How to remove black bars around the edges of the screen (where do they come from ...)

User question

Hello.

I recently changed my computer, and now, when watching a video, I began to notice black bars along the edges of the screen (they used to be, too, but rarely). Is it possible to remove them somehow?

Good time!

These streaks occur most often because the movie / video you are watching does not match the format of your screen resolution. This can be eliminated quite easily, and below I will present several solutions. 😉

However, black bars can appear not only during video playback, but also on the desktop, in games and programs. And the reason can be either not configured or outdated video drivers, as well as certain monitor parameters. And I thought that the article would not be complete if I had not considered these reasons as well.

Now closer to the point ... 👀

Black bars: reasons and solutions

❶

Streaks when watching some videos

The most common variant of the problem. It's all about the aspect ratio of your monitor and the video you are watching. In general, the following screen formats are currently the most popular:

4: 3 - found in monitors designed for work (resolutions: 1024 × 768, 1400 × 1050, 1600 × 1200 ...). The screen looks more like a square in shape;
16: 9 - widescreen monitors, great for everyday household needs (resolutions: 1600 × 900, 1920 × 1080, 2560 × 1440 ...). Shape - rectangle (See screenshot below).

Example on two monitors: 4: 3 and 16: 9 aspect ratios

If the video comes with a resolution that matches the 16: 9 ratio, and you watch it on a 4: 3 screen, then black stripes will be noticeable from the top and bottom (if the video was shot with a 4: 3 ratio, and you will watch it on a 16: 9 screen, then the stripes will be left and right). Such is the "parsley" with these formats ...

By the way, to make it clear what this is about - see the screenshot below (further we will consider 2 ways how you can remove these stripes).

It was - it is now (there are no more black stripes above and below) / Stills from the film "Oz: The Great and Terrible"

Solution 1: crop the picture

If you want to change the aspect ratio of your video file once and for all (so that from now on in any player you have played without stripes), you need to perform the operation cropping .

This can be done using special video editors and converters. In my article I will focus on 👉 "Video Editing" .

Video Editing

Official website: //video-editor.su/

A powerful, feature-rich and versatile video editor. Suitable for most popular video processing tasks.

Main advantages:

the program quickly and efficiently edits / converts almost any video into the format you need (and, really fast: it takes me about 10-40 minutes for 1 movie (depending on the format for compression *));
simple and easy interface (even for a novice user);
completely in Russian.

I will consider all the steps for trimming unnecessary black bars in steps (I omitted the installation of the program, since it is standard).

1) Run the program and open the desired video file (use the button "Add" , see screenshot below👇).

Adding Files to Video Editing 9.25

2) Next, you need to click on the crop button , and select the option "Remove black bars" ... The program will automatically remove them. Conveniently! 👌

Remove Black Bars - Video Editing 9.25

RMB on the video track file (second method)

3) By the way, pay attention to the editor's viewport - you will see that the bars at the top / bottom (right / left) are no longer displayed! (they are gone now).

No stripes!

4) By the way, if you need to manually trim the edges additionally or remove something unnecessary from the frame, then this can also be done through "cropping" ! 👇

Cropping

5) In the window that opens, you can use the mouse to select the very area that you need leave, and also set the proportions (16: 9, 4: 3, etc.)!

Setting the frame for manual cropping

6) And the last thing is to press the button "Save" and select the format for compression (in general, it is recommended to use AVI / MP4).

Save Video (Video Editing 9.25)

Solution 2: use the player settings

It is not at all necessary to process and convert all video files. If you are just going to watch a movie / video on your computer, you can use the special. player settings (i.e. it will remove black bars on the fly, showing you the image without them).

However, I would like to point out that not all video players have such functions. In my example, I will show how this is easily done in Light Alloy (link to the player).

And so, let's say you started watching a movie and noticed "blackness" above and below (as in my example).

An example of removing black bars when watching a movie / Stills from the movie "Oz the Great and Powerful"

To "fine-tune" the image - go to the menu "Video / Video Options" (just press the keyboard shortcut Shift + V )

Light Alloy - video options / Clickable

And after in subsection "Geometry" change the view mode, for example to "By height" ... You will immediately notice how the "picture" of the movie you are watching will change.

