Definition: progressive scan

Illuminating a screen by displaying lines sequentially from top to bottom. Also called "non-interlaced," all modern monitors and TVs support progressive scan. For example, the "p" in 1080p means that for each video frame 1,080 lines are displayed one after the other. The highest progressive format in common use is 2160p, which is 4K (see 4K TV).

The only reason progressive ever became a feature is because earlier analog TVs only illuminated half the lines at a time (see below). See interlace, frame rate, progressive scan DVD, progressive scan TV, HDTV, deinterlace and DTV.

Progressive vs. Interlaced

Progressive formats (720p, 1080p, 2160p) display 60 full frames per second. In that same second, earlier analog TVs transmitted and displayed 60 half frames (60 fields). For more details, see interlace.