How to Easily Create Widescreen Video Effect Online

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How to Easily Create Widescreen Video Effect Online

Last Updated: 2022. 07. 12

Wanna convert your vertical videos to widescreen for YouTube or even create the ultra-widescreen video effect to add a cinematic touch to your video? Great! We’ve got you covered.

In this tutorial, we will walk you through 3 easy ways to create the widescreen video effect using FlexClip online video maker. So, you can offer the best viewing experience for viewers on different video platforms and make your videos look more cinematic.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

Aspect Ratio and Dimension of Widescreen Videos

How to Create a Widescreen Video Effect by FlexClip Online

Option 1: Convert a Vertical Video to a Standard 16:9 Widescreen Video Option 2: Convert a Standard Widescreen Video to a 21:9 Ultra Widescreen Video Option 3: Use Cinematic Black Bars to Create the Dynamic Widescreen Video Effect

Aspect Ratio and Dimension of Widescreen Videos

Well, to make a video look like a widescreen video, first and foremost, you need to know the standard aspect ratio and the dimension of widescreen videos. Overall, there are two kinds of widescreen videos widely accepted by TV/computer screens and movie theaters.

1. Standard Widescreen Video

16:9 standard widescreen video.

Aspect Ratio: Aspect Ratio

Dimension: 1920x1080px (FHD video); 2560x1440px (2K video ); 4096x 2160px (4K video)

A 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio is the standard widescreen video that nowadays most widescreen TV and computer monitors and mainstream online video platforms, such as YouTube, and Vimeo, accept. 16:9 aspect ratio is also known as horizontal or landscape widescreen video content. Learn more about YouTube video size.

2. Ultra Widescreen Video in Films

Cinematic 21: 9 ultra-widescreen video.

Aspect Ratio: 21:9 (or 2.35:1)

Dimension: 1920x817px (FHD video); 2048x 871 (2K video ); 4096x1743px (4K video)

First introduced by 20th Century Fox in 1953, the 21:9 or 2.35:1 aspect ratio also known as cinemascope is the ultra-widescreen video format for films.

Due to its stunning ultra-wide field of view and iconic black bars shown in theaters, a video with a 21:9 aspect ratio often makes viewers associate with the viewing experience in movie theaters, enhancing the cinematic video vibes.

Besides, many video game players also love using a 21:9 ultra-widescreen gaming monitor to get a wider field of view for a greater gaming experience.

How to Create a Widescreen Video Effect by FlexClip Online

Instead of using Adobe Premiere Pro, here, we would like to show you how to use an easy-to-use and feature-packed online video maker--FlexClip to easily achieve the widescreen video effect. No software download and no video editing experience are needed.

Use FlexClip online video maker to convert a video to widescreen.

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With FlexClip, you can convert a video to widescreen in 3 ways. Please read on to learn the details.

Option 1: Convert a Vertical Video to a Standard 16:9 Widescreen Video

Step 1

Access FlexClip and upload vertical videos from your PC or directly from your phone.

Upload your vertical video to FlexClip.

Step 2

Add the vertical video to the video canvas: Click the “picture in picture” icon to add the clip as a video overlay to the canvas. The default aspect ratio of the video would be 16:9. You can drag the corners of the video to adjust its size and position it properly in the video frame.

Add the vertical video as a picture-in-picture video in a 16:9 widescreen video frame.

Step 3

Customize the color of the video background: Click the Background Color tool above and select a new color for the video background.

Customize the color of the new 16:9 widescreen video.

Bonus: Spice up the Newly-made Widescreen Video

With the vertical video selected, you can click the Crop Mask tool to crop the original video into a circle, square, heart, or any other shapes you like. Then click the Text, Elements, and Music tab to add animated texts, decorative elements, or free music and sound effects to add styles to your widescreen wide and animate all the elements to bring your videos to life.

Spice up widescreen video with animated texts, free music, and other elements.

Here is the resulting 16:9 widescreen video from the example above:

Convert a vertical video to a horizontal widescreen video by FlexClip

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Step 4

Preview and Share: Click the Export button to download the video to your local hard drive or share it to YouTube, Google Drive, and Dropbox. A clickable link and embed code are also available.

Option 2: Convert a Standard Widescreen Video to a 21:9 Ultra Widescreen Video

If you couldn't afford the camera to film an ultrawide video, FlexClip can help you convert a 16:9 video to a 21:9 ultra-widescreen video in clicks away.

Step 1

After you access the FlexClip video editor, set the video aspect ratio from the default 16:9 aspect ratio to 21:9 ultra widescreen.

Change the 16:9 widescreen to the 21:9 ultra-widescreen aspect ratio.

Step 2

Upload your horizontal video to FlexClip and click the “picture in picture” icon to add the clip to the video frame. And drag corners of the video to fill the gap. Done.

Add your video as a picture-in-picture to the 21:9 video canvas.

So, let’s check the final resulting video from the above example:

Convert a 16:9 standard widescreen video to a 21:9 ultra-widescreen video.

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Option 3: Use Cinematic Black Bars to Create the Dynamic Widescreen Video Effect

The last and popular option to create the widescreen video effect is by adding the black bars to make the video look like an ultra-widescreen. It’s a popular technique used by many YouTubers. So, let’s find out how to use FlexClip to achieve the same cinematic look for the video opener without using Premiere Pro and keyframes.

Step 1

Upload your clips to FlexClip and add them to the timeline.

Add a clip to FlexClip from your PC or phone.

Step 2

Add two black bars to the video: Go to the Elements tab > click the first blue square shape > drag its corner to make it a rectangle and place it at the top of the video > change its color to black > right-click to duplicate another black bar and drag it to the bottom of the video.

Create two black bars for the widescreen video effect.

Step 3

Animate the black bars: Select the top black bar > click the Motion tool above > select Drift animation > set the animation direction from top to bottom and set its duration. Repeat the same steps to animate the second black bar with animation from bottom to top > Click the timeline to set the duration of the two black bars. Done.

Animate two black bars and set their speed and duration.

So, let’s check out the cinematic widescreen video effect from the example above:

Cinematic widescreen video effects with black bars made by FlexClip

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