720p
High definition, 720 pixels tall — 1280×720 in 16:9. The first rung of HD, and for years the practical default for web video before 1080p1080p (Full HD)Full HD at 1920×1080 — just over two million pixels. The default target for course, sales and web video.Open definition → took over.
720p is high-definition video measuring 1280×720 pixels — the entry rung of HD, sharp enough for talking-head footage but too soft for dense screen recordings, and roughly half the data of 1080p.
What is 720p?
720p is video with 720 horizontal lines of pixels, drawn progressively — 1280×720 in the standard 16:9 shape. It is the lowest resolution that qualifies as high definitionHD (High Definition)High definition — 720p and up, with 1080p as Full HD. The default quality most web and course video targets.Open definition →, which is why TVs sold as "HD ready" rather than "Full HD" topped out here.
Against 480p480pStandard-definition video, 480 pixels tall — 854×480 in 16:9. The fallback rung of the adaptive ladder for slow or metered connections.Open definition → it is a genuine step up: 2.25 times the pixels, and the first size at which on-screen text stays readable. Against 1080p the gap is the same multiple again, but far less noticeable on a phone.
720p dimensions
The height is fixed at 720. Width follows the aspect ratio of the source.
| Shape | Dimensions | Pixels per frame | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16:9 widescreen | 1280×720 | 921,600 | The web and broadcast standard |
| 9:16 vertical | 720×1280 | 921,600 | Phone-first and social formats |
| 4:3 legacy | 960×720 | 691,200 | Rare outside archive footage |
Unlike 480p, 720p needs no rounding tricks: 1280 and 720 both divide cleanly by 16, so every encoder agrees on the numbers.
Bandwidth and data
Encoded with H.264, 720p typically needs 2.5–4 Mbps depending on motion — roughly 1.1–1.8 GB per hour of viewing. That is about double what 480p480pStandard-definition video, 480 pixels tall — 854×480 in 16:9. The fallback rung of the adaptive ladder for slow or metered connections.Open definition → costs and roughly half of 1080p.
A modern codecCodecThe algorithm that compresses and decompresses video — H.264, H.265 (HEVC) and AV1 are the most common in modern streaming.Open definition → changes that arithmetic: H.265 or AV1 reach the same look at around half the bitrateBitrateThe amount of data used per second of video. Higher bitrate means more detail and a larger file; the core lever behind streaming quality.Open definition →, at the cost of slower encoding and narrower device support.
720p against the rest of the ladder
| Label | Dimensions | Pixels | Against 480p |
|---|---|---|---|
| 360p | 640×360 | 230,400 | 0.56× |
| 480p (SD) | 854×480 | 409,920 | — |
| 720p (HD) | 1280×720 | 921,600 | 2.25× |
| 1080p (Full HD) | 1920×1080 | 2,073,600 | 5.06× |
| 2160p (4K)4K (2160p)Ultra HD at 3840×2160 — four times the pixels of Full HD, and the point where codec choice starts paying for itself.Open definition → | 3840×2160 | 8,294,400 | 20.2× |
The 480p→720p step is the one viewers notice most. Beyond 1080p the returns fall off unless the screen is large and close.
When 720p is the right target
Interviews, webinars and camera-only lessons carry fine at 720p — there is no fine detail for the extra pixels to resolve.
On a phone held at arm's length, most people cannot separate 720p from 1080p, and the smaller file starts faster.
Large live audiences or metered connections, where halving the bitrate matters more than the last increment of sharpness.
Where it falls short is detail work: screen recordings with code, spreadsheets or dense UI still want 1080p, because at 720p thin text starts to break up. For that content, treat 720p as a fallback rung rather than the target.
What a 720p hour actually costs
The bandwidth figures above turn into a line on an invoice, and that is usually the decision nobody makes deliberately. At 2.5–4 Mbps, one hour of 720p moves roughly 1.1–1.8 GB. On usage-based delivery priced at €0.03 per GB, that is about 3–5 cents per viewing hour.
Put a thousand students through a ten-hour course and the same catalogue costs roughly €330–540 in delivery at 720p, against €660–1,080 at 1080p. For talking-head lessons, where the extra pixels resolve nothing, that difference buys nothing but a bigger bill.
The inverse is worth stating too: capping everyone at 720p to save money is the wrong lever on an adaptive platform, because viewers on a poor connection already receive a lower rung. You would only be taking quality away from the ones who could have had more.
When DRM decides the rung for you
One case surprises teams that switch protection on: some viewers stop receiving 720p at all, and nothing in the encoding settings caused it.
Widevine grades devices by where decryption happens. Hardware-backed L1Multi-DRMServing one encrypted library through Widevine, FairPlay and PlayReady at once — no single DRM system covers every browser and device.Open definition → devices play the full ladder; L3 devices decrypt in software, and content policies commonly cap them at 480p or 540p. An older Android phone or a desktop Chrome without hardware support is L3 — so on a DRMDRMEncryption of the video file plus a licence server that issues a per-session key — so a downloaded copy stays unplayable.Open definition →-protected library, 720p is the rung it will never be offered.
That matters when the audience is a class rather than a market: a strict policy protects a course no studio licensed, while a student on a three-year-old phone watches a blurrier lesson than the connection could carry. Know the mechanism before inheriting a broadcaster\'s default.
Further reading
- 720p — Wikipedia — a vendor-neutral overview.
- Resolution — the full ladder, from 360p to 4K.
- 480p and 1080p — the rungs either side.
