Why a tier name is not a standard figure
A resolution tier is a product name that happens to look like a number. Two vendors publishing the same name are making the same marketing claim and not necessarily delivering the same pixels, shape handling or encode. As of 2026-09-12.
| Property | Fixed by the name | Where it is actually settled |
|---|---|---|
| Approximate pixel height | Roughly | Only where a page prints the pair |
| Pixel width | No | By the shape, which may be a separate field |
| Encode and bitrate | No | Usually unpublished |
| Comparability across vendors | No | By measuring a delivered file |
Inclusion rule. Properties commonly assumed to follow from a resolution tier name. Assumptions are listed as assumptions rather than as vendor statements. Order. The property the name comes closest to fixing first.
1A name is enough for a ladder and not for a check
Inside one page a ladder of names works perfectly: it tells a buyer which step is cheaper and which is better. Across pages it stops working, because nothing guarantees the steps line up.
Where a placement publishes a pixel minimum, the check has to go through the name and an assumption. Most of the time that guess holds, and it stays a guess, so a register owes the reader a note of which kind each figure is.
2The width is the part a name never carries
A vertical 1080p frame and a widescreen one share a number and differ by a factor of three in area. Where shape is a separate field, the tier name only bounds one dimension and the other follows from a choice made elsewhere.
That is why a page publishing pixel pairs is easier to check even when its figures are lower. A pair answers both dimensions at once and needs no second cell to be interpretable.
3Encode settings are almost never published
Bitrate, codec and colour handling decide how a file survives a platform's own re-encode, and almost no specification page in this genre states any of them. A tier name implies nothing about them.
So the only reliable statement about a delivered file is made by measuring it. A register records what pages claim; a delivery checklist records what arrived, and both are needed.
A craft note, not a spec. Nothing here is taken from a platform or a vendor, and nothing here should be quoted as a requirement. The sourced material is on published limits. Related: Sound with the picture, A fixed format.
4From brief to placement
For ad work around “Tier names”, SceneMixer's pages explain how its ad projects are produced:
The layout follows the project's aspect ratio, which is set when the project starts.
SceneMixer, How the Episode Editor Lays Out Vertical (9:16) and Landscape (16:9) Projects — “Can I switch between the two layouts?” (read 2026-10-13)
Every character, scene and prop card can carry a short list of the other names your script uses for the same thing.
SceneMixer, Also Called: Nicknames, Old Names, and How the Storyboard Knows Who Is Who (read 2026-10-13)