Face width to height ratio
Bizygomatic width : physiognomic face height
How wide the face is at its widest, usually across the cheekbones, compared with its full height from the hairline down to the bottom of the chin.
Also searched as facial width to height, face shape ratio and bizygomatic width.
Depends on the user-placed hairline (trichion): no detector locates it, and it moves with hairstyle.
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the face is narrow relative to its full height for the reference group.
width relative to full face height sits close to the reference mean (~0.74–0.75 in most groups).
the face is wide relative to its full height for the reference group.
Depends on the user-placed hairline. Undefined for receding hairlines; not comparable across hairstyles.
Reference values by population
| Reference population | Female (mean ± SD) | Male (mean ± SD) | n | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| North American White | 0.759 ± 0.042 | 0.744 ± 0.043 | 2326 | Farkas 1994/2005 (NA White young adults) prov. |
| East Asian | 0.782 ± 0.046 | 0.775 ± 0.044 | 618 | Farkas 2005 (Chinese/Japanese/Vietnamese/Thai pooled); Jayaratne 2012 (Southern Chinese, n=103) prov. |
| South Asian | 0.757 ± 0.046 | 0.747 ± 0.044 | 210 | Farkas 2005 (Indian); Metgudmath 2022 prov. |
| African / African diaspora | 0.75 ± 0.045 | 0.737 ± 0.044 | 300 | Farkas 2005 (African-American, Zulu, Angolan) prov. |
| Middle Eastern | 0.749 ± 0.042 | 0.738 ± 0.042 | 348 | Farkas 2005 (Turkish, Iranian, Egyptian); Al-Sebaei 2015 (Saudi, n=168) prov. |
| Hispanic / Latino | 0.771 ± 0.046 | 0.765 ± 0.045 | 120 | Farkas 2005 (Mexican-American) prov. |
| Not specified — show pooled | 0.761 ± 0.048 | 0.751 ± 0.047 | 3922 | Unweighted pool of the six groups above prov. |
Where these numbers come from
Transcribed from the cited anthropometric literature; SDs of ratios are propagated conservatively (independence assumed). Entries marked prov. await line-by-line audit against the primary tables. See the norm provenance note.
Why every value has an error bar
Every value Canthion reports carries a 1σ uncertainty propagated from MediaPipe Face Mesh's published accuracy (3.96% of inter-ocular distance mean absolute error per landmark, Kartynnik 2019). On a typical photo with 300 px between the pupils, that is about 12 px of wander on every point. Small ratios and angles inherit it, so their intervals are wide. A number without an interval is a number pretending to be more precise than it is.
References
- Farkas, Katic & Forrest (2005). International Anthropometric Study of Facial Morphology in Various Ethnic Groups/Races. J Craniofac Surg 16(4):615–646. doi.org/10.1097/01.SCS.0000171847.58031.9E
Common questions
What is face width to height ratio?
How wide the face is at its widest, usually across the cheekbones, compared with its full height from the hairline down to the bottom of the chin. Requires the hairline point, which is user-placed because no landmark detector locates it and it moves with hairstyle.
How is face width to height ratio measured from a photo?
It is computed from the face-mesh landmarks (zy_R, zy_L, tr, me): dist(zy_R, zy_L) / dist(tr, me). Every value carries a 1σ error bar propagated from the landmark detector's published accuracy, with a floor of ± 0.03, so a small difference inside the interval is not a difference.
What is a normal face width to height ratio?
Reference means and standard deviations from the anthropometric literature, by population. North American White: 0.759 ± 0.042 for women, 0.744 ± 0.043 for men; East Asian: 0.782 ± 0.046 for women, 0.775 ± 0.044 for men; South Asian: 0.757 ± 0.046 for women, 0.747 ± 0.044 for men; African / African diaspora: 0.75 ± 0.045 for women, 0.737 ± 0.044 for men. This value is provisional and awaits line-by-line audit against the primary tables. Your own value is placed on the distribution you choose, as a percentile with its error bar.
What does a low or high face width to height ratio mean?
Below the mean: the face is narrow relative to its full height for the reference group. Above the mean: the face is wide relative to its full height for the reference group.
How reliable is face width to height ratio from a photograph?
Depends on the user-placed hairline. Undefined for receding hairlines; not comparable across hairstyles.
Face width-to-height is one of the five inputs the face-shape read is built from.
Related measurements
The rest of the whole face set, then the nearest measurements elsewhere on the face. Every one is computed on the same photograph, in the same run, with its own error bar.
Also: how bone-level measurements are taken from a photo · methodology · glossary · all 35 insight pages