Stereoscopic technologies continue to accelerate the adoption of 3-D in both professional and consumer applications. Stereo 3-D displays have the potential to benefit geospatial intelligence, complex visualization, pharmaceutical development, petroleum exploration, medicine, entertainment, architecture, simulation, and other difficult tasks. A single-mirror dual monitor stereoscope system that can offer the full resolution of the current LCD display for 3-D viewing is proposed. This new approach utilizes an isosceles trapezoid mirror and two monitors to provide a cost-effective approach for stereoscopic viewing. Mathematical formulas for the design of the compact mirror were derived based on a novel scheme, and an implementation of the system was conducted to verify the practicability of the proposed method. We believe its compactness, low cost, and high image quality can become a very competitive choice among various display techniques currently available. © 2010 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.