I recently brought a new monitor which is 21:9 (2560x1080) and I use ShadowPlay to capture interesting moments when I'm gaming. I always use Movie Studio Platinum Suite 12 to cut down and edit these clips to then upload them to YouTube, however I've been struggling to figure out how I can render videos in 21:9 to then upload. I've tried the MP4 Internet video setting and then selected a custom aspect ratio, however it throws an error that Movie Studio can't do this size. Does anyone have any ideas / a way I could get around this issue (other than render in 1920x1080 with a border)?

Thanks, Tom


YouTube does not natively support 21:9 aspect ratios. If you upload a 2560x1080 video, it will scale the video down to 1920x1080 and letterbox it (put black bars top and bottom). You are better off rendering 1920x1080 in your video editor and doing your own letterboxing.

  • youtube.com/watch?v=lqT1WZH_Ojk Take this video for example, when made full screen on 21:9 it has no letterbox, however my video youtube.com/watch?v=sgfrR91aykU does. Do you know any reasoning behind this? – Thomas Smyth Nov 28 '16 at 16:01
  • Youtube preserves the original ratio, but always frames it in a 16:9 player window when viewing it on YT. So the black bars aren't part of the video. If embedded externally or viewed in full screen, it obtains the best fit ratio it can, which on your monitor is edge to edge. Whereas your video is rendered at 1080p with the letterboxing baked in. – Gyan Nov 28 '16 at 16:17
  • @Mulvya, nice explanation. However, in this case, how do I render in 21:9 for M.S.P.S.12 so that I can then get this desired affect on YouTube? – Thomas Smyth Nov 28 '16 at 16:32

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