Super VGA (SVGA) is a broad term that covers a wide range of computer display standards that extended IBM's VGA specification.[1]
When used as shorthand for a resolution, as VGA and XGA often are, SVGA refers to a resolution of 800 × 600.[2]
History
Comparison between common display resolutions, including several resolutions defined for Super VGA by VESA BIOS Extensions
In the late 1980s, after the release of IBM's VGA, third-party manufacturers began making graphics cards based on its specifications with extended capabilities. As these cards grew in popularity, they began to be referred to as "Super VGA".
This term was not an official standard, but a shorthand for enhanced VGA cards which had become common by 1988.[1] The first cards that explicitly used the term were Genoa Systems's SuperVGA and SuperVGA HiRes in 1987.[3]
Super VGA cards broke compatibility with the IBM VGA standard, requiring software developers to provide specific display drivers and implementations for each card their software could operate on. Initially, the heavy restrictions this placed on software developers slowed the uptake of Super VGA cards, which motivated VESA to produce a unifying standard, the VESA BIOS Extensions (VBE), first introduced in 1989,[4] to provide a common software interface to all cards implementing the VBE specification.[5]
Eventually, Super VGA graphics adapters supported innumerable modes.
