Viewing Distance Calculator
Find the right viewing distance for your monitor or TV from its size and resolution, with minimum, optimal and maximum distances given.
How far should you sit from your monitor?
Two things set a comfortable viewing distance: how wide the screen appears in your field of view, and how close you can get before individual pixels become visible. The recommendation above balances both.
SMPTE suggests roughly a 30-degree horizontal viewing angle for general use, and THX recommends up to 40 degrees for a cinematic feel. Sitting closer than the minimum distance means you begin to resolve the pixel grid; sitting beyond the maximum means you stop benefiting from the resolution you paid for.
Higher resolution lets you sit closer
A 27-inch 1080p panel has visible pixels at desk distance, so you naturally sit further back. The same size in 4K packs the pixels four times as densely, so you can sit close enough to fill your vision without seeing structure in the image. This is the real benefit of higher resolution on a desktop — not a sharper image at the same distance, but the freedom to sit nearer.
Desk monitors versus a television
A desk usually forces 60–80 cm, which suits monitors from 24 to 32 inches. Anything larger on a normal desk means turning your head to read the corners, which is tiring over a working day. Televisions are designed for two metres or more, which is why a 55-inch 4K set looks fine from a sofa and unusable as a monitor.
Comfort matters more than optics
Whatever the geometry says, keep the top of the screen at or just below eye level and around an arm's length away. If you find yourself leaning in to read text, raise the display scaling rather than moving the monitor — check the recommended value with the PPI Calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How far should I sit from a 27-inch 1440p monitor?
Roughly 70-80 cm, which is about an arm's length and matches a typical desk depth. That is close enough to fill a comfortable field of view without pixels becoming visible.
Is a 32-inch monitor too big for a desk?
At 4K it works well from about 80 cm, and the density is high enough to sit close. At 1440p a 32-inch panel is only 92 PPI, so you will want to sit further back than most desks allow.
Can I use a 4K TV as a monitor?
You can, but a 43-inch or larger panel needs well over a metre of distance to be comfortable, and most desks do not offer that. Input lag and lower chroma sampling on many TVs also make small text look fringed.
Does sitting closer damage my eyes?
No. Screen distance does not cause lasting damage, though close focus for long periods causes fatigue. Following the 20-20-20 guidance - every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds - helps far more than moving the monitor.