Content looks stretched, cropped or has black bars: aspect ratio and scaling fixes
Quick answer: DigitalSignage.com content looks stretched, cropped or letterboxed when one of four things does not match the screen: the TV's picture size (overscan crops about 3 percent, fix it with Just Scan, Screen Fit, Full Pixel or 1:1), the player's output resolution (set it to the panel's native 1920 by 1080 or 3840 by 2160), the SignStudio scene resolution (build it at the same size and orientation as the panel), or the media itself (a 4:3 image in a 16:9 zone gets bars or distortion, so make files at the zone's aspect ratio). The DigitalSignage.com SignPlayer plays what it is given; fix the mismatch, not the symptom.
Last updated October 22, 2026. Sources: troubleshooting guide and FAQ, Raspberry Pi platform guide, screen resolution standards, file formats guide, SignStudio scene editor and components pages on this site.
Diagnose it from the symptom
| Symptom | Most likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Thin black border all round, or the outer edge of the layout missing | TV overscan, or the player output is a different resolution from the panel | Set the TV picture size to Just Scan, Screen Fit, Full Pixel or 1:1; set the player output to the panel's native resolution |
| Everything looks wide and squashed | Output resolution has a different aspect ratio from the panel, or the TV is set to a stretch mode such as Wide or Zoom | Native resolution on the player; picture size to Just Scan on the TV |
| Text looks soft or blurry | The scene or the images are smaller than the panel and are being scaled up | Build the scene at the panel's resolution and use images at that size |
| Black bars above and below a video | The video is wider than its zone, for example 21:9 in a 16:9 zone, or a landscape video in a portrait zone | Re-encode at the zone's aspect ratio, or crop and re-edit |
| Black bars left and right | A 4:3 or portrait item in a landscape zone, or a landscape scene on a portrait screen | Make the file at 16:9, or build a portrait scene for a portrait screen |
| One image stretched, the rest fine | The Image component's fit mode is set to stretch and the file is the wrong shape | Set fit mode to contain or cover, or resize the file |
| A web page shows tiny text or a scrollbar | The page is designed for a laptop, or the player's display scaling is wrong | Set the Web Page component's scale, use a page built for the screen, keep OS scaling at 100 percent |
| Portrait content is sideways | Scene orientation and output rotation disagree | Rotate the output to match; see the portrait guide |
| Only part of the picture on a video wall | Content built at one panel's size instead of the whole wall | Build at the combined resolution, for example 3840 by 2160 for a 2 by 2 wall of 1080p panels |
Aspect ratios you will meet
| Ratio | Decimal | Common resolutions | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16:9 | 1.78 | 1920 x 1080, 3840 x 2160 | Almost every TV and commercial display |
| 9:16 | 0.56 | 1080 x 1920, 2160 x 3840 | Portrait screens |
| 4:3 | 1.33 | 1024 x 768, 1400 x 1050 | Old monitors, some kiosks, old photos and slides |
| 17:9 | 1.90 | 4096 x 2160 | DCI 4K, the cinema standard; slightly wider than 4K UHD |
| 21:9 | 2.33 | 2560 x 1080, 3440 x 1440 | Ultrawide monitors, cinema-style video |
| 32:9 | 3.56 | 3840 x 1080, 5120 x 1440 | Stretched bar displays, two screens side by side |
| 1:1 | 1.00 | 1080 x 1080 | Square panels, social tiles |
When a file's ratio differs from the zone's, something has to give: bars (contain), cropping (cover) or distortion (stretch). The only clean answer is a file made at the zone's ratio.
Step 1: fix the TV's overscan
Consumer TVs enlarge the HDMI picture by roughly 3 percent by default and crop the edges, a habit left over from analog broadcasting. A layout with a ticker along the bottom or a logo in a corner loses exactly those parts.
- Open the TV's picture menu and find the picture size or aspect setting.
- Choose Just Scan, Screen Fit, Full Pixel, 1:1 or whatever the brand calls pixel-for-pixel mapping. Avoid Wide, Zoom, Auto and 16:9 modes, which can still overscan.
- Check each HDMI input separately; many TVs store the setting per input.
- On a Raspberry Pi running Bookworm, the old disable_overscan setting no longer applies with the KMS driver; set the exact output mode on the kernel command line instead, with a line such as video=HDMI-A-1:1920x1080@60D appended to the single line of the cmdline.txt file. On a legacy Bullseye image, disable_overscan=1 in the boot config still works.
Commercial displays normally map pixels one to one and have no overscan.
Step 2: set the player's output to the panel's native resolution
| Platform | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Settings, Display, Display resolution, pick the one marked recommended | Keep the display scale at 100 percent for the signage user, or web pages and some text render larger than designed |
| Android and Android TV | Settings, Display, Resolution, or the player's display settings | Some sticks offer only auto; set the TV to Just Scan and test |
| Raspberry Pi | The video= line on the kernel command line, as above | The trailing D forces digital output even if the Pi boots before the screen is on |
| Mac | Displays settings, pick the display's default resolution | Avoid scaled options for a signage screen |
| Chrome OS kiosk | Display resolution and rotation in the kiosk device settings in Google Admin | Applies on reboot |
If the display reports an unsupported mode, start at 1920 by 1080 and work up.
