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Same question about the aspect ration

I appreciate the answer that the aspect ratio in iMovie 10 cannot be changed, but I am dumbfounded as to why?? I have made a bunch of movies in the older versions, and when I fire them up in iMovie 10, they fit the entire width of the screen, and look great. Just started a new project and noticed the black borders on either side, which looks like..................crap! So bummed, but I guess it is what it is.


iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)

Posted on Oct 10, 2022 7:31 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 10, 2022 11:14 PM

To get rid of the black borders you could crop the the video in Photos for Mac. The most recent version of Photos allows us to change the aspect ratio of a video.

For example, opening a video clip in Photos in Edit mode: Then click the Crop tab and adjust the cropping rectangle to compose the scene layout - I use "freeform to find the best section and position:


Then repeat the "Edit" with the exact aspect ratio you want:


This way I can view my videos in Photos without black borders.


9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 10, 2022 11:14 PM in response to imovie10user

To get rid of the black borders you could crop the the video in Photos for Mac. The most recent version of Photos allows us to change the aspect ratio of a video.

For example, opening a video clip in Photos in Edit mode: Then click the Crop tab and adjust the cropping rectangle to compose the scene layout - I use "freeform to find the best section and position:


Then repeat the "Edit" with the exact aspect ratio you want:


This way I can view my videos in Photos without black borders.


Oct 11, 2022 2:42 AM in response to Rich839

"You can actually do that in iMovie with the crop feature"


Rich, are you saying, you can actually remove the black, padded borders in iMovie by cropping them away? I assumed, iMovie will add the borders back, when we export the cropped video. Exporting from Photos will respect the aspect ratio of the cropping rectangle.


"Does the latest Photos app make any other editing features available for videos? Unfortunately, my Mac is too old to download the OS beyond Catalina."


I can use nearly all tools from the Adjustments tab in Photos for a video with the most recent system version. The only tool so far I had no luck with has been the red eye removal tool.


For example, for this clip the Red Eye Tool is disabled, but it is needed badly. However, I could add a vignette or any other of the adjustments for Photos.



Oct 11, 2022 9:03 AM in response to léonie

Thanks, Léonie,


The video editing capability now included in the Photos app is just what I've been wanting.


"Rich, are you saying, you can actually remove the black, padded borders

in iMovie by cropping them away?"


Yes. And the black borders won't be added back by iMovie on export. Actually, I don't look at it so much as cropping out the black borders as cropping the video so that it displays in 16:9 and fills the screen without black bars. As with any cropping, the cropped out portion of the display would be elimated.


To take an extreme case, suppose one imported a vertical 9:16 iPhone video into iMovie and wanted it to display in 16:9 to fill the screen without black bars.


Use the Crop to Fill feature to make it fill the 16:9 screen.



And you would get this 16:9 diplay. :



Another way to do it is to crop the vertical clip in the media browser rather than the timeline.



When you drag the cropped clip into the timeline you would get the 16:9 display.



-- Rich

Oct 11, 2022 11:31 AM in response to léonie

Yes, you will end up in iMovie with a video in the 16:9 horizontal aspect ratio after you render the cropped clip as a video.  The rendered crop clip will be in 16:9 horizontal aspect as well. 


 Yes, as you say, exporting the video in 9:16 vertical from Photos will result in an exported video that QT will play in 9:16 without black bars.  If you import the exported movie into iMovie the black bars will show. 


If you export 9:16 from an iMovie project,  it will result in an exported video that QT will play in 9:16, but with black bars. However, if instead of a project you do a File/New App Preview from the projects browser, that will create a screen that looks exactly like a project, except with fewer titles and other options.  If you import a vertical 9:16 video into a New App Preview it will show the black bars on each side.  But when you export it, using the App Preview option in the share box, QT will play it in 16:9 without black bars. 



The share box looks a little different in Catalina and newer, but still has the App Preview share option.



-- Rich


Oct 11, 2022 12:06 AM in response to léonie

Hi, léonie,


Great that the Photos app has extended the aspect ratio crop editing feature to videos. Very useful. You can actually do that in iMovie with the crop feature. One might need to split the video at points, and readjust the crop, to account for the video’s constantly changing scenes.


Does the latest Photos app make any other editing features available for videos? Unfortunately, my Mac is too old to download the OS beyond Catalina.


— Rich



Oct 11, 2022 8:03 AM in response to léonie

Thanks leonine! I make little videos out of photos with the Ken Burns effect and music and have a blast doing it. Typically one of these has a couple hundred pictures in it. Would I be able to take that whole file, and import it into photos, and then do the aspect ratio thing? Obviously if I had to do each picture individually that would be tedious/impossible.

Same question about the aspect ration

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