# Source: https://learn.adafruit.com/character-lcds/lcd-varieties.md

# Character LCDs

## LCD Varieties

OK now that we're clear about what type of LCD we're talking about, its time to also look at the different shapes they come in.![](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/000/900/medium800/lcds___displays_variety.jpg?1396766749)

Although they display only text, they do come in many shapes: from top left we have a 20x4 with white text on blue background, a 16x4 with black text on green, 16x2 with white text on blue and a 16x1 with black text on gray.

The good news is that all of these displays are 'swappable' - if you build your project with one you can unplug it and use another size. Your code may have to adjust to the larger size but at least the wiring is the same!

![](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/000/901/medium800/lcds___displays_lcdback_t.jpg?1396766754)

For this part of the tutorial, we'll be using LCDs with a single strip of 16 pins as shown above. There are&nbsp;_also_&nbsp;some with 2 lines of 8 pins like so:![](https://cdn-learn.adafruit.com/assets/assets/000/000/902/medium800/lcds___displays_lcd.jpg?1396766759)

These are much harder to breadboard. If you want some help in wiring these up, [check out this page](http://learn.adafruit.com/diy-8x2-lcd-shield).

- [Previous Page](https://learn.adafruit.com/character-lcds/character-vs-graphical-lcds.md)
- [Next Page](https://learn.adafruit.com/character-lcds/wiring-a-character-lcd.md)

## Featured Products

### Standard LCD 16x2 + extras

[Standard LCD 16x2 + extras](https://www.adafruit.com/product/181)
Standard HD44780 LCDs are useful for creating standalone projects.

- 16 characters wide, 2 rows
- White text on blue background
- Connection port is 0.1" pitch, single row for easy breadboarding and wiring
- Pins are documented on the back of the LCD to assist...

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This is a fancy upgrade to standard 16x2 LCDs, instead of just having blue and white, or red and black, this LCD has black characters on a full color RGB-backlight background! That means you can change the background color to anything you want - red, green, blue, pink, white, purple yellow,...

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This is a fancy upgrade to standard 16x2 LCDs, instead of just having blue and white, or red and black, this LCD has full color RGB characters on a dark/black background! That means you can change the character display colors to anything you want - red, green, blue, pink, white, purple yellow,...

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Standard HD44780 LCDs are useful for creating standalone projects.

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- Connection port is 0.1" pitch, single row for easy breadboarding and wiring
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This is a fancy upgrade to standard 20x4 LCDs, instead of just having blue and white, or red and black, this LCD has black characters on a full color RGB background! That means you can change the display background color to anything you want - red, green, blue, pink, white, purple yellow,...

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This is a fancy upgrade to standard 20x4 LCDs, instead of just having blue and white, or red and black, this LCD has full color RGB characters on a dark/black background! That means you can change the character display colors to anything you want - red, green, blue, pink, white, purple yellow,...

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