Although this problem can be rectified, it is time consuming.Īs far as possible, find out the equipment specification in your presentation venue.
But this is preferable to having a 16:9 slide on a 4:3 projector where the text will be compressed. Although we can easily convert our 4:3 slides to 16:9, they will become stretched and distorted. In general, 4:3 slides work for most projectors despite it not filling up the entire screen. This has the effect of compressing the text and make it smaller than planned. What this means is that it will not fill the entire height of the screen. When a 16:9 slide is shown on a projector in 4:3 aspect ratio, black bars will appear on the top and bottom of the slide.
Although this is not ideal, the slide will still retain its full height and the text will not be shrunk. Black bars will appear on both sides of the slide. BUT when projected on a widescreen, the slide will not fill up the entire screen. In general, the 4:3-aspect ratio works for most projectors. Given such an uncertainty, what should we do? If unlucky, you may end up in a presentation room where the projector’s format differs from the one you designed your PowerPoint slides on. So, do not be surprised to find yourself in an organization that still uses equipment in both the 4:3 and 16:9 format. The previous 4:3 aspect ratio is still commonly in use in many facilities. This seems like a no-brainer, isn’t it? But, what if the organizer cannot provide you with the specification of the projector and screen size? Such a situation is not uncommon, especially if you are doing presentations at client sites or at their hired venues.Īlthough many facilities have switched to the latest 16:9 widescreen standard, we are in a period of transition.
As both formats are still being used, we must be aware of the compatibility issues and know how to rectify them. These include television, computer screen, LCD monitors, etc. But they have since been replaced by the widescreen adopted by most projection equipment.
The 4:3 slide dimension was the standard in the past era of analogue TV screens. We will also provide a guide on which PowerPoint slide size to use in our presentation. The following article will provide a brief explanation of the differences in using the 4:3 and 16:9 format. So, what PowerPoint slide size to use? Should we shift accordingly to the widescreen format? What are the differences between the two formats and the critical issues we need to know? This is in line with most modern equipment such as projectors and televisions that have adopted the 16:9 widescreen format.
The aspect ratio is defined as the ratio of width to height. When PowerPoint 2013 was introduced, the default aspect ratio for slides was changed from 4:3 to 16:9. You may be presenting with someone from another company or business division, and that person may want to retain their own presentation template.Since the adoption of the widescreen format for our audio-video equipment, what is the PowerPoint slide size to use? You may realize that it will be too much work to reformat the inserted slides to match the new presentation’s formatting. However, there may be times when you want to retain the original formatting of the inserted slides.
In most cases, you’ll want to modify the inserted slides to the new presentation’s formatting in order to keep your slides consistent. Whenever you insert slides from another presentation template, the inserted slides will default to the new presentation’s template and formatting options. Sometimes these slides may have different templates, themes, or other formatting options. When you’re building PowerPoint presentations, you may need to copy slides from one PowerPoint slide deck and insert them into another. How do you keep the formatting of a slide you're inserting?