Why did 35mm film become the standard width?

Asked 3/20/2012

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2 answers

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Is there a historical reason early motion-picture makers chose 35mm film specifically, rather than some other width?

history35mmmotion-picture-filmfilm

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

14y ago

2 Answers

4

There is a history of the film formats and sizes on this site. It goes into some of the particulars you're interested in. It boils down to the size being half the size of film (70mm) of the time.

Originally by user8677. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user8677

14y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

Yes. The commonly cited reason is practical and economical: early filmmakers used existing 70mm film stock and split it in half, producing film about 35mm wide. Because that stock was already available and inexpensive to adapt, 35mm became a convenient standard rather than a carefully optimized size chosen from scratch.

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14y ago

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