Preserving aspect ratio 16:9

I've placed several Flash videos on a Web site, all 4:3 standard definition. All look fine.
I have one video that's 16:9 widescreen high-definition. When I try to place it on the same site (using the same HTML snippet code as the others), much of the video is missing on the sides -- it's cropped off when I try to play it. I've changed some numbers around but nothing fixes it.
Any help?

How do I change that to a 4:30 timeline?
First of all, dont. Finish your project in its native 16:9 format and export with current settings, self contained. Now make a new project with the Easy Set Up at whatever 16:9 codec (Pro Res, Intermediate, etc, you exported as).
Go to Sequence > Settings and choose a 4:3 aspect ratio Timeline setting. The DV codec should be fine.
Drop the entire self contained movie into the Timeline. It will letterbox automatically. You can export that to make your deliverable.

Similar Messages

"Preserve Aspect Ratio" Bug w/ DV Export

Hi,
I searched around and found no mention of this behavior, so figured I'd post what I discovered. There is a subtle bug in QuickTime when you convert to DV and check "Preserve Aspect Ratio" in the Size options. It's intimately connected with how QuickTime scales DV for display on screen.
DV resolution is 720x480, but with rectangular pixels. So some scaling is done to display the image using the computer screen's square pixels. The height to width ratio of a DV pixel is 1.1, so the correct resolution (i.e. no distortion of the image) to use on screen is about 654x480. But wait! QuickTime plays back DV at 640x480, and it's not distorted. What gives?
QuickTime knows the correct scaling factor and is actually displaying the image at 654x480, but it's chopping 7 pixels off the left and right sides to fit it in a 640x480 window. (The effect is even more pronounced with anamorphic 16x9 DV - 11-12 pixels get lopped off either side.) It's only a display issue - the pixels are still there, they're just not being drawn. It's a subtle effect you never really notice, and you get distortion-free playback.
The problem occurs when you need to export some video to DV that's not a standard aspect ratio (like the 2:1 clips I was converting). When you check the "Preserve Aspect Ratio" box, QuickTime scales your video to the 640x480 display area, keeping the original aspect ratio like it's supposed to. BUT it then proceeds to take the full 654x480 frame and encode it to DV. You end up with a very thin black border on the left and right, and ironically the aspect ratio you wanted to preserve is ever so slightly squished!
You never see the problem in QuickTime Player because of the display scaling trick, so all looks well. But bring the converted DV into iDVD or Final Cut and you can see the black border. (Again, it's more pronounced with anamorphic widescreen.) "Preserve Aspect Ratio" thus only exactly preserves the aspect if the only thing you're going to use to view the video is QuickTime. It is subtle, but if you're compositing the converted video with DV from another source it can be bothersome.
Hope this proves helpful,
-Robb
Dual-Core 2 GHz G5 Mac OS X (10.4.8) QuickTime Pro 7.1.5

I've seen the border in Final Cut. This is good to know - thanks.

Exporting small quicktime, can't preserve aspect ratio??

I'm trying to export an HD project with a 960 x 720 pixel aspect ratio that's about 3 minutes long into a QT that's less than 10 meg.. i've done it a few different ways but i can't seem to keep it letterboxed to 16:9 even though i've checked the preserve aspect ratio box in the export with QT conversion dialogue box... sequence settings i haven't changed.. is that where i'm going wrong?? Help! needs to be submitted for festival by tomorrow!!

If you need the final clip to be 4:3 for some reason, such as posting it to YouTube, then you can get the letterbox bars by nesting into a 4:3 sequence in FCP, or adding letterboxing in Compressor.
However, if the clip will play natively as a QT file, iit can be 16:9 without letterboxing, which has many advantages. The dimesnions I use for this most often are 480x270 That should allow you to get your file down to size at good quality.
Hope this helps -
Max Average

Won't preserve aspect ratio letterbox?

