Raster

The rectangular area of a display screen actually being used to display images. The raster is slightly smaller than the physical dimensions of the display screen. Also, the raster varies for different resolutions. For example, VGA resolution of 640×480 on a 15-inch monitor produces one raster, whereas SVGA resolution of 1,024×768 produces a slightly different raster. Most monitors are autosizing, meaning that they automatically use the optimal raster depending on the monitor’s size and the video adapter’s resolution. In addition, most monitors have controls that allow you move the raster, resize it, and even to rotate it.