.

I'm thinking any other way to do this will be in the game options.

You could connect one of these 4:3 ratio monitors as a second display .. 
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...200049+400092&Ne=400000&product_code=51922152


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## supportpros (Sep 22, 2007)

Do it from within the game or video program.

Zoom player, VLC player, windows media player etc all have options within them to change the aspect ratio. Thats where you would do that, and on a widescreen monitor that means a 4:3 aspect ration would leave blank areas on the side.

As for games, if your native resolution is 1920x1200 why would you want to squash a game to a 4:3 aspect ratio? Anyway, like with the video files, do it from within the games options.


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