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The formats

VR porn formats explained

VR video is labelled with two kinds of information: how much of the world the camera sees, and how the stereo image is packed. Once you know the six common labels, you can pick scenes that actually fit your headset.

How much of the world: 180 and 360

A 180 degree scene fills the half sphere in front of you and nothing behind. Because all the pixels are spent in front, 180 is sharper where you look and is the dominant format for modern VR porn. You will not need to spin around, and the performer stays in view.

A 360 degree scene wraps a full sphere around you, so you can turn all the way around. It is better for environments and group scenes, and weaker on detail, because the same resolution now covers twice as much area. If sharpness matters most, prefer 180.

How the stereo image is packed: SBS and top/bottom

Headsets need two slightly different images, one per eye. The common layouts are:

SBS (side by side): the left eye picture and the right eye picture sit next to each other. This is the standard on Meta Quest, Pico and most other headsets.
Top/bottom (TB or OU): the two pictures are stacked vertically. Older and some broadcast formats use it. Your player must support it, or the image looks squashed.

If you remember nothing else, remember SBS. Almost everything in 180 and 360 is side by side.

Fisheye and mono

Fisheye uses a single lens with heavy distortion and unwraps it in the player. It is an older technique and can look soft at the edges, but it was common when VR cameras were single sensor. Mono means there is no depth at all, just a wide flat picture in the headset. It is rare in dedicated VR porn and usually a sign of a flat video relabelled as VR.

Resolution labels

Resolution sits separately from format. In this index you will see HD, 4K, 5K, 6K, 8K and occasional 7K. For VR, resolution matters more than on a flat screen, because the pixels are stretched across your whole field of view. 8K VR porn is the sharpest tier here. A clean 4K 180 scene often beats a mushy 8K 360 one, so read both numbers.

Formats in the index

180° SBS 2.1K 360° SBS 73 SBS 3D 16 Fisheye 13 Top/Bottom 3D 1

Jump straight to a format: 180 degree VR porn or 360 degree VR porn. For the sharpest tier, see 8K VR porn.

Frequently asked questions

What does SBS stand for in VR porn?: SBS stands for side by side. The left eye image and the right eye image are placed next to each other in one frame, and the headset or player splits them and shows one to each eye to create depth.
Is 180 or 360 better for VR porn?: For most modern scenes 180 is better, because it concentrates the available resolution in front of you where the action is. 360 is better when you want to look around a full environment; it is generally less sharp per degree at the same resolution.
What is top/bottom (TB) VR?: Top/bottom is a stereo layout where the left and right eye images are stacked vertically instead of side by side. It is less common than SBS, and your player has to support it or the picture will look wrong.
What is fisheye in VR video?: Fisheye is a single lens image with strong distortion that the player unwraps into a spherical view. It avoids stitching two lenses but is softer at the edges, and it is mostly found in older catalogues.
Does 8K matter for VR porn?: It helps, because the image is stretched over your field of view. But format and bitrate matter too. A well encoded 4K 180 scene can look better than an 8K 360 scene at the same bitrate.