Stretch Video
Stretch, crop, or add bars to change your video's aspect ratio. Convert between 16:9, 9:16, 4:3, 1:1, and more.
Advertisement
Drop files here or click to browse
Max 10240.0 MB per file · drop multiple for batch
or press Ctrl+V to paste
100% private — files never leave your device
·Free — no sign up, no watermark
Have feedback? Let us know
Advertisement
How to Use Stretch Video
- Upload your video — MP4, MOV, MKV, AVI, WebM, or any format supported by your browser
- Pick a mode: Stretch fills the new ratio but distorts the image; Crop to Ratio trims edges to fit cleanly; Fit with Bars adds letterbox/pillarbox to preserve all content
- Pick your target ratio — preset (16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, 21:9), custom ratio (e.g. 2.35:1), or custom factor for horizontal stretch only
- If using Fit with Bars, choose the bar color to match your brand
- Pick your output format (MP4 is universal) and encoding quality (Best for archival, Fast for previews)
- Click Process — the video is converted instantly in your browser and downloaded without any upload
Features
- Three distinct modes — Stretch (fill & distort), Crop to Ratio (trim edges cleanly), Fit with Bars (letterbox/pillarbox, no crop)
- Every common aspect ratio preset — 16:9 widescreen, 9:16 vertical (Stories/Reels/TikTok), 1:1 square (Instagram), 4:3 classic, 21:9 ultrawide, 3:2 photo
- Custom ratio input (e.g. 2.35:1 cinematic, 5:4 broadcast) and custom stretch factor from 1.1× to 4×
- Choose bar color for Fit mode — black, white, gray, dark blue, or any custom hex color
- 100% private — files never leave your browser, nothing uploaded to our servers
- No watermark, no sign-up, no file-size tricks
- Export as MP4, MOV, MKV, or WebM at your chosen encoding quality
- Perfect companion to our <a href="/tools/crop-video">crop video</a>, <a href="/tools/add-letterbox">add letterbox bars</a>, and <a href="/tools/flip-video">flip video</a> tools — chain them for compound effects
Frequently Asked Questions
- What's the difference between Stretch, Crop, and Pad?
- Stretch distorts the video to fill the new ratio — keeps all content but people/objects look wider or taller. Crop trims the edges to fit — no distortion but some content is lost at the edges. Pad (Fit with Bars) adds letterbox/pillarbox bars to preserve all content without any distortion or cropping.
- How do I convert 4:3 video to 16:9 widescreen?
- Upload your 4:3 video, select 'Crop to Ratio' mode and '16:9 Widescreen' as the target. The top and bottom are trimmed to fill the widescreen frame. Or use 'Fit with Bars' to add black pillarbox bars on the sides if you want to keep every pixel.
- How do I make a vertical (9:16) video horizontal (16:9)?
- Upload your 9:16 vertical video, choose 'Crop to Ratio' and '16:9 Widescreen'. The sides are cropped to create a horizontal video. If you don't want any cropping, use 'Fit with Bars' to add side bars — common for reposting vertical phone footage to YouTube.
- How do I stretch a video for TikTok or Instagram Reels (9:16)?
- Upload any horizontal video, pick 'Stretch' mode and '9:16 Vertical' — the video is stretched to fill the vertical frame. For no distortion, use 'Crop to Ratio' instead. Vertical formats work best for mobile-first platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat.
- Can I use custom aspect ratios like cinema 2.35:1?
- Yes. Select 'Custom Ratio' in the Target Ratio dropdown and type your ratio in width:height form — e.g. '2.35:1' for CinemaScope, '21:9' for ultrawide cinema, '5:4' for classic broadcast, or '3:2' for photography. The tool handles any custom ratio.
- How do I stretch video horizontally by an exact factor?
- Select 'Custom Factor' in the Target Ratio dropdown and set the Stretch Factor slider. 1.5× makes the video 50% wider; 2× doubles the width; 4× is the maximum. The height stays the same while the width expands — good for creative stretched effects.
- Will stretching lose quality?
- We use high-quality scaling (bicubic) to minimize artifacts. Stretch and Crop modes re-encode the video, which has some loss but is imperceptible at Best encoding quality. Fit with Bars doesn't touch the original pixels — it just adds bars around them — so there's no generation loss.
- What's the maximum video length or size?
- Up to 10 GB on paid plans. Free users can process videos up to our standard free-tier limit. Processing time depends on video length and the encoding quality you choose.
- Is this video stretcher really free?
- Yes — no watermarks, no sign-up, no trial-length trickery. All processing happens in your browser so your file never leaves your device. We earn via optional AI tools (upscaling, background removal, 60 fps interpolation) which work on a pay-per-download basis.
- How does this compare to a <a href="/tools/crop-video">video cropper</a>?
- A cropper lets you pick the exact region to keep (freehand or by aspect ratio). This stretch-video tool is optimized for aspect-ratio conversions — choose a target ratio and pick a mode, done. For fine-grained region selection, use the crop video tool instead.