What Stretch Resolution Do CS:GO Pros Use

If you’re someone who tends to go around watching either twitch streams of high level streamers, or tournaments full of professional players, then chances are you’ve seen players use stretched resolutions, especially when it comes to Valve’s FPS game, CS:GO.

Of course, the first thought most people have is why play on stretched resolutions, when it makes your game look objectively worse? Well, there are actually a couple of advantages you get for doing this.

We’re here to go through the advantages of playing CS:GO on stretched resolution, as well as how to do it, which resolution is the best, and whether or not it’s bannable in competitive play.

How to Stretch

Getting a stretched resolution in CS:GO is fairly simple. All you have to do is:

1. Launch CS:GO and go all the way to the main menu
2. Click on the gear icon at the left side of the screen to go to the settings menu.
3. Ensure you’re in the ‘video’ subheading
4. From here, look for the aspect ratio setting and change it to ‘Normal 4:3’
5. From here, you want to switch your resolution to ideally the highest one. If you’re unsure of which one to pick, go for 1920x1440, as that’s the generally accepted benchmark setting.
6. Finally, click on ‘apply changes’ at the bottom right corner of the screen and this should make it so your device automatically adjusts itself to be in a stretched resolution.

However, some of you might have to take an extra step, which is going to your GPU/Graphics chip menu and manually selecting the option. Say, for example, you’re an Nvidia user. In this case, you’ll have to:

1. Go to your desktop and right click on it
2. Select and click on ‘the NVIDIA control panel option
3. From here, look for the ‘display’ option, and set the ‘full screen’ setting to ‘stretched’ so you fit the whole screen, even on CS:GO.

Why Stretch

Now that you know how to stretch your resolution in CS:GO, let us get into why players do this in the first place. Well, there are generally two accepted reasons for doing this, although the first one really depends on your hardware.

Certain types of builds (usually lower end ones) get a boost in FPS when playing any game with stretch resolution. After all, the rule of thumb is that the lower and less sharp your resolution, the more FPS you should get.

Meanwhile, the second reason professionals tend to play with stretch resolution is that the enemy player models appear to be wider than they would with a normal resolution. Because of this, some players seem to find it easier to land accurate shots on them.

All in all, however, it can’t be proven for certain whether stretched resolution actually increases the gameplay of players or not, but if so many professionals use it, then they must be doing something right.

Is Stretch Resolution Bannable in Competitive

Stretched resolution in FPS games as well as their fairness are two rather controversial topics, as many players feel as though it gives players that use it an unfair advantage because of the enemy models appearing wider.

However, fortunately, you can play competitively on whatever resolution you want, as using stretch resolution is not bannable competitively. Of course, when we say competitive we mean all competitive mods, both in CS:GO as well as other competitive services such as ESEA and FACEIT. 

Just don’t be surprised if players look down on you every time you perform well in a competitive match in CS:GO with stretch resolution.