Projector Throw Distance Calculator

About this calculator

A projector's throw ratio — a spec like 1.5:1 printed in every product manual — is the fixed relationship between how far the projector sits from the screen and how wide the resulting image is: Distance = Throw ratio × Screen width. A short-throw projector might have a ratio near 0.5, filling a large screen from just a few feet away, while a standard long-throw projector often sits near 1.5–2.0 and needs considerably more room.

AV installers and home theater designers use this calculation constantly when planning a room, since it determines whether a given projector model can actually produce the desired screen size in the available space — mount a projector too close or too far and the image either overflows the screen or leaves distracting black borders.

Home theater enthusiasts setting up a projector for the first time, classroom and conference-room AV technicians, and installers comparing projector models against a fixed room length all rely on the throw ratio to pick hardware that fits the space before buying it.