Hey,
I have a cannon hd camera that films in 1920x1080 which is a 16:9 aspect ratio if I understand correctly. I'm trying to export this video size to a 640x480 using the quicktime conversion. From what I've read online and in the manual if I check "preserve aspect ratio", "letterbox" it should put two black bars on the top and bottom so that the video itself isn't stretched to fit into the 640x480. However, though I've tried many times, the exported video always comes out stretched. Is something turned off that I don't know about? Is there a problem in the software?
Thanks for the help if you can solve this puzzle.

I'm having the same problem and it's driving me nuts. I have HD footage and I'm trying to save a small sample as a demo. I want to email either a 16:9 clip or a 4:3 letterboxed clip. No matter what dimension I export to, it ends up as 4:3, even when "letterbox" is checked. For example, if I export to 720x480 (4:3), it's squashed. But if I export to 720x480 (16:9), it's squashed AND I have black bars ON THE SIDES! So I'm telling FCE to go from 16:9 to 16:9 and it converts it to 4:3 and then puts black borders on the side? How does this make any sense??
When you say "Place your edited widescreen sequence in a 4:3 sequence" what do you mean? I don't see sequence properties that control the aspect ratio.
Also, what should the compression type be? Like I said, I'm just trying to export a small 30-second demo clip. All of my exports are turning out 40+ MB. If I do a straight Export->Quicktime movie (no conversion) then my 30 second clip is more like 400MB.

Preserve aspect ratio for Windows Vista 64-bit OS on iMac

Hello, I wanted to know how to preserve aspect ratio on my screen resolution of 4:3 with black borders on left and right of the screen, after I have installed 64 bit Boot Camp drivers on it. I rather to play older Windows games in 4:3 without stretched mode as stretched mode looks so disordered, which is bothered me a lot.

It sounds that the Microsoft Installer does not like the optical drive inside of your Mac.
Do you have access to an external DVD drive?
If yes, try the Windows 7 install with an external DVD drive.
If no, try to install Windows 7 from a USB drive.
Source 1:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd535816.aspx
Source 2:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/how-to-deploy-windows -7-from-a-usb-drive.aspx
If you don't have an external DVD drive or a USB drive that is 8GB or larger, you might want to consider borrowing or buying one.

Preserve aspect ratio issues.

I’m having a problem with my “preserve aspect ratio” command under Quick Time Conversion. I’ve bounced many projects that are 720x480 into a 640x480 cube, (for use on the clients website.) with much success. But for some reason FCP has stopped doing this. Everything I bounce, whatever the setting is coming out stretched. It’s acting almost like the commend doesn’t even exist.
Is there a preference setting that might have been messed up? Is there even a way to control this. For the life of me I can’t figure this out. Any ideas?

Yeah, it's anamorphic file... i bounce it down
h264
keyframe automatic
Data Rate: 1300
best for streeming
Size VGA
Preseve Aspect using "fit demention"
?

Preserve aspect ratio of whole stage

I have an animation in Edge Animate 1.5. All its elements are defined with sizes and positions by percentage (rather than px), so it currently scales to completely fill the browser window of whatever size. Is there a way of forcing the stage to preserve its aspect ratio when the browser window is resized? In my case, I want it to remain square. I wonder whether the "resize" event on the stage might be relevant? But not sure what code to put in it...
Any help greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
Wes

Right, almost got it, albeit in a hacky way. I edited the _edge.js file right at the end, to contain the following resize function. This forces the width and height of the stage to be equal to the smaller one of the two, and then sets left and top so that the stage is in the middle of the window if/when there is space either side. It seems to work ok - although is best done at the end, as Edge Animate removes the code if you load/save the project.
The one thing left to fix is that I need to fire the resize function manually at the start - it doesn't do so automatically, and defaults to stage size 100% x 100% of the browser window. If anyone knows the best way to do that, I'd appreciate it!
$(window).ready(function() {
     Edge.launchComposition(compId);
     $(window).resize(function() {
          var bodyheight = $(window).height();
          var bodywidth = $(window).width();
          var leftPos = bodywidth;
          var topPos = bodyheight;
          if (bodywidth<bodyheight) bodyheight=bodywidth;
          if (bodyheight<bodywidth) bodywidth=bodyheight;
          $("#Stage").height(bodyheight);
          $("#Stage").width(bodywidth);
          leftPos=0.5*(leftPos-bodywidth);
          $("#Stage").css("left",leftPos+'px');
          topPos=0.5*(topPos-bodyheight);
          $("#Stage").css("top",topPos+'px');
})(jQuery, AdobeEdge, "PROJECT");

