Why do black bars appear at the top, bottom, or sides of my video?

Overview

If the height and width of a player (the container for the video) does not match the aspect ratio of the video itself, "black bars" will appear to accommodate for the extra space between the height and width of the video and the player.

In the example below, a video filmed with a 16:9 aspect ratio has been added to a player with the size 640x480 (or an aspect ratio of 4:3).

Solution

In Vidyard, change the embed size of the player to match the aspect ratio of your video. If you do not know the video aspect ratio, many popular desktop video players, such as QuickTime or VLC, provide you with the dimensions of the video.

The dimensions can then be used to match the aspect ratio of the video to the embed size.

1. From the Vidyard dashboard, select Content > Players
2. Hover over the player you want to edit, then click Settings
3. Select the Design tab
4. Enter the actual height and width of the video, then toggle Lock Aspect Ratio to ON
5. Change the player height and width to the desired value
   • With Lock Aspect Ratio enabled, the alternative value will automatically adjust to maintain the new aspect ratio
6. Click Save Changes

Common aspect ratios and associated player sizes