What should you do if you have black bars on either side of your video when you preview it and don't want them there

What should you do if you have black bars on either side of your video when you preview it and don't want them there

• A. Change the codec in the Format menu of the Export Settings panel
• B. Increase the frame size in the Project Settings
• C. Zoom the program monitor to fill the screen
• D. Remove letterboxing by cropping from the source

Answer: (A)

Black bars on the sides come from a mismatch between the video's frame size and the display’s aspect ratio. In Premiere Pro, the quick way to remove them for your preview is to fill the frame by zooming or scaling the clip so it spans the entire Program Monitor. You can do this by adjusting the clip’s Scale in the Effect Controls (or using the Program Monitor’s zoom/fill controls) so the image fits the screen without those side bars. Changing the encoding method (the codec) won’t alter the image’s dimensions or its aspect ratio, so it won’t remove the bars. That setting affects how the video is compressed and stored, not the frame size. If you want a permanent fix beyond preview, you’d adjust the sequence/export frame size to match your footage’s aspect, or crop the edges with care—knowing that cropping changes what’s visible at the edges.

Black bars on the sides come from a mismatch between the video's frame size and the display’s aspect ratio. In Premiere Pro, the quick way to remove them for your preview is to fill the frame by zooming or scaling the clip so it spans the entire Program Monitor. You can do this by adjusting the clip’s Scale in the Effect Controls (or using the Program Monitor’s zoom/fill controls) so the image fits the screen without those side bars.

Changing the encoding method (the codec) won’t alter the image’s dimensions or its aspect ratio, so it won’t remove the bars. That setting affects how the video is compressed and stored, not the frame size. If you want a permanent fix beyond preview, you’d adjust the sequence/export frame size to match your footage’s aspect, or crop the edges with care—knowing that cropping changes what’s visible at the edges.