Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
barrel distortion
References
Images
Diagram showing two types of optical distortion: barrel distortion on the left, where grid lines bulge outward, and pincushion distortion on the right, where grid lines curve inward.
Britannica AI Icon

barrel distortion

optics
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  Encyclopædia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

Diagram showing two types of optical distortion: barrel distortion on the left, where grid lines bulge outward, and pincushion distortion on the right, where grid lines curve inward.

Barrel distortion is an optical aberration where straight lines in an image appear to curve outward, away from the center. This is a type of image distortion that can occur in optical instruments like lenses or television receivers.1

In optical systems, aberrations cause images to be blurred. Barrel distortion is one of several types of aberrations that can affect image quality. It is characterized by a decrease in magnification as the distance from the optical axis increases, causing straight lines to bow outward. This is the opposite of pincushion distortion, where lines curve inward toward the center of the image.23

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
3 Britannica Sources
  1. barrel distortion
  2. aberration
  3. pincushion distortion

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.