5K resolution

5K resolution refers to display formats with a horizontal resolution of around 5,000 pixels. The most common 5K resolution is , which has an aspect ratio of with around 14.7 million pixels (just over seven times as many pixels as 1080p Full HD), with exactly twice the linear resolution of 1440p and four times that of 720p. This resolution is typically used in computer monitors to achieve a higher pixel density, and is not a standard format in digital television and digital cinematography, which feature 4K resolutions and 8K resolutions.

In comparison to 4K UHD (), the 5K resolution of offers 1280 extra columns and 720 extra lines of display area, an increase of 33.% in each dimension. This additional display area can allow 4K content to be displayed at native resolution without filling the entire screen, which means that additional software such as video editing suite toolbars will be available without having to downscale the content previews.

As of 2016, the world uses 1080p as the mainstream HD standard. However, there is a rapid increase in media content being released in 4K and even 5K resolution. Online streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video launched videos in 4K resolution in 2014 and are actively expanding their collection of videos in 4K resolution. As 4K content becomes more common, the usefulness of 5K displays in editing and content creation may lead to a higher demand in the future.

History

First camera with 5K video capture On April 14, 2008, Red Digital Cinema launched one of the first cameras capable of video capture at 5K resolutions. Red Epic uses the Mysterium X sensor which has a resolution of 51202700 and can capture at a framerate of up to 100fps. Cameras with 5K resolution are used occasionally for recording films in digital cinematography.

Some photographic still cameras such as DSLRs can exceed 5K resolution when capturing still images, but not when capturing video. For example, the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV announced in August 2016 has a maximum resolution of pixels (around 30 megapixels in a aspect ratio) which is used for high-resolution still images, but it can only capture video at a maximum of and a framerate of 30Hz.

First TV with 5K resolution Samsung first demonstrated its 105-inch UN105S9W curved OLED TV at CES 2014. While Samsung lists the UN105S9W as a 4K UHD TV, it actually has native resolution of (a or aspect ratio) which classifies it as a 5K display due to the horizontal pixel count of ≈5,000.

First commercially available large 5K resolution enterprise display line Jupiter Systems in California was first to launch a full line of 5K resolution 21:9 large LCDs named Pana for the enterprise market in 2020, with engineering development that traced back to 2018. They were touch and non-touch models, with screen sizes 105" and 81", as well as a 34" desktop. In 2021, Jupiter continued with its exclusive 21:9 product offering by launching an ultra fine pitch direct view MicroLED product line, starting with 0.7mm pitch at 165" through 1.2mm pitch at 281", all in 5K 21:9 configurations.

First monitor with 5K resolution On September 5, 2014, Dell unveiled the first monitor with a 5K resolution, the UltraSharp UP2715K. This monitor featured a 27-inch display, giving it a pixel density of around 218px/in. The monitor only supported DisplayPort version 1.2, which is limited to at 30Hz. To work around this, the UP2715K implemented a system by which the bandwidth of two DisplayPort connections could be combined to achieve 60Hz, using a picture-by-picture mode to virtually treat the display as two smaller monitors side-by-side and driving each half with a separate DisplayPort connection.

First monitor with 5K2K resolution LG unveiled the 34WK95U at CES in January 2018, releasing it later that year. The monitor featured a 34-inch 5120 × 2160 Nano IPS display in a 21:9 aspect ratio, giving it a pixel density of around 163 px/in, and ran at 60 Hz. The latter carrying video and up to 85 W of power over a single cable.

LG introduced the first 5K2K monitors using OLED panels with the UltraGear 45GX950A, announced at CES in January 2025, a 45-inch curved model. In 2026 the 39-inch UltraGear evo 39GX950B followed at the same resolution.Both run at 165 Hz at 5120 × 2160 and switch to a reduced resolution at 330 Hz.

Examples of 5K resolutions

Resolution Aspect ratio Total pixels (Mpx) Comments 3. 7.37 Equivalent to two QHD () images side-by-side 2. () 11.06 Equivalent to 4K UHD () extended in width by 33%; double the size of in each dimension 2.0 () 13.11 1. 12.96 Five times the size of in each dimension 1.8 (≈) 13.82 Same aspect ratio as the DCI 2K () and DCI 4K () formats 1. 14.75 Double the size of QHD () in each dimension 1.6 () 16.38 Double the size of in each dimension 1. 19.66 Five times the size of in each dimension 1.25 20.97

The 24-inch 2021 iMac has a resolution of , which is considered neither 4K or 5K but 4.5K.

