35 mm film is the basic
film gauge most commonly used for both still
photography and
motion pictures, and remains relatively unchanged since its introduction in 1892 by
William Dickson and
Thomas Edison, using
film stock supplied by
George Eastman. The
photographic film is cut into strips 35 mm (about 1 3/8 inches) wide — hence the name. The standard
negative pulldown is four
perforations per
frame along both edges, which makes for exactly 16 frames per foot.
A wide variety of largely proprietary gauges were used by the numerous different camera and projection systems independently invented around the late 19th century and early 20th century, ranging from 13 mm to 75 mm (0.51–2.95 in). Its longevity is largely because its size allows for a relatively good tradeoff between the cost of the film stock and the quality of the images captured. Additionally, the ubiquity of 35 mm movie projectors in commercial movie theaters makes it the only motion picture format, film or video, which can be played in almost any cinema in the world.
