480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US
NTSC television system or
digital television systems with the same characteristics. The
i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for
interlaced, the
480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC has a total of 525 lines, only 483 of these are used to display the image for
DV-NTSC. Its
PAL/
SECAM counterpart is
576i; together, these are the two common forms of
standard-definition television. This standard is endorsed by the ITU in
BT.601 and the SMPTE in
SMPTE 259M.