Explainer 5 min read•Updated Sep 3, 2026

Why There Are Black Bars Above and Below Your Film

Films are wider than televisions. A cinema screen is usually much wider than it is tall, while a TV is a fixed shape, so a wide film placed on it leaves empty space above and below. The bars are not a fault and they are not covering anything. Zooming in to remove them cuts the sides off the picture.

The short version

•Aspect ratio is simply the shape of the picture — how wide it is compared to how tall.
•Televisions are 16:9. Most big films are wider than that.
•Bars top and bottom mean the film is wider than your screen. Bars at the sides mean it is older and squarer.
•Pressing zoom does not reveal more picture. It crops the sides and enlarges what is left.
•Phones are close to cinema shape, which is why a wide film nearly fills a phone held sideways.

What aspect ratio means

Aspect ratio is the shape of the rectangle. It is written as width compared to height, and nothing more complicated than that.

Your television is 16:9. For every 16 units across, it is 9 units tall. Written the way films are written, that is about 1.78:1.

Films are made in several shapes, and most of the popular ones are wider than your television.

1.37:1

The old squarish shape used until the 1950s. On a modern TV it leaves bars at the sides, not the top.

1.78:1

The same shape as your television. Most streaming series are made this way, so they fill the screen exactly.

1.85:1

Slightly wider than a TV. Leaves thin bars that many people never notice.

2.39:1

The wide cinema shape, often called scope. Used for most big films, and the reason for thick bars.

1.43:1

The tallest IMAX shape. Taller than a TV, so it fills the height and leaves bars at the sides.

Why films went wide in the first place

For decades films and television were roughly the same squarish shape, and in the 1950s television started taking cinema audiences away.

The film industry responded by giving people something a television could not. Wider screens, more spectacle, an image that filled your vision. That is where the very wide formats came from — they were a competitive weapon.

The shape stuck because directors liked it. A wide frame is good for landscape, for placing two people far apart in the same shot, and for making something feel large. Now that televisions are wide too, films have simply stayed wider still.

Why you should not press zoom

Most televisions offer a zoom or fill setting that makes the bars disappear. It is tempting and it is a bad trade.

The bars are not covering hidden picture. There is nothing behind them. So to fill the height, the television enlarges the image until the top and bottom reach the edges — and the left and right sides go off the screen entirely.

You lose real picture. Faces at the edge of a wide shot get cut in half. Text and subtitles can be pushed off the screen. Everything left is stretched slightly softer, because it has been blown up.

A film shot wide was composed wide. The director put things at the edges for a reason. Zooming throws that away to remove a bit of black that your eye stops noticing within about a minute anyway.

When the shape changes during the film

Occasionally the bars will shrink or grow partway through, and the picture gets taller or shorter. Nothing is wrong.

Some films are shot partly on IMAX cameras, which capture a taller frame. On streaming versions that keep this, those sequences expand to fill more of your screen and then shrink back for the rest.

It is deliberate, and it is meant to make the big moments feel bigger. If it happens on a specific film and not on anything else, that is what you are seeing.

Why it barely happens on a phone

Modern phones are long and narrow. Held sideways, a phone screen is much closer to cinema shape than a television is.

So a wide film often very nearly fills a phone screen, with only slim bars. A 16:9 television series watched on the same phone will leave gaps at the sides instead — the opposite problem.

It is the same rule throughout. The picture keeps its own shape, and whatever space is left over goes black.

Common questions

Why are there black bars above and below movies on my TV?

Because the film is wider than your television. Most big films are made in a very wide cinema shape, around 2.39:1, while televisions are 16:9. The film keeps its shape and the leftover space appears black.

Should I zoom in to remove the black bars?

No. There is no hidden picture behind the bars. Zooming enlarges the image until the sides are cut off the screen, so you lose real picture and the rest looks slightly softer.

Why do some old films have black bars on the sides instead?

Films made before the 1950s used a squarish shape of about 1.37:1, which is taller relative to its width than a modern television. It fills the height of your screen and leaves the space at the sides empty.

Why does the picture change size during some films?

Some films are shot partly with IMAX cameras, which record a taller frame. Streaming versions that preserve this expand during those sequences and return to the wider shape afterwards. It is intentional.

What is aspect ratio?

Aspect ratio is the shape of the picture, written as its width compared to its height. A television is 16:9, or about 1.78:1, while most large films are about 2.39:1 and therefore wider.

Where this came from

Published Sep 3, 2026 · Last checked Sep 3, 2026