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Why do I have black bars top and bottom after exporting my video in FCP?

Hi,


I'm trying to export this video in FCP but when I do it exports with black bars top and bottom?

In the finder it shows it perfectly (The ones on the side are fine).


Important to note that the original file has black bars top and bottom like the export, but my question is why are they not showing in the viewfinder so I can crop them and scale accordingly?


The project is 4K 25FPS and so is the footage. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Posted on Mar 15, 2023 8:33 AM

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10 replies

Mar 15, 2023 9:08 AM in response to UziMJ

In the last image you are showing the video in full screen.

What is the aspect ratio of your display?


Open your original movie in Quicktime Player, NOT in fullscreen, make sure that cursor is on the video so we can see the dots on the top left of the window. Post a screenshot - something like this:



I am guessing that maybe there are no such black bars, it is just that the video does not completely fill your display in full screen, due to having different aspect ratio.


Mar 15, 2023 9:51 AM in response to UziMJ

The black bars NEVER existed... they did not exist in the original, nor the exported movie.


This is a simple matter of geometry. Not all rectangles are similar. Some are wider, some are taller.

If your video does not have the same proportions as the screen, there will be black areas on the sides, or at the top and bottom, depending.


To illustrate, suppose you made a square video, but your screen is not square - it is (usually) wider than it is tall. So if you try to fill the screen, there will be black bars on the sides:




On the other hand, the same video on a portrait screen (taller than it is wide) will look like this:



My "video" is all green, it has no black bars at all, it just does not match the proportions of the screen exactly.

The same happens with yours.

Mar 15, 2023 9:42 AM in response to UziMJ

Your monitor isn't the same aspect ratio as the 4K file. When you view in full screen the image is displayed from edge to edge, so nothing is cut off on the sides, the top and bottom of the screen is filled with black.


You might want to make a custom size project that would allow you to create an image that eliminates the black pillar bars in the exported file, though you will see it in QuickTime full screen, but no black at the top and bottom.

Why do I have black bars top and bottom after exporting my video in FCP?

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