Which letter of the English alphabet takes up most pixels? [closed]

Question

Hmm, let's see:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc

dddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

gggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj

kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp

qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

W wins.

Of course, this is a silly empirical experiment. There is no single answer to which letter is widest. It depends on the font. So you'll have to do a similar empirical experiment to figure out the answer for your environment. But the fact is, most fonts follow the same conventions, and capital W will be the widest.

Gist with these character widths in a ratio form (W = 100) captured here using this particular example font:

https://gist.github.com/imaurer/d330e68e70180c985b380f25e195b90c

Further to Ned Batchelder's awesomely practical answer, because I came here wondering about digits:

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111

2222222222222222222222222222222222222222

3333333333333333333333333333333333333333

4444444444444444444444444444444444444444

5555555555555555555555555555555555555555

6666666666666666666666666666666666666666

7777777777777777777777777777777777777777

8888888888888888888888888888888888888888

9999999999999999999999999999999999999999

How about a programmatic solution?

var capsIndex = 65;
var smallIndex = 97
var div = document.createElement('div');
div.style.float = 'left';
document.body.appendChild(div);
var highestWidth = 0;
var elem;

for(var i = capsIndex; i < capsIndex + 26; i++) {
    div.innerText = String.fromCharCode(i);
    var computedWidth = window.getComputedStyle(div, null).getPropertyValue("width");
    if(highestWidth < parseFloat(computedWidth)) {
        highestWidth = parseFloat(computedWidth);
        elem = String.fromCharCode(i);
    }
}
for(var i = smallIndex; i < smallIndex + 26; i++) {
    div.innerText = String.fromCharCode(i);
    var computedWidth = window.getComputedStyle(div, null).getPropertyValue("width");
    if(highestWidth < parseFloat(computedWidth)) {
        highestWidth = parseFloat(computedWidth);
        elem = String.fromCharCode(i);
    }
}
div.innerHTML = '<b>' + elem + '</b>' + ' won';

Capital "M" is conventionally the widest.

I believe the letter W is the widest.