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My monitor's resolution is 1366x768. But I'm also able to configure it to 1360x768 (note the zero), thus implying that monitors of this size exist. Occasionally, when I plug my laptop into my TV I lose the extra three pixels on each side, but only notice because the screen tells me the resolution. Why do two different monitor sizes of nearly the same size exist?

This is not a duplicate of Why does 1366x768 resolution exist?. The actual resolution is irrelevant. I'm asking about the need for two resolutions that are very close in size. If the resolutions up for debate were hypothetically 1024x768 and 1020x768 (note the width), I would still be asking this question.

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JesseTG
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  • Because different supplier don't agree on their future products before they make them? – Aganju Apr 02 '16 at 23:54
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    For one I think it's because 768 / 9 * 16 isn't exactly 1366 (but 1365.3...). So one approach is to round it up to the nearest pixel, another is to crop it to the the nearest multiple 16. Not sure about what so special is 16 though (but this "policy" seems to be commonly seen in AV tools). – Tom Yan Apr 03 '16 at 00:20
  • What OS & monitor are you using? Do both settings work, and are they different, you can tell there's 6 pixels missing/extra in each? – Xen2050 Apr 06 '16 at 14:10
  • it's definitely a duplicate. If you read [piernov's answer on that question](https://superuser.com/a/946102/241386) you'll see the same explanation as the answer below, just older – phuclv Jul 25 '18 at 09:14
  • In this case the resolution _is_ relevant. Height of 768 is for XGA compatibility. 1366 is arbitrarily the closest to 16:9 (16.0078125 : 9). 1360 is chosen so 8 Mebibit memory chips (1048576 bytes) can be used, _plus_ being divisible with 8/16 (Not sure exactly why that is important, I guess some TVs that only do integer math? Some TVs have 1365x768 resolution). – bryc Nov 17 '19 at 17:07
  • Absolutely not a duplicate. The same answer can answer both, but the question is not a duplicate. – Nanban Jim Sep 12 '21 at 19:52
  • I had a plasma TV that used 1360x768 with the reason that it could shift the picture side to side by 6 pixels to avoid burn in. This could matter for OLED displays but they tend to be higher-end and higher resolution so likely not relevant. I've also seen 1365x768 being used. – karmakaze Jan 14 '23 at 03:42

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1366×768 8-bit pixels is just above 1MiB (by 512 bytes), so it does not fit into an 8Mbit memory chip.

1360 is also divisible with both 8 and 16, enabling simplified and optimized algorithms for processing graphics.

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