Horizontal FOV: what the camera angle actually measures
Horizontal FOV measures the full angle between the left and right edges of a perspective camera. A wider angle shows more surroundings in the same image.
A 90° horizontal camera covers 45° to each side of its forward direction. Increasing it to 110° extends that to 55° per side. Those numbers describe directions in the virtual world, not the physical width of your monitor. The preview keeps the scene and camera position fixed so you can see what the extra angular coverage changes.
By TechCompare · Updated
Field of view preview
90° and 110° horizontal FOV at 16:9. Both cameras stay in the same place.
- Horizontal
- 90°
- Vertical
- 59°
- Horizontal
- 110°
- Vertical
- 78°
Drag either scene to look around. Camera movement is synced. Arrow keys work when focused, and Home resets the view.
The whole angle includes both sides
The setting is the total angle across the view, not the angle on each side. Raising 90° to 110° adds 20° overall and 10° to either edge when the camera points straight ahead. A target that was outside the narrower camera can enter the wider one without the player moving. Use the outer boxes as reference points, then drag a scene to see how camera direction differs from camera width.
Coverage and target size change together
Fitting a wider angular view into the same image makes objects near its center smaller. The center target at 110° is about 70% as tall as at 90°. That percentage describes the image projection. The target remains at 20 m (66 ft), and its physical size does not change. Keep the preview frames the same width when judging the size difference, rather than comparing a large screenshot with a small one.
Camera references: horizontal and vertical conversion and view size at a distance. The worked examples use the visualizer’s own camera math.
How this is calculated
For a flat perspective camera, the visible width at forward distance d is 2 × d × tan(h / 2). At 20 m (66 ft), a 90° horizontal camera spans 40 m (131 ft) across that plane. A 110° camera spans about 57 m (187 ft). Vertical FOV also depends on aspect ratio. At 16:9, these horizontal settings correspond to about 59° and 78° vertically. The formulas use full precision even though the preview displays whole degrees.
Verdict
Check the axis before copying an FOV setting. If both numbers are horizontal and use the same aspect ratio, the preview gives a useful comparison of coverage and central object size. If one number is vertical or tied to a different reference aspect ratio, convert it first. A larger number on its own doesn't establish that two games have the same camera view.
More FOV scenarios
Frequently asked questions
Does 90° FOV mean 90° on each side?
Does a higher display resolution increase horizontal FOV?
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