Ever notice those annoying black bars on the sides or along the
top and bottom of a video? Oftentimes, the culprit is an incorrectly set
aspect ratio. In Windows Live Movie Maker 2011, it’s easy to mistakenly
save a movie in the wrong aspect ratio, thus creating these black bars
in your final product. This tutorial will explain why these black bars
appear and how you can get rid of them.
Why Do Black Bars Show Up in My Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 Videos?
When you create a movie with Windows Live Movie Maker 2011, it’s
saved as a .WMV file. This .WMV can have one of two aspect ratios: Standard (4:3) and Widescreen (16:9).
These two formats are meant to accommodate the type of display on
which you’ll be viewing your videos and slideshows. For example,
practically all flat-screen HDTVs are Widescreen (16:9). Older TVs and computer monitors are usually Standard (4:3). Embedded YouTube videos are displayed in Widescreen (16:9).
To understand why black bars appear, it’s best to think of the .WMV
file as a picture frame. Just as you need padding in a picture frame if
the photo doesn’t fill up the entire frame, the black bars serve to
fill in the empty space that is left behind when the video doesn’t fill
up the entire frame.
Usually, the video will be blown up to fit the frame, but in order
to avoid distorting the picture or cutting off part of the video, the
item you are placing inside the frame will maintain its aspect ratio
(this is a good thing).
So, with that in mind, black bars will appear in your video for two reasons:
- The aspect ratio of your saved Windows Live Movie Maker video (a .WMV file) does not match the aspect ratio of the display on which you are viewing it.
- The aspect ratio of the source video does not match the aspect ratio that you chose in Windows Live Movie Maker 2011.
While you can’t always anticipate the aspect ratio of the display
on which your video will be viewed, you can ensure that the aspect ratio
of your .WMV file matches your source video as closely as possible. You
don’t actually have to know what aspect ratio your source files are in,
since you’ll immediately be able to see black bars in your Windows Live
Movie Maker 2011 video if there is an aspect ratio mismatch. So, all
you have to do is choose which aspect ratio looks best.
Setting the Aspect Ratio in Windows Live Movie Maker 2011
If you notice black bars in your Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 preview pane, try the following procedure:
First, click on the Project tab.
In the aspect ratio section, choose either Widescreen (16:9) or Standard (4:3).
Check the preview pane to see if the black bars have been removed or reduced. If it looks worse, simply switch back.
Note
that this setting affects the entire video. For example, you cannot set
the aspect ratio to 4:3 for one clip and then switch it to 16:9 for the
next.
Cropping Pictures to 16:9 or 4:3
The
above trick works for most video files, but the issue becomes more
problematic with photos and images. That’s because photos are rarely in
16:9 or 4:3. As such, no matter which one you choose, you get black
space.
There’s
a workaround for this. What you need to do is crop your photos to the
right aspect ratios prior to importing them into Windows Live Movie
Maker 2011.
To do this, open up your photos in Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011. Double-click to edit it.
Click the Crop tool and go to the Proportion menu. There’s already a preset there for Widescreen (16:9). Select it, if your Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 video is set to widescreen.
If your Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 aspect ratio is set to 4:3, use the 4 x 3 setting.
Now, it’s important that the cropping frame is in landscape mode (i.e. wider than it is tall).
If it's not wider than it is tall, click Rotate Frame in the Crop menu.
Position
the cropping square over the area that you’d like to include in your
photo. You can drag the corner to scale the crop without altering the
aspect ratio.
Click the Crop tool again when you’ve made your selection.
Close the file.
Do this for all of the photos you want to include in your Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 before adding them.
Now,
when you add your photos back into Windows Live Movie Maker, they won’t
have black bars (provided that you’ve chosen the correct aspect ratio).
Conclusion
By
ensuring that your source video or source photos are of the same aspect
ratio as your Windows Live Movie Maker 2011 project, you can reduce or
eliminate black bars in your final product. Note that this won’t correct
any issues that arise from displaying your video on a screen or in a
player with a different aspect ratio, but it will remove any black bars
from the video file itself. Also note that if your video files are shot
in an aspect ratio other than 16:9 or 4:3, you will not be able to
remove the black bars completely.