Preserve aspect ratio of JPanel size within JApplet

Hi, currently, I have a JPanel component, which will be placed at the center of JApplet (This JApplet is BorderLayout).
I wish to preserve the aspect ratio of the JPanel to square (width equal to height) even when the JApplet size is changed.
I overriden the getPreferredSize, getMinimumSize and getMaximumSize of JPanel as follow:
import java.awt.*;
* @author yccheok
public class NewJPanel extends javax.swing.JPanel {
    /** Creates new form NewJPanel */
    public NewJPanel() {
        initComponents();
        this.setBackground(Color.RED);
    public Dimension getMinimumSize() {
        Dimension dimension;
        dimension = super.getMinimumSize();
        Dimension newDimension;
        if(dimension.getWidth() < dimension.getHeight()) {
            newDimension = new Dimension((int)dimension.getWidth(), (int)dimension.getWidth());
        else {
            newDimension = new Dimension((int)dimension.getHeight(), (int)dimension.getHeight());
        System.out.println("newDimension="+newDimension);
        return newDimension;
    public Dimension getMaximumSize() {
        return getMinimumSize();
    public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
        return getMinimumSize();
    /** This method is called from within the constructor to
     * initialize the form.
     * WARNING: Do NOT modify this code. The content of this method is
     * always regenerated by the Form Editor.
    // <editor-fold defaultstate="collapsed" desc=" Generated Code ">
    private void initComponents() {
        setLayout(new java.awt.BorderLayout());
    // </editor-fold>
    // Variables declaration - do not modify
    // End of variables declaration
}whereas my JApplet code is as follow:
import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
* @author yccheok
public class NewJApplet extends javax.swing.JApplet {
    /** Creates a new instance of NewJApplet */
    public NewJApplet() {
    public void init()
        this.getContentPane().setLayout(new BorderLayout());
        this.getContentPane().add(new NewJPanel(), BorderLayout.CENTER);
}However, I realize none of the JPanel's getPreferredSize, getMinimumSize or getMaximumSize is called. Am I doing something wrong?
Thank you very much!

You probably should create your own layout manager

Preserving Aspect Ratio

I have a problem that is somewhat two-fold. I'm trying to play a video on a digital frame. It only plays MPEG1, 2, and 4 with a resolution of 1024x768 (my video is 720x480). Whenever I play my video it distorts the aspect ratio slightly, but noticeably. I've dragged the file into FCP several times, trying to export it and then converting it back to an MPEG with ffmpeg. The problem is EVERY time I export with FCP (no matter what settings I'm using), the quality is crap. I get lines everytime there is movement in the video (this is BEFORE I convert with ffmpeg, so I know thats not the issue). I finally found a solution to my problem (throwing in a black jpeg file to surround the video is preventing it from changing the ratio), but like I said I'm getting lines. The only video that looks good is the original, but it keeps changing the ratio. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Export a self-contained or reference movie from FCP (File->Export->QuickTime Movie). Do NOT use QuickTime Conversion.
Use the resulting file in Compressor to create an MPEG-2 Program Stream (.mpg) file.
-DH

How to preserve aspect ratio with a responsive layout?

Hi,
I have an image that I need to place in the centre of my stage.
The image is that of a ball and has 400px by 400px size.
I want my animations to be responsive so that the image will scale but still maintain the correct aspect ratio.
Currently if I set pixels to % on width and height, the image stretches.
How do you do this in EA?

