Method
How to read a WideBase entry, format by format, and what each status means. Games and movies are rated differently — here is why.
WideBase covers two ultrawide display formats: 21:9 (3440×1440), by far the most common, and 32:9 (5120×1440), the super ultrawide panels such as the Samsung Odyssey G9. Every game is rated separately on each of the two formats, on four simple points.
Games
Every game is rated separately on both formats, on four points.
1. Support for your format
Does the game actually fill the width of the screen, with a properly widened field of view? This status is given separately for 21:9 and for 32:9.
| Yes - Official | The game supports this format natively, with nothing to do. |
|---|---|
| Yes - Community | The format works thanks to a community solution (a setting, a config change). |
| Yes - Community - Mod/Patch | The format works well, but only after installing a community mod or patch. |
| Partial | The game displays in this format but with real compromises: misplaced UI, clamped field of view, partial black bars. |
| To be tested | The exact behavior has not been verified yet. |
| No | The game stays locked in a narrower format, with black bars and no workable fix. |
2. Cutscenes
Plenty of games look right during gameplay but drop back to a narrower format during cutscenes. This field says so, format by format.
| Yes | Cutscenes fill the whole screen in the format concerned. |
|---|---|
| Partial | Some cutscenes fill the screen (real-time scenes, typically), the rest are framed by black bars. |
| No | Cutscenes stay in a narrower format, with black bars down the sides. |
| To be tested | The exact behavior has not been verified yet. |
3. Mod / patch required
Is anything needed to enjoy the wide format?
| No | Nothing to install: the game works in this format out of the box. |
|---|---|
| Yes | A community mod or patch is required. The game's page says which one. |
| To be tested | The exact requirement has not been verified yet. |
4. Rating
The rating is the WideBase verdict in one word: is this game worth it on your display? Each game gets two, one per format.
| Excellent | Exemplary on the format concerned. Reserved for officially supported games whose cutscenes also fill the screen. |
|---|---|
| Very good | Very good experience, natively or through a reliable mod, with minor flaws at worst (letterboxed cutscenes, for instance). |
| Good | Good once configured, but with some concessions (a mod to install, 16:9 cutscenes, small UI flaws). |
| Average | The game runs in this format but the experience is imperfect: visible compromises, deliberate limitations or an awkward UI. |
| Avoid | The game is not suited to this format: image locked to 16:9, forced black bars, no workable fix. |
Movies
For a movie the question is different. The aspect ratio was locked at the shoot and will never change: there is no setting, no mod, no update. So the only question that matters is: how much of your screen will the picture actually cover?
| Excellent | The image covers at least 98.5% of the width: full screen, no visible bars. |
|---|---|
| Very good | Between 93% and 98.5%: very thin bars, barely noticeable. |
| Good | Between 82% and 93%: visible but discreet bars. |
| Avoid | Below 82%: wide black bars, a significant part of the screen left unused. Below that threshold we don't recommend the movie on that format — there is no middle ground. |
Scope (2.39:1) fills a 21:9 display almost to the pixel — that format was designed for cinema in the first place.
TV series
A series follows exactly the same logic as a movie: the format is locked at the shoot, the fill rate is computed, and the same scale applies. There is one extra difficulty, though, specific to episodic work.
When the variation is not a real change of frame but a one-off exception — an isolated sequence in one episode — the rating covers the dominant format, the one you will see virtually all of the time. The Mandalorian therefore stays "Excellent" despite one 16:9 sequence, and Westworld stays "Avoid" despite a few scope passages from season 3 on.
The landscape is very different from cinema. Television is overwhelmingly 16:9, a format designed for the TV set, which leaves substantial side bars on an ultrawide display. 2:1 became the Netflix standard with House of Cards in 2013, then spread to Apple TV+: slightly wider, still short of cinema. Only a handful of shows are framed in true scope — Andor, Severance, The Boys, Fallout, Arcane, The Mandalorian — and those are the only ones that fill a 21:9 screen.
Where does the information come from?
For games, the ratings draw on established widescreen community sources: WSGF (Widescreen Gaming Forum), PCGamingWiki, the pages of community fixes (Nexus Mods, Flawless Widescreen, Lyall's patches) and reports from players who own these displays. For movies and series, the broadcast aspect ratio is taken from reference technical listings and home video release reviews. Every entry lists its own sources, and statuses are updated when a game receives an official fix.
What's next?
WideBase currently covers games, movies, TV series and YouTube channels, in 21:9 and in 32:9. Individual entries are being translated into English; the catalogues, collections and guides are already available. Other formats and other kinds of content may follow, with the same commitment to clarity.