Please note that there are a lot of viewing modes here - you can even manually adjust the scale with an accuracy of 1% ...

Adjusting the frame in height and width

Stripes can always be observed, in any programs and games

This variant of the problem is much more inconvenient, and it is not always easy to solve it. Although I can't help but note that usually in this case, the bands are not so wide and some users even get used to them ...

Monitor settings not adjusted

Pay attention to the photo below (I combined several options for projecting the image on the monitor on it).

Such bands arise due to the fact that the picture on the monitor is simply not adjusted (note: in almost any monitor there is an opportunity to expand / narrow and shift the image to the left / right).

Black bar between the edge of the picture and the screen

As a rule, in the monitor settings you need to open the section "Image Setup" and change the positioning vertically and horizontally. In general, it is difficult to give any specific values and recommendations here - many depend on the model of your monitor and its factory calibration ...

Monitor settings (AOC)

The settings of the video card and screen resolution are not optimal

Also, most often the problem occurs due to zoom settings in the driver control panel for the video card.

To open this control panel, just right-click on any free space on the desktop, or use the system tray (next to the clock, see examples in the screenshot below).

2 ways to open AMD Radeon graphics card settings / clickable

If you do not have a similar icon (links to the video driver control panel), most likely you simply do not have the drivers installed (updated). About. you can find out how to do this in auto-mode from my last article (link below).

👉 Help!

Automatic driver update - //ocomp.info/update-drivers.html

In the driver settings, find the section responsible for scaling (for example, in AMD Catalyst, this option is in the section "My Digital Panels / Zoom Settings" ). Next, use the slider responsible for the unwrapping.

Scaling Settings (AMD)

By the way, in newer drivers from AMD Crimson ReLive this option is located in the section "Video" .

AMD Vega - Scaling Settings (Display)

As for video cards from nVidia, they call this section "Display / Adjusting the size and position of the desktop" ... An example is shown in the screenshot below.

nVidia - adjust scaling

If we talk about the quality of the image, one cannot fail to note such parameters as resolution and scaling on Windows. To open the settings window for these parameters - press the combination Win + R , enter the command in the "Open" line desk.cpl , and click OK (valid for Windows 7/8/10).

desk.cpl - open display properties

Next, check if you have set the native screen resolution (the one recommended by Windows). If you have a small monitor size that supports high resolution (this is usually the case on laptops), then resize the elements on the screen using the parameter scaling .

Display settings - scaling and resolution

Incorrect parameters are set in the game / program settings

If we are talking about games, then stripes may appear in them due to their graphics settings. In almost every game, the resolution, color, frequency, 👉 vertical sync, etc. very "sensitive" settings are set (it is with their change that I recommend to start).

Game Settings - Resolution and Vsync

Here, of course, it is difficult to say something universal and definite (a lot depends on your monitor and the specific game in which the problem occurs). But if stripes appear only in this one game, then almost certainly the problem lies precisely in its settings ...

By the way, Intel provided specials for their video cards. base for many popular games. In this database, you can find the recommended parameters for a specific game so that its launch on your specific video card does not cause problems. Not bad!

Perhaps there are those. malfunction of the monitor, video card

And the last thing I would like to draw the reader's attention to. The fact is that the appearance of any artifacts on the screen (stripes, ripples, dots, etc.) may indicate the appearance of problems with the hardware (especially since everyone understands different things by stripes ...).

Photo of a monitor with vertical (horizontal) stripes and ripples (as an example, to understand what is at stake)

Usually, if distortions of the image on the screen appeared due to problems with the hardware, then they begin to appear everywhere: in games, in the BIOS, when working in Windows, etc. In some cases, such artifacts can occur due to high temperature (overheating) video card (worse if the graphics chip has already peeled off).

In any case, be that as it may, if neither the monitor nor the video card reacts in any way to your settings and changes in parameters, the distortions on the screen are permanent (regardless of the programs and games being launched), then I recommend thinking about diagnosing hardware in the service. Repairs can often be cheaper if done on time ...

👉 Help!