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Preparing recordings

Remove black borders from Zoom and webinar recordings

A recording from Zoom, Teams or a webinar tool can have black borders. Here is how the picture fills the frame again, and how one recording becomes clips for YouTube, LinkedIn and short video.

Where the borders come from

Borders appear when the captured picture has a different aspect ratio than the recording. Slides in 4:3 shown in a 16:9 recording leave bars on the left and right. A phone held upright inside a landscape recording does the same, and a very wide monitor adds bars at the top and bottom.

The bars are part of the video. If you crop the recording for another format, you take them along and the actual picture gets smaller. More under Remove black bars.

How to prepare the recording

  1. Upload the recording. How long it may be is explained further down.
  2. FrameJet checks each edge of the picture and finds dark bars, including screen recordings with slight noise. Before the export, you see what was found.
  3. Pick the formats: landscape for a learning platform and YouTube, 1:1 or 4:5 for LinkedIn, 9:16 for Shorts. For each one, you set the framing.
  4. Download the finished files, one per shape.

What stays of the picture

Once the bars are removed, you might be left with a 4:3 picture of 1440 × 1080 pixels. In 16:9 the crop keeps 75 percent of it, in 1:1 75 percent and in 9:16 42 percent. Whatever goes beyond that is cut off. If there is text on the slides, choose the whole picture with a fill instead of a crop.

How long can the recording be?

The longest recording depends on the plan: 3 minutes on Free, 10 on Starter, 20 on Pro, 30 on Business and 45 on Agency. On Business and Agency, the “Extra minutes” add-on raises the limit to up to 120 minutes, so a two-hour recording fits. On the other plans it does not: cut out the sections you need as clips first and upload only those.

Work out how much of the picture stays in each format in the aspect ratio calculator, using the size of your recording.

Aspect ratio calculator

Upload the recording, borders gone, formats ready

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Frequently asked questions

Does FrameJet also find light or coloured borders?

No. It finds dark bars, including dark grey ones. A light or coloured border counts as picture; then you set the framing yourself on the area you want to keep.

Are slides with text cut off when cropping?

Yes, if the crop is narrower than the slide. For slides, use landscape, the whole picture with a fill, or a crop you place on the text in the preview.

Can I process a two-hour recording?

Yes, on Business and Agency with the “Extra minutes” add-on: it raises the allowed length to up to 120 minutes. On the other plans the length is limited; cut the sections you need as clips out of the recording first and upload them one by one.

Is the sound kept?

Yes, the recording's sound stays in every file. FrameJet does not add subtitles.

Remove black borders from Zoom recordings – FrameJet