A 2.05 terapixel panoramic image captured from the top of Oslo’s Holmenkollen ski jump tower has been verified as the largest unified high resolution image ever created. Built from hundreds of thousands of photos, the 360 degree panorama allows viewers to explore the Norwegian capital in extraordinary detail.
The project was carried out by Holmenkollen360.com and creator Marek Rzewuski, who set out to produce a single continuous image at a scale not previously achieved. The finished panorama measures 2,297,216 by 891,702 pixels, totaling 2.05 terapixels.
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According to the project team, displaying the image at full native resolution would require more than one million Full HD screens operating at the same time. The scale is difficult to grasp without zooming in, since the image maintains fine detail even at extreme magnification.
Photographing Oslo’s Holmenkollen
Photography took place over four days from the top of the Holmenkollen ski jump tower, which overlooks Oslo and its surrounding landscape. More than 500,000 images were captured during that period, with 366,843 frames selected for the final stitched panorama.
The source material amounted to 12.3TB of RAW files. Each frame was shot with up to 20 exposures to improve clarity and dynamic range before processing began.
The production timeline extended well beyond the days of capture. The team spent one year researching, prototyping, and building a custom camera rig, followed by several weeks of image preparation and RAW development after shooting concluded.
Processing involved median stacking, sub pixel alignment, optical flow correction, and multi threaded GPU rendering. Custom software handled the computational demands of aligning and stitching the images into a seamless 360 degree composition.
Final rendering and post production took additional weeks, and some stages were repeated until the team got the desired output. The result is a continuous panoramic image without visible breaks, allowing viewers to navigate across the city in a single unified frame.
“It is one thing to hold a world record, but it is another to actually experience what a 2-terapixel image feels like. The incredible level of magnification is mind-bending.” said Marek Rzewuski, the creator behind the panorama.
Access to the Holmenkollen ski tower was granted by Oslo Kommune Bymiljøetaten to support the project. The completed image is available to explore online here.
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