Looking for information about which resolution to use in CS2? Check out our updated CS2 guide.

Oh, the eternal question - what aspect ratio should you play CS:GO with and why do so many people claim that 4:3 is the right way to go? This article will explain why they are wrong for the majority of reasons and why you should consider switching to 16:9. This will not be a controversial article, but one where facts will be treated as such. So sit back, relax and enjoy!

There’s always been the discussion that 4:3 is superior to 16:9 on CS:GO, and most newer players that are used to playing on native resolution on other games nowadays get confused as to why people say that. Why would playing on an outdated native resolution be better? There are a few reasons why people say that, but there’s also explanations that are able to refute them.

First of all, and the biggest reason why players play in 4:3 - because the best players in the world also play on it. If they play on it, it’s because it must be better, right? Wrong. It’s not that straightforward. The majority of players prefer it just because they’re used to it from when they started playing 1.6 more than 15 years ago and are afraid to lose some performance if they make the switch.

There are some players who are widely considered to be among the best in the world, like Robin “ropz” Kool from mousesports, that play on 16:9 native resolution. As you can see, a different aspect ratio or resolution will not make you worse. It’s all about getting used to it.

It’s like switching sensitivity - in the first hours you might notice a dip in performance while getting used to it, but then it becomes normal.

You see more around you with a 16:9 resolution! The Source engine does not allow you to change FOV (at least on sv_cheats protected servers), which means that it is directly correlated to the aspect ratio you’re using. Playing on a 16:9 resolution is the one that allows you to see more around you.

Check the image below - these have been taken at exactly the same spot, only with different aspect ratios.

Image courtesy of Jayy and nŁ andrew on Steam Community Guides.

Just look at how much information you lose by not playing 16:9. You might say “oh, that’s not that much”, but there are countless cases of professional players dying or not seeing enemies due to it.

I’ll leave you with some examples below:

This is a classic one! During ESWC 2015, NIP was facing the final map against Flipsid3, down 9:14. Due to using 4:3 resolution, allu missed the opponent passing near him while the stream clearly showed him, resulting in some of his teammates getting flanked and dieing to a position that allu had covered… or so he thought.

The worst part is that you won’t even notice when you’re unable to see your enemy.

You might try to refute with something like “but with 16:9 the HUD is way to far from the center, I have to look at the entire screen to get important information”, to which I say that you can actually get the HUD more centered, just like a 4:3 resolution while still maintaining the added information on all the edges of the screen.

Isn’t playing with “fatter” models better? Isn’t it easier to hit them? This is one of the main arguments players use to defend the use of 4:3. And sure, I can understand that, but what some players don’t know is that your sensitivity also changes, since it has in account your resolution for how much your cursor travels due the difference in height and weight. Since you’re essentially stretching the image, your horizontal sensitivity will also differ a lot from your vertical one, causing you to be less accurate (naturally, you get used to it eventually).

But if the sensitivity is changing, it’s virtually the same as playing with “thinner” models. Just think about it. Also, there’s another argument that says that by adding black bars you’re removing how much you need to pay attention to the screen, and that one is tossed out the window by stretching your image.

I have more FPS with a 4:3 resolution! This! This is the only argument I can actually agree on, although it’s also not as straightforward. Players with less powerful PCs might benefit from this, while players with very good PCs can have worse performance on 4:3 compared to 16:9.

That occurs due to the nature of the Source engine - it’s an old engine that relies too much on the CPU. When downscaling an image to fit a screen that has a different native resolution, the game-engine actually stops using the GPU for that workload, forcing the CPU to bear the majority of it, making better PCs have less FPS on 4:3 (in some cases).

This one is a hit-and-miss, you’ll have to check your own configuration and how well it behaves on different aspect ratios.

Why is 16:9 the best and not 16:10 or 21:9? It’s a good question, indeed. It goes down to the engine once again. The game is made to run on 16:9 resolutions and the 16:10 has a similar behaviour to 4:3, it actually crops the screen to fit the entire image. 21:9 is also better than 16:9, but it’s not as common of an aspect ratio nowadays.

In the end, it’s all about personal preference and if players want to use 4:3, they are free to do so. But, in my opinion, it’s really important for people to understand that by playing that way, they’re actually at a disadvantage when compared to players playing at 16:9.

Old habits die hard, and sometimes it’s hard to let go of something that we’re so used to, but even the best players are slowly changing - even Mathieu "ZywOo" Herbaut, the French superstar currently playing for Team Vitality, once or twice tried to play 16:9 on important tournaments. He might have switched back to 4:3 eventually, but it just goes to show that even he knows that 16:9 is a better aspect ratio.

Think about it - when was the last time someone copied Oleksandr "s1mple" Kostyliev settings and actually became as good as him? It’s not the settings you use that will make you the next best international superstar, but actually how much time you invest in practicing. Just make sure to go for settings that are actually comfortable to you, whether that is 4:3 or 16:9. Just don’t be in denial.

Thank you for reading this article! You can reach out to me for suggestions or feedback via Twitter.

Visit our partner VIE for the safest market and best customer care in esports betting.
Must be age 18+ and reside in a country where online gambling is legal. Gamble responsibly.