Make your PowerPoint Presentation look good on a wide screen projector

The other day I attended a meeting where the presenter switched from a PowerPoint slide to demonstrate an application. When he made the switch it was quite obvious the beamer was setup to only display the 4:3 slides to the maximum of the white screen. Since his desktop was in a 16:10 resolution the application was falling off the screen on both sides. Which was quite a distraction.

While I was preparing a presentation myself I wanted to be sure my presentation would be in the same resolution as my desktop as I would be switching between my slides and Visual Studio.

Choosing your Aspect Ratio

For presentations on a beamer or screen there are 3 common aspect ratio’s at the moment: 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10. If you don’t know the ratio you can use the maximum resolution to determine the required ratio.

4:3

This is the classic resolution for computer screens. This is also the default for PowerPoint. 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864 and 1280×960 are common resolutions used with the ratio.

If you show a slide on wide screen you will get black bars on the side.

 
A 4:3 slide on a 16:10 screen. Showing black bars on the side.

16:9

This ratio is commonly used by HDTV screens and beamers. 1280×720 and 1920×1080 are common resolutions used with this ratio.

If you show a slide in this ratio on a 4:3 or 16:10 screen you will get black bars on the top and bottom.

 
A 16:9 slide on a 16:10 screen. Showing black bars on the top and bottom.

16:10

This ratio is commonly used by modern screen and beamers. 1280×800, 1440×900 and 1920×1200 are common resolutions used with the ratio.

If you show a slide in this ratio on a 4:3 screen you will get black bars on the top and bottom. On a 16:9 screen you will get black bars on the side.

A 16:10 slide on a 16:10 screen. No black bars showing.

Setting the aspect ratio in PowerPoint

It’s easy to set the required aspect ratio:

In PowerPoint go the “Design” tab on the ribbon.

Click on “Page Setup“.

At “Slides sized for” set the desired ratio.

Press the “OK” button and you’re set.