Size comparison

32 vs 40 inch: how much bigger?

A 40-inch screen is 7.0 inches wider and 3.9 inches taller than a 32-inch screen (17.7 cm and 10.0 cm), and it shows 56 percent more picture. Both are the usual 16:9 shape, measured on the lit picture.

32-inch vs 40-inch screen size comparison, drawn to scale on one centre — Drawn to scale on one centre. The dark shape is the 32-inch screen and the lighter shape behind it is the 40-inch screen.

32-inch and 40-inch 16:9 screen dimensions compared
16:9 picture	32 inch	40 inch	Difference
Width	27.9 in 70.8 cm	34.9 in 88.6 cm	7.0 in 17.7 cm
Height	15.7 in 39.8 cm	19.6 in 49.8 cm	3.9 in 10.0 cm
Diagonal	32 in 81.3 cm	40 in 101.6 cm	25% longer
Picture area	3.0 sq ft 0.282 m²	4.7 sq ft 0.441 m²	56% more

Worked from the diagonal and the 16:9 shape, so these describe the lit picture only. In portrait, swap each width and height. The outside of a cabinet is larger by the width of its frame, so use the drawing of the exact model for a recess or a tight wall.

How far away does each one read?

The larger screen fits bigger letters for the same words, so the same message reads from farther away. Each distance is the farthest point where that much text still fits at a letter height people can read, in landscape.

On the screen	32 inch, read from up to	40 inch, read from up to
One short line A sign or a room name	145 ft (44.3 m) capitals 4.8 in tall	182 ft (55.3 m) capitals 6.1 in tall
Three short lines One message on a slide	92 ft (28.1 m) capitals 3.1 in tall	115 ft (35.2 m) capitals 3.8 in tall
A list of eight lines A menu, a schedule or a directory	35 ft (10.5 m) capitals 1.2 in tall	43 ft (13.2 m) capitals 1.4 in tall
Pictures and video Little or no small text	Works well to 13 ft (4.0 m) 21 ft (6.4 m) is the limit	Works well to 16 ft (5.0 m) 26 ft (8.0 m) is the limit

We plan on 1 inch of capital letter height for every 30 feet of distance, assuming 20/40 vision, and a line takes 1.7 times the capital height. For pictures the rule of thumb is 10 times the picture height, with 16 times as the limit. To start from your own distance, use the viewing distance calculator.

Pixel size at the same resolution

If both screens have the same resolution, the larger one has larger pixels, so it needs a little more distance before the picture looks smooth.

Resolution	32 inch pixel pitch	40 inch pixel pitch	Pixels blend from
Full HD, 1920 x 1080	0.369 mm	0.461 mm	4.2 ft (1.3 m) and 5.2 ft (1.6 m)
4K, 3840 x 2160	0.184 mm	0.231 mm	2.1 ft (0.6 m) and 2.6 ft (0.8 m)

Pixels blend where one pixel takes up about one arcminute of your vision. Whether a given model is Full HD or 4K is on its own spec sheet.

Questions

How much bigger is a 40-inch screen than a 32-inch screen?

A 40-inch 16:9 screen is 7.0 inches (17.7 cm) wider and 3.9 inches (10.0 cm) taller than a 32-inch one, and it has 56 percent more picture area. The diagonal grows by 25 percent, but area grows with the square of the diagonal.

Will a 40-inch screen fit where a 32-inch screen fits?

Only if the space has 7.0 inches (17.7 cm) more width and 3.9 inches (10.0 cm) more height to spare, before the frame. The picture of a 40-inch screen is 34.9 x 19.6 inches; check the outline on the drawing of the exact model before you commit.

From how far away does the extra size matter?

For pictures and video our rule of thumb is 10 times the picture height: about 13 ft (4.0 m) for the 32-inch and 16 ft (5.0 m) for the 40-inch. If people stand farther back than the first distance, the larger screen is the safer choice.