How to Remove Black Bars from Videos?

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How to Remove Black Bars from Videos?

18 December 2018 John Weaver Senior Program Developer

Last update by William Davis at 9 November 2026

Summary
Sometimes we will found that there is black bar around the video when we play the video. What are these black bars? Is it possible to remove it? Here, we are going to introduce some methods to remove the black bars.

Why Black Bars Appear

In the past, 4:3 aspect ratios is the standard format. With the development of technology, 16:9 aspect ratios, which is for HD TV, appears and takes the place. When we play 4:3 format video in a 16:9 play window, black bars will appear around the video. In other words, black bars appears because of the different aspect ration between the video and the display device.

How to Remove Black Bars From Video

Method 1: Remove Black Bars with VirtualDub

Being a freeware, VirtualDulb supports to edit videos in AVI and MPG-1.Here we are going to get more about how to remove black bars from videos with VituralDub.

Step 1: Download VirtualDub.

Step 2: Load the target video. Then please click “Video” then “Filters” in the menu.

Step 3: Click “Add” and select “null transform” in the “Add Filter” menu.

Step 4: Return back to “Filters” and then select the “null transform” you just added. Then please select “Cropping”.

Step 5: Move and adjust the crop window to cut the black bars. Then please click “OK” to save the settings.

Step 6: Click “OK” in “Filters” window again.

Step 7: Click “File” and then choose “Save to AVI” in the menu.

Attention: VirtualDub only supports to edit videos in AVI and MPG1 formats. Besides, you need to install some coding software. If your videos is not in these 2 formats, please convert it to AVI and then remove blackbars with VirtualDub. If you think this method is troublesome. Please refer to method 2.

Method 2: Remove Black Bars with Professional Video Editing Software – Renee Video Editor

	VirtualDub	Renee Video Editor
Remove black bars from videos	√	√
Supports all common video formats	× (Only supports avi and mpeg1)	√
Support video formats conversion	×	√
Multiple languages	×	√
Need to be download and Installed	√	√
Need to installed related coding software	√	×
Easy to use	×	√

Renee Video Editor from Renee Laboratory

Edit Video – Support multiple common video formats. Provides different filters and effects to users. Also, you can add or remove watermarks from videos. And adding background music, subtitles are available.
Format conversion – Renee Video Editor supports to convert videos and audios to different formats. You can also customized the coding method and compression way.
Screen Recording – Screen recording function can help you record any area of your computer screen. You can adjust the size of the recording area, resolution, frame rate, etc. Besides, you can zoom in or out the screen when recording. Watermark and mouse effect are also available.

Download Center

Step 1: Download and install Renee Video Editor Pro.