I dont know how to get rid of the black bars on the sides of my videos. The original clips dont have them but when i import them to fcp it puts them there

Here's my final (and simple diagnosis) You have 4 x 3 footage that your are trying to screen at 16:9. This won't work.

Artistically, you have three options:

1.) Stay with the "black bars." What some of us call "Bat Wings," in the biz.

2.) Do what some editors do and create a large "fuzzy" background to extend the edges...

3.) Or transform / crop the image. (Or just use the "fill" option in the "Spatial Transform" section of the inspector

But... You WILL lose some of the image

Open up your project library, click on the project and look in the inspector. What are its properties? Apect ratio? (720x486 or 960 x 720 or 720 x 480, etc.) And... What was the aspect ratio (pixel dimensions) of the footage you INGESTED? (1280 x 720? or 720 x 486?) Chances are, the properties were changed when you put the footage into a project. If so, this is a simple fix. First... find the disparity between the two: INGESTED properties vs. PROJECT properties.

Hmmm...

Let's go HERE, then:

1.) What are you ingesting? Format? DV, DV anamporphic, HD, files from a DSLR? What are the FULL specs of the video as it exists in its native format, BEFORE ingestion?

2.) Put one of the ingested clips into QT, show us a screen shot of the inspector INSIDE Quicktime.

Open the clip in Quicktime, then, open the QT inspector:

Then... post a screen shot like this:

Oliver C wrote:

… Any other ideas what it might be?

… these 'bars', perhaps? …

this means only, the viewer isn't set to 'fit' the video into the Preview window.

set correct zoom-factor in the area I circled ...

😉

@dastoelk:

none of your screenshots is visible (here), try to convert from png to jpg before uploading …

FYI: the quick and easy way to "stretch" an image to fill 16:9 is--after you put an image on the timeline--to go to the inspector... scroll down to the "Spatial Conform" section... and toggle from "fit" to "fill." (This is how I created example #3 above.)

BTW: This is ALSO how you may wish to make your "fuzzy" background. Put the "filled" image on the main story line. Add some "blur." (From your effects browser.) Then... go back and CONNECT the original footage ABOVE the main storyline... making sure that it's synced, of course. Voila... You have what I show above as example #2.

Well, then it's GOTTA be how they are exported? Are you going STRAIGHT from FCPX? Or are you going through Compressor?

Q: What does the footage look like in the VIEWER as you edit, and BEFORE you export? Does it fill the entire viewer / frame?

Well, judging by your screen shots of ol' SpongeBob, your ORIGINAL footage is NOT in 16 x 9 aspect. On my screen it shows up as 445 x 340 pixels. (relative to my screen, of course.) Therefore, the original footage is 4 x 3. I am quite certain of that.

Do ONE more test for me, please? Open a clip of the ORIGINAL footage in Quicktime player? (Not footage that has been ingest through FCPX.) Does it ALSO have the bars on the side?

Funny. I can't see yours either.