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How do you pronounce 720p and 1080p?

Because I don't live in a country that uses English, I haven't heard it yet.

I guess it doesn't have a rule.

  • seven hundred twenty p
  • seven twenty p
  • seventy two zero p

What's the one which most people use? And how about 1080p?

L2G
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Benjamin
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    @drm65: I think it's fascinating. There's absolutely no doubt that the top answer here is 100% correct, and all alternatives are totally "incorrect". But that's only the case when these numbers occur in the context of a video signal. In some other contexts, other enunciations may be valid (perhaps even preferred, though I can't think of an example). This one really does seem to be a situation where there is a rule - but the rule just nets down to "say it like everyone else does". – FumbleFingers Jul 03 '11 at 14:20
  • Jasper, you bumped the question after 4 months? – GEdgar Nov 20 '11 at 21:48
  • @GEdgar I bumped it after 22 months. – Timtech Sep 02 '13 at 23:44

3 Answers3

72

I only heard them pronounced like this:

Seven twenty p

Ten eighty p

I tend to work in this area. I work with videos a lot, so I'm around those values daily and I never heard any other variation.

Community
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Frantisek
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    Generally speaking, I would say that the default readings for 720 and 1080 are "seven twenty" and "ten eighty". That is, 720p and 1080p follow the normal rule for reading out numbers in English. – nohat Jul 03 '11 at 05:59
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    You would pronounce them the same way in sports ("seven twenty" and "ten eighty") when talking about degrees of rotation. The same goes for 180, 360, and 540 ("one eighty", "three sixty", and "five forty"). The "proper" way to write it out (on a check for example) would be "seven hundred twenty", but nobody says that in everyday use. – redbmk Jul 03 '11 at 06:30
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    In British English surely normal way would be seven hundred and twenty, and one thousand and 80 – mmmmmm Jul 03 '11 at 10:16
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    @Mark: Not true, they do it just the same. – Tamara Wijsman Jul 03 '11 at 10:39
  • @nohat: Can you elaborate a bit more on that? Why do they skip out hundred, is that a short form? – Tamara Wijsman Jul 03 '11 at 10:40
  • Ok I must be odd as I would usually use the hundred and thousand - I am from London area – mmmmmm Jul 03 '11 at 10:44
  • If you want to say "seven hundred and twenty", nobody will notice anything unusual. But that and "seven twenty" are the two options. – Peter Shor Jul 03 '11 at 10:53
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    But this is not a question about just a number 720. It is about the designation that shows the resolution of a TV signal: 720p. – GEdgar Jul 03 '11 at 13:08
  • @TomWij: +1 That's the exact website I tried to find so far. Thank you. – Benjamin Jul 03 '11 at 22:25
4

I personally automatically say this if:

720p = HD

1080p = full HD

Hugo
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usealbarazer
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-3

When speaking to an audience that is not familiar with high-definition television broadcasting standards, 720p is pronounced

Seven hundred twenty progressive scan.

I agree with @RiMMER's answer for audience already familiar with the term.

Daniel
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rwong
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    For an audience unfamiliar with the standards, that is likely to be even more confusing. – Marcin Jul 03 '11 at 08:28
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    For an audience that is not familiar you would say high definition and stop there. Unless you want to go into details of explaining what progressive scan is... – nico Jul 03 '11 at 09:22
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    Firstly "Seven Hundred Twenty" is never said, it either needs to be "Seven Hundred and Twenty" or "Seven Twenty". And saying this to someone unfamiliar with HDTV broadcasting would just be plain stupid. – Jonathan. Jul 03 '11 at 11:06
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    @Jonathan: You may say and in Britain, but not in the US. – GEdgar Jul 03 '11 at 13:08
  • +1 to @GEdgar. When in school, we were taught that "and" would only be used in stating numbers when the number included fractions or a decimal point. So, 720 would be "seven-hundred twenty" and 3.14 would be "three and fourteen one-hundredths". (Or, just "pi".) – Iszi Jul 03 '11 at 15:19
  • @Iszi: Just because you learned that in America, doesn't mean they have the same rule in England. And who knows what those New Zealanders do... – GEdgar Jul 03 '11 at 21:04
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    "seven-twenty-p", "ten-eighty-p", and "ten-eighty-i" are very standard marketing terms. For the sake of communication there is no good reason to be your own snowflake and use variations. – Nick T Jul 04 '11 at 03:31
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    @GEdgar - My comment was just to add support to your statement. I didn't intend it to imply the world treated (or should treat) the English language the same way. – Iszi Jul 04 '11 at 17:54
  • I upvoted Nick T just for the use of "be your own snowflake" – gregnotcraig Nov 21 '11 at 07:37