Hi Jahandaniel,
I have tested responsive layout and it worked perfectly. Please check the following adobe tv article and let me know your result.
Creating a Responsive Layout | Learn Edge Animate | Adobe TV
Regards,
Devendra

Can't export anamorphic 16:9 to 4:3 (aspect ratio preserved by bars)

Hi,
I've been reading forums and trying different things for days now and cannot seem to export my anamorphic 16:9 sequence to 4:3 with black bars preserving the aspect ratio. I've tried quicktime conversion with "preserve aspect ratio" clicked. I've tried copying and pasting my 16:9 sequence into a 4:3 sequence, but this throws off attributes such as titles, keyframes, and clip speed. I've tried nesting the 16:9 sequence, opening in viewer, and dropping the nested clip into a 4:3 sequence, but that also messes up the audio/video/title sync (even when I've mixed down the audio. The only thing that has come close to working is exporting the whole 16:9 sequence to .mov, then reimporting the .mov into a 4:3 sequence, and then re-exporting, however, the titles are then squished (incorrect aspect-ratio for titles only, video appears correct) and the quality is diminished by the multiple exports/renderings.
Please Help!
Thanks,
Adam

I would say go with you lowest common denominator - 4:3.
Actually I have found no difference in burning a disc at 4:3 aspect ratio and 16:9 aspect ratio. They both look the same on 4:3 and 16:9 TVs. The only difference I have found are the menus. (but make sure your dvd player is set at 4:3 LB (letterbox) or the your 16:9 project will come out full screen with the sides cut off).
read here for more info
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=430920&tstart=30

Aspect ratio confusion HDV + DV = mess

Sorry to ask my second question in 24 hours. I think my new problem is as much a case of me not getting the concept as it is of me not understanding the software.
Thanks to the kind folk on this forum I managed to sort out my timeline and get all the clips to overlay properly. I then thought that rather than exporting the whole thing, I should just mark an in and out point on the sequence and create a QT (mov) file from that section, which I would then turn into a short (6 minute) DVD using iDVD. All of that seemed to go really smoothly and quickly BUT when I played the DVD on a Sony LCD TV I realised that the aspect ratio has gone wrong. There are black bars at the top and bottom, even though it is a 16:9 TV and the source material is 16:9 (albeit in different formats - see below). The people look a bit squashed on the TV screen and the aspect ratio of the video part of the picture when it appears on the TV screen is more like 2.35:1 than 16:9.
Then I looked back at the Canvas in FCE and realised that there are black bars on the Canvas above and below the video, which I had been ignoring because I thought they were background... I am praying that I don't have to re-edit the whole thing now. I measured (with a ruler!) the proportions of the image I am getting in the canvas and sure enough it is a black box at 4:3 aspect ratio with a video image in the middle at 16:9. I guess I must be sending a 4:3 image out to Quicktime at 16:9, which just squishes everything and leaves the black bars. I could cry, really.
Here is the tech information. I have a Sequence on the timeline from 3 video sources:
1. A DV clip that is 720 x 576 from a Sony camera shooting in widescreen mode
2. An HDV clip (now in Apple Intermediate Codec) that is at 1440x1080 from a Canon HV40
3. Another PAL DV clip at 720 x 576 which started life on the hard drive of a borrowed camera and had to be converted to something usable from a proprietary JVC format
I've just noticed - and this may not be important - that clips 1 and 3 have "anamorphic" ticked when you look at their properties in the browser, whereas clip 2 (the HDV one) doesn't have that ticked.
What can I do to rescue my project and create a proper 16:9 format DVD without re-editing for 50 hours?
Thanks
Andrew

Hello Tom, I just realised that you wrote the book that's sitting on the desk next to me... I thought that name looked familiar.
Thanks for your reply. My media is in pretty much equal parts: the performance I was filming ran for an hour and I kept all three cameras running for the whole performance. Having edited between the camera outputs now, the least used is from the JVC camera. The other two (HDV and DV) are roughly equally used but the DV was the wide shot so has no edits in the timeline sequence - the other two video tracks are above it. The sequence setting, if I'm looking in the right place, seems to be DV PAL 48kHz. I don't see a place to set the aspect ratio other than in the Canvas zoom where there is a "preserve aspect ratio" setting that is ticked.
Andrew