List of devices with 5K resolution

Monitors Aspect ratio Device Size (in) Dimensions (mm) Dimensions (inches) Resolution Total pixels (Mpx) Pixel density (ppi) Interface used for 5K Comments 16:9 Dell UltraSharp UP2715K 27 596.74335.66 (684.67 diagonal) 23.4913.22 (26.95 diagonal) 51202880 14.75 218 Dual DisplayPort1.2 First 5K monitor released Apple Retina 5K iMac Custom internal 8-lane DP1.2 interface First desktop with integrated 5K monitor released HP Z27q Dual DisplayPort1.2 Model J3G14A4 Philips Brilliance 275P4VYKEB Dual DisplayPort1.2 Planar IX2790 DisplayPort1.4 iiyama ProLite XB2779QQS DisplayPort1.4 LG UltraFine 5K Display Thunderbolt3 First 5K Thunderbolt3 connected monitor released, aimed at Mac users, using a custom dual-DP1.2 controller Apple Studio Display Thunderbolt3 Aimed at Mac users, though basic functionality works on other operating systemsAsus ROG Strix XG27JCGDisplayPort1.4, HDMI 2.1High-refresh rate dual-mode gaming monitor released in 2026; supports up to 180 Hz @ 5K via DSC, or 330 Hz @ 1440pLG UltraGear evo GM9 27GM950BDisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1High-refresh rate dual-mode gaming monitor released in 2026; supports up to 165 Hz @ 5K, or 330 Hz @ 1440pMSI MPG 271KRAW18DisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1Announced high-refresh rate dual-mode gaming monitor; supports up to 180 Hz @ 5K, or 330 Hz @ 1440pGigabyte Aorus FM275K16PDisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1High-refresh rate triple-mode gaming monitor scheduled for release in Q4 2026; supports up to 180 Hz @ 5K, 220 Hz at 4K, or 330 Hz @ 1440pAOC Agon Pro AGP277KXDisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1High-refresh rate dual-mode gaming monitor released in 2026; supports up to 180 Hz @ 5K, or 350 Hz @ 1440pHKC M9 ProTBASupports up to 5K @ 180 HzHisense GX UltraTBASupports up to 180 Hz @ 5K, or 330 Hz @ 1440p 64:27 (≈21:9) LG 34WK95U 34 793.77340.19 (863.6 diagonal) 31.2513.39 (33 diagonal) 51202160 11.06 163 Thunderbolt3 / USB-C, DisplayPort1.4 First monitor Philips 349P9H USB-C MSI Prestige PS341WU USB-C, DisplayPort1.4 Dell U4025QW 40 929.28 x 392.04 (1008.59 diagonal) 36.59 x 15.43 (39.7 diagonal) 140 HDMI2.1, DisplayPort1.4, USB-C, Thunderbolt 4 Lenovo P40w-20 40 929.3 x 392 (1008.6 diagonal) (39.7 diagonal) 140 HDMI2.0, DisplayPort1.4, USB-C, Thunderbolt 4 32:9 Philips Brilliance 499P9H 49 1,198.08336.96 (1,244.6 diagonal) 47.1713.27 (49 diagonal) 51201440 7.37 109 HDMI2.0, DisplayPort1.4, USB-C First monitor Philips Evnia 49M2C8900L/00 HDMI2.0, DisplayPort1.4, USB-C QD OLED, DisplayPort: 144 Hz, HDMI: 60 Hz Dell Ultrasharp U4919DW DisplayPort1.4, Thunderbolt3 LG 49WL95 HDMI2.0, DisplayPort1.4, USB-C Samsung CRG9 DisplayPort1.4 AOC AG493UCX HDMI 2.0 x 2, DisplayPort 1.4 x 2, USB-C 3.0 Gen 1

Televisions Aspect ratio Device Size (in) Resolution Total pixels (Mpx) Pixel density (ppi) Comments 64:27 (≈21:9) LG 105UC9 105 51202160 11.06 53 Samsung UN105S9W

Display interface and graphics card support In order to fully utilize a display with a 5K resolution, the source and display both require support for advanced connection interfaces, since traditional interfaces such as VGA or DVI don't provide adequate bandwidth for 5K resolutions at acceptable framerates. The earliest interface to support at 30Hz or above was DisplayPort, using the HBR2 transmission speed introduced in version 1.2. This could support at 30Hz with 30bit/px color depth. HBR2 was first implemented in AMD's Radeon HD 6850 and 6870 in October 2010. Nvidia introduced HBR2 support on their products with the Kepler family of GPUs, starting with the GeForce GTX 680 in March 2012.

HDMI gained similar capability in version 2.0, which increased the maximum allowed transmission speed to 600MHz TMDS (18Gbit/s). The Nvidia GeForce GTX 980, launched in late 2014, was the first graphics card to implement this capability, which was sufficient for at 30Hz with 30bit/px color depth.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 launched in mid 2016 and was the first graphics card to introduce support for the HBR3 transmission speed defined in version 1.3 of the DisplayPort standard, allowing it to support at 60Hz with 24bit/px color depth. It was followed shortly by the AMD Radeon RX 480, which introduced support for HBR3 and 600MHz HDMI transmission on the AMD side.

Although 5K 60Hz over a single cable was only made possible in 2016 with the launch of the GeForce 1000 series and Radeon RX 400 series, monitors which predate version 1.3 of the DisplayPort standard such as the Dell UltraSharp UP2715K offer the ability to run at 5K 60Hz by using two HBR2 DisplayPort connections concurrently in a specialized picture-by-picture mode. The Apple Retina 5K iMac released in 2014 used a custom internal interface with 8 lanes of DisplayPort at HBR2 speed (a standard DP connection is 4 lanes) to drive its display panel at 60Hz.

Rendering at 5K also demands considerably more graphics performance than lower resolutions. One technique for displaying lower-resolution content on such monitors without corresponding graphics hardware is on-device upscaling. Introduced by LG in 2026 on its UltraGear evo GM9 and GX9 gaming monitors, it uses a built-in processor to reconstruct the input signal toward the panel's native resolution, allowing a computer to render at a reduced resolution for higher frame rates than native 5K rendering would permit.

Display mode Maximum refresh frequency (Hz) Resolution Ratio Color depth HDMI2.0 HDMI2.1 DP1.2 DP1.3–1.4 DP2.0 51202160 () 8bpc (24bit/px) 50 144 60 85 240 10bpc (30bit/px) 30 100 30 60 200 51202880 () 8bpc (24bit/px) 30 100 30 60 200 10bpc (30bit/px) 30 85 30 50 144 Only the highest standard frequencies (24 / 30 / 50 / 60 / 75 / 85 / 100 / 120 / 144 / 200 / 240) are listed.CVT-RB timing format and uncompressed RGB or YCBCR 4:4:4 color mode are assumed.

5K resolution

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