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IMAX
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IMAX 70mm film strip showing three frames of Earth from space, with clouds and land visible against a black background. This infographic compares film formats by showing side-by-side images of IMAX 70 mm, standard 70 mm, and 35 mm film strips, highlighting their relative sizes and perforation counts. Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer walks down a dusty street in a suit and fedora in a still from the 2023 IMAX film Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan. Astronauts Jeff Wisoff and Michael Lopez-Alegria work outside the International Space Station with Earth and a rainbow arc visible in the background, photographed from space. The Hubble Space Telescope is deployed from the Space Shuttle Discovery, with its solar panels extended and Earth's horizon and the sun visible in the background.
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IMAX 70mm film strip showing three frames of Earth from space, with clouds and land visible against a black background.
IMAX film 70-mm film strip showing three frames of Earth from space.

IMAX

Film format
Written by
Laura Payne
Laura Payne is a freelance writer whose work covers many topics. She is a former Wayne State University linguistics instructor.
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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IMAX, cinema system developed by IMAX Corporation to capture and present moving images with an extremely high amount of visual detail and clarity. In its classic form, its superior image quality comes from the comparatively large film format it uses, in which images are captured on film with proprietary cameras and typically projected on massive screens in specially equipped theaters. IMAX presentations are also recognizable for covering more vertical screen space than widescreen film formats....

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