READY-TO-USE IMAGE TOOL
Why movies are wider than your TV.
A 2.39:1 movie on a 16:9 screen keeps full width and gives up height to black bars: 1 minus 1.78 ÷ 2.39, about 26 percent of the screen. The calculator and crop below are preset to 1.85:1 (1998 × 1080), the flat widescreen cinema standard.
This is an exact mathematical ratio, not a platform upload requirement. Your image stays in this browser.
Find the ratio
Enter your pixel dimensions. Whole-number dimensions reduce to an exact ratio.
Match a ratio
Set one dimension to find the other without stretching.
Matching height: 1080 px
Matching width: enter a height
Calculated values may have fractional pixels. Round to whole pixels when exporting a raster image.
Frame your image
Choose an image or drop it below. Drag the frame to position your crop; arrow keys move it too.
or drop a file here
No upload. The image never leaves your device; nothing is saved by this site.
Put this frame to work
A 1.375:1 Academy classic on a 16:9 TV pillarboxes instead: the film uses about 77 percent of the screen width and black bars cover the remaining 23 percent of it.
Resizing preserves a source image's shape; cropping removes edges to fit a different one. Download the crop as PNG or JPEG above.
One film, four screens: where the bars go
| Screen shape | A 2.39:1 film shows |
|---|---|
| 16:9 TV | Bars cover about 26 percent of the height |
| 1.85:1 screen | Bars cover about 23 percent of the height |
| 4:3 TV | Bars cover about 44 percent; why pan-and-scan existed |
| 21:9 monitor | Nearly edge to edge; bars under 1 percent |
Wider-than-screen films letterbox with top and bottom bars; narrower ones such as Academy classics pillarbox with side bars.
Frequently asked questions
What do the black bars on a movie mean?
Letterbox bars appear when the film is wider than the screen: a 2.39:1 film on a 16:9 TV bars top and bottom, a pre-1950s Academy film bars the sides.
Do streaming services crop movies?
Most keep the original ratio and letterbox it. Pan-and-scan cropping to 4:3 was a broadcast-era practice; check each service’s current policy.
What size does the Movie aspect ratio page start with?
The calculator and crop frame start at 1998 × 1080 pixels, which reduces to 37:20. You can type any other width and height.
Is my image uploaded anywhere?
No. The image is decoded and exported in your browser, so no image data is sent to a server.
Which image formats can I use?
Choose a PNG or JPEG image, and download the result as PNG or JPEG.
Can I crop to a different ratio?
Yes. The crop ratio menu offers 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, 9:16, 21:9 and 3:2, and the calculator accepts any width and height.