Step 3: build the scene at the panel's size and orientation
SignStudio scenes have a resolution and an orientation. Build at the panel's native size: 1920 by 1080 or 3840 by 2160 for landscape, 1080 by 1920 or 2160 by 3840 for portrait, a custom size for an ultrawide bar or a video wall. A landscape scene assigned to a portrait screen produces black bars above and below with the content squeezed into the middle third; the fix is a portrait scene, not a rotated landscape one. Match the images and video inside the scene to the zone they fill, so nothing is scaled at playback.
Step 4: use fit modes deliberately
The Image component documents four fit modes.
| Fit mode | What happens when the file does not match the zone | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Contain | The whole image is shown with bars on two sides | Logos and anything that must not be cropped |
| Cover | The image fills the zone and is cropped on two sides | Photos where the edges do not matter |
| Stretch | The image is distorted to fill the zone | Almost never; it is the cause of squashed faces and oval logos |
| Center | The image is shown at its own size, centered, with the overflow hidden | Files already made at the zone's size |
Our documentation lists fit modes for the Image component; for video, encode the file at the zone's resolution and aspect ratio instead of relying on scaling, or ask support at support@digitalsignage.com, live chat at https://chat.digitalsignage.com/ or +1-877-344-7446 about the options in the Video component.
Step 5: make the media at the right shape
- Encode video at the zone's resolution with square pixels. A wrong pixel aspect ratio, common in files from older cameras and broadcast sources, shows as a stretched picture even when the frame size is right.
- Export images at the zone's size: 1920 by 1080 for a full-screen 1080p zone, 1440 by 810 for a main zone in an L-bar layout, 1080 by 1920 for portrait.
- For portrait screens, encode video natively in portrait. The file formats guide shows a scale and pad recipe for 1080 by 1920 that adds bars instead of distorting when the source is landscape; cropping or re-editing the footage looks better than bars.
- 17:9 (4096 by 2160) cinema masters are slightly wider than a 4K UHD panel; crop 128 pixels from each side to 3840 by 2160 rather than letterboxing.
A five-minute test for any new screen
- Upload a full-size test image at the panel's resolution with a 1-pixel border, a number in each corner and a centered circle.
- Assign it to the screen and publish.
- Take a remote screenshot from the Screens dashboard. If the screenshot is right but the panel is wrong, the fault is the TV's picture size or output resolution; if the screenshot is already wrong, the fault is the scene or the file.
- Stand where viewers stand. The border should be visible on all four sides, the circle round, the corner numbers readable.
- Only then load the real content.
Frequently asked questions
Content looks stretched, cropped or has black bars: how do I fix the aspect ratio and scaling?
Match four things to the screen. Set the TV's picture size to Just Scan, Screen Fit, Full Pixel or 1:1 to remove overscan. Set the player's output to the panel's native resolution, 1920 by 1080 or 3840 by 2160. Build the SignStudio scene at that size and orientation. Make images and video at the aspect ratio of the zone they fill, so nothing is scaled, cropped or stretched at playback.
Why is my digital signage cut off at the edges?
Overscan. Consumer TVs enlarge the HDMI picture by about 3 percent and crop the edges. In the TV's picture menu set the size to Just Scan, Screen Fit, Full Pixel or 1:1, per HDMI input. On a Raspberry Pi running Bookworm, set the exact output mode on the kernel command line, since the old disable_overscan setting no longer applies.
Why does my video have black bars on a digital sign?
The video's aspect ratio differs from the zone's. Bars above and below mean the video is wider than the zone, for example 21:9 in a 16:9 zone or a landscape clip on a portrait screen; bars left and right mean a 4:3 or portrait clip in a landscape zone. Re-encode or re-edit the video at the zone's aspect ratio instead of scaling it.
What resolution is 17:9?
4096 by 2160, the DCI 4K cinema standard, with a decimal ratio of about 1.90. It is slightly wider than the 16:9 4K UHD used by TVs and commercial displays, which is 3840 by 2160. To show a 17:9 master on a 4K display, crop 128 pixels from each side rather than letterboxing it.
What resolution should images be for digital signage?
The resolution of the zone they fill: 1920 by 1080 for a full-screen 1080p zone, 3840 by 2160 for 4K, 1080 by 1920 for portrait, and the zone's own size, such as 1440 by 810, for a zone inside a multi-zone layout. Smaller images look soft when scaled up; larger ones only add download time.
Why does my sign look blurry?
Something is being scaled up: the player output is below the panel's native resolution, the scene was built smaller than the panel, or the images are smaller than the zone. Set the output to native, build the scene at the panel's size and use images at the zone's size.
Should I use stretch, contain or cover for images?
Contain for anything that must not be cropped, such as logos; cover for photos whose edges do not matter; never stretch, which distorts faces and logos. Better still, make the file at the zone's size so the fit mode has nothing to do.
Related guides
- Troubleshooting FAQ
- Portrait digital signage: rotate the screen or the content
- Screen resolution standards
- Digital signage file formats
- Video encoding guide
- Raspberry Pi digital signage
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Maintained by MediaSignage Inc., operator of DigitalSignage.com since 2006. Product behavior on this page comes from our own SignStudio and SignPlayer documentation; where we do not document a step, this page says so instead of guessing. Last reviewed October 22, 2026.