What is a pan scan?

A pan scan, also known as pan and scan, is a technique used in film and television production to adjust the aspect ratio of a widescreen image to fit a standard 4:3 aspect ratio television screen. This is done by cropping the sides of the original image to focus on the central portion of the frame, while retaining the original height of the image.

Pan scanning was commonly used in the past to enable viewers with older standard-definition televisions to watch widescreen content without letterboxing (black bars at the top and bottom of the screen). However, this technique often resulted in a loss of visual information and altered compositions, as the original widescreen image was not fully displayed on the screen.

With the increasing popularity of high-definition television and widescreen displays, pan scanning has become less common as most viewers now prefer to watch content in its original widescreen format. Additionally, many films and television shows are now shot and produced in a widescreen format, eliminating the need for pan scanning.

Overall, pan scanning is considered a dated and inferior technique for adapting widescreen content to standard-definition screens, and is rarely used in modern film and television production.