Output aspect ratio

I'm trying to maintain a 16:9 aspect ratio and its driving me nuts! I have a short project in FCP. Sequence is set to 720x480 anamorphic 16:9.
Im trying to export for web. Ive tried compressor and QT conversion.
Ive set the output size to 640x360
Ive checked the box, "preserve aspect ratio using letterbox"
at first I got lines on the top and the bottom but the picture was still too tall and skinny.
after changing the size to 640x360 anamorphic, now I get black lines on the sides but the picture is STILL too tall and skinny.
any suggestions?

Go back to the original file that you exported out of Final Cut Pro.
Open the file in QuickTime Player.
Press the command and J keys to open the Properties window.
Click the Presentation tab and activate the checkbox next to *Conform aperture to:*
The setting will jump from Classic to Clean and the video will be displayed in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
Press command and S to re-save the file with this setting.
This file will now be the basis for exporting a file for the web, which can be done right in QuickTime Player by opening the *File > Export for Web* item in the menu bar.

Aspect Ratio - Anamorphicizer

i have troubles with burning my fcp (version 6.0.6) project.
my workflow is this: i make my movie in fcp, export it as a quicktime reference movie, drag it onto anamorphicizer, import it into idvd and save as image file. worked perfectly well a hundred times.
since i updated on snow leopard it is not possible to use anamorphicizer, i get error messages. it is also not possible to play the reference movie in quicktime with the correct aspect ratio - in qt 7 there was the possibility in the "window-menu - command-j - adjust blend - clear" to correct this (sorry for explaining quite complicate, my english, you know ...).
anyone an idea what i could do to correct the aspect ratio so that idvd can handle the project correct? switching to dvd studio may be fine, but it will take me a few weeks to learn and i need the project on dvd soon ...
thanks in advance
wolfgang

I'd say just use Quicktime to change your display ratio instead of Anamorphicizer. I use NTSC DV Anamorphic, so if you're using another format you'll have to calculate your own numbers. Open your exported video in QT.
In Quicktime 7.x pick Window -> Show Movie Properties from the menu bar. go to the video track. Go to the Visual Settings tab. Uncheck the "Preserve Aspect Ratio" box. Change the first box in the Scaled Size field to the correct width for your anamorphic video. If you're using NTSC DV this is 853. Press enter and your video size should change. Recheck the box, press save, and you're done. iDVD will see this.
If you're not using NTSC DV you are using a 16x9 ratio, so divide your Y number by 9, then multiply that by 16 to get your X number. Sample calculation with a 720x480 is something like this.
480/9=53.3333
53.3333x16=853.3333 so use 853 for your stretched X value.
Hope this solves your problem. It's a really easy fix after you do it a few times, and it beats having to use another program.

Forcing the aspect ratio (stretching) in QT Player?

Hello,
I want to set my quicktime player to always stretch my video, be it 4:3 or 16:9 source material, to a certain pixel size so it always perfectly fills the screen. I have found the following posting by Adam:
"In Quicktime Pro you need to go to Menu Bar/Window/show movie properties/video track/show visual/transformation settings and change the pixel or percentage rate, not forgetting to uncheck preserve aspect ratio."
This DOES work for the currently open video..but I want this to be a fixed setting in QT Player for every movie file I open.
(In case you are wondering - I want to use QT Player inside Front Row to play DivX movies that are 4:3 on my 16:9 Widescreen and always fit the screen).
VLC and MplayerOSX can do it, I am sure QT Player can, but how do I set it?
Thanks in advance!

In QT-Pro, you can ask it to play full-screen...does that stretch to fit?
There is a QuickTime script available that will mark the movie to "Play full screen on open". Might that also help?
Another option...you could write an AppleScript that would allow you to open a movie and then programmatically resize it to fit your screen.
--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Preserving aspect ratio 16:9

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for