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Integer scaling calculator
How many times does a classic console picture fit whole on your screen? Pick the source resolution (or a preset: NES 256×240, SNES 256×224, Mega Drive 320×224, PS1 320×240, GBA 240×160, CPS arcade 384×224), pick the screen, and the calculator returns the largest integer factor, the resulting size and the leftover borders. Pixel perfect, no shimmering.
Reference table: consoles × screens
| System | Native | 1080p | 1440p | 4K |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NES / Famicom | 256×240 | 4x (1024×960) | 6x (1536×1440) | 9x (2304×2160) |
| Super Nintendo | 256×224 | 4x (1024×896) | 6x (1536×1344) | 9x (2304×2016) |
| Mega Drive (H40) | 320×224 | 4x (1280×896) | 6x (1920×1344) | 9x (2880×2016) |
| PlayStation (320) | 320×240 | 4x (1280×960) | 6x (1920×1440) | 9x (2880×2160) |
| Game Boy Advance | 240×160 | 6x (1440×960) | 9x (2160×1440) | 13x (3120×2080) |
| Arcade Capcom CPS | 384×224 | 4x (1536×896) | 6x (2304×1344) | 9x (3456×2016) |
Why integer factors, and why 1080p is hostile to 240p
Scaling by an integer factor (2x, 3x, 6x) means every original pixel becomes an exact square of modern pixels. Any fractional factor forces the monitor or the emulator to hand out uneven pixels: some columns get 4, others get 5, and the result is the shimmering that ruins 16 bit era scrolling and fonts.
Here lives the classic community warning: a 1080p screen has 1080 lines to show the 240p of classic consoles, and 1080 divided by 240 is 4.5. No integer factor fills the height: either you accept 4x with thick borders (960 lines used), or you accept 4.5x with uneven pixels. A 1440p monitor is retro gaming's best friend: 1440 divided by 240 is exactly 6, and divided by 224 it still fits 6x with a discreet border. At 4K, 2160 lines give an exact 9x for 240p, with plenty of width to spare.
The leftover borders are not a defect: on a tube TV the analog beam stretched the picture to the bezel, but on an LCD panel every pixel has a fixed address, and a black frame beats a blurry image. Emulators such as RetroArch call this option integer scale, and CRT monitors never needed it.
Sources: pure arithmetic for the factors; native resolutions as documented by the NESdev wiki (nesdev.org), Sega Retro and the technical documentation of each system's emulators.
More CRT era tools: 4:3 aspect ratio correction, ms to frames lag converter, cartridge megabit converter and console resolution archive. And if nostalgia strikes on another frequency, every pixel on these consoles was addressed in binary.
Last updated: · Methodology and sources