5 CS: GO pros who play with black bars

In CS: GO, when it comes to the 4:3 aspect ratio, the stretched vs black bar argument has been an age-old one. Ever since the release of CS: GO, all the way back in 2012, the wider player base has been ever-confused as to what the better resolution settings are for the game.

Even professional CS: GO players are not helping much in settling this debate, as each player seems to prefer a different aspect ratio. While some prefer 4:3, others seem to find 16:9 and even 5:4 as a better alternatives.

The CS: GO player base gets even more divided when it comes to the 4:3 aspect ratio. Players who play in this ratio either prefer the screen to be stretched, or compressed with black borders on the side.

Stretched vs Black Bars in CS: GO

Both these resolutions come with their own pros and cons. While ‘stretched’ will make the character model bigger, helping you spot an enemy at a greater distance, it forces your eyes to move to the sides of the screen from time to time, as they will need to cover a much wider vision area.

‘Black border’ resolutions, on the other hand, compress the details on the screen and help you concentrate on what is right in front of you. You will not have to move your eyes around much; however, the character models will be smaller and you might have difficulties with shooting enemies at great distances in CS: GO.

Professionals and Black bars in CS: GO

For some pros, the 4:3 black bar ratio has become a sort of a habit, rather than a choice, really. As their resolution was like that from the earlier iterations of the game, like in 1.6 and Source, they never really thought of changing the resolution when Global Offensive finally came out.

That being said, there are others who opt for black bars knowingly, and find them to be more advantageous to their playstyle, rather than a 4:3 stretched ratio.

31% of CS: GO professionals tend to use black bars with their 4:3 aspect ratio, and here are five such pros, who honestly need no introduction.