what is the resolution of 4:3 at 1080p with side bars?

I was wondering what is the actual resolution of a 4:3 videos at 1080p?
For example the Wizard of Oz(1939) has the Aspect Ratio:1.37 :1 like a 4:3 TV.
But there is a blu ray that claims to be 1080P, but if you put it on a 16:9 1080P TV
You will have side bars, and will lose some of the resolution.
So what is the resolution of 4:3 at 1080p with side bars?

1. 1.37:1 is not the same as 4:3 - that would be 1.33:1. 1.375:1 is the US academy film format (full-frame 35mm).

2. 1080p is only ever 1920x1080. Films of aspect ratios other than 16:9 (in other words, most) will be letterboxed or pillarboxed to some degree. You're not 'losing resolution' if you are retaining the full image in a format that doesn't exactly match.

3. If the image is 1080 pixels high, the width of the Wizard of Oz will be 1080 x 1.375, i.e. 1485 pixels. To answer your original question (which is only really relevant to pre-1932 films), 1080 x 1.33 is 1436 pixels wide.

4. Barely related: on Saturday I paid £20 to watch the Wizard of Oz at a drive-in. They were showing a BFI film print, but since the screen was 16:9 they enlarged the image to fill its width, thus losing the top and bottom of the picture. That's losing resolution! (Since drive-ins are a rare commodity indeed in the UK I put up with it...)

Fair enough!

Darth Mallwalker said:

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