How big a picture will a projector give you?
Measure from where the projector will sit to the wall. We'll tell you the picture size you'll get, and show projectors we rate for it.
Find your picture size in 2 questions
The distance decides how big it can go. How dark the room gets decides how big it should go.
How we work out the size
The throw ratio sets the size. Most home projectors have a throw ratio of about 1.2:1: the picture is as wide as the distance to the wall divided by 1.2. From 10 feet (3 m), that's a picture about 8 feet (2.5 m) wide, or 110 inches across the diagonal. Zoom and lens shift let some models make it smaller without moving them.
Bigger is dimmer. The same light spread over twice the width looks a quarter as bright. A small battery projector looks good at 80 to 100 inches in the dark, but grey and washed out on a whole wall.
Match it to where you sit. Sit about one and a half times the picture's width away: for a 100-inch picture, that's about 11 feet (3.3 m) from the wall.
How we reached this verdict
We compared independent expert reviews with the manufacturer's specifications, then checked it's sold at a major retailer where you live. We don't test products ourselves.
Sources: RTINGS, Expert Reviews, manufacturer specifications.