Which statement about MTF is correct?

• A. A higher MTF indicates lower fidelity
• B. A higher MTF indicates greater fidelity
• C. MTF only applies to analog systems
• D. MTF is unrelated to spatial frequency

Answer: (B)

MTF measures how faithfully an imaging system transfers contrast as you move to finer details. A higher MTF means more of the original contrast is preserved at a given spatial frequency, so the image retains sharper edges and finer textures. Since spatial frequency describes how often patterns change per unit distance, MTF is inherently tied to it and typically decreases as frequency increases, reflecting the limits of detail the system can reproduce. That’s why a higher MTF indicates greater fidelity. The idea that higher MTF means lower fidelity is opposite, and MTF applies to optical, digital, and other systems—not just analog—and it is defined specifically as a function of spatial frequency, so saying it’s unrelated to spatial frequency isn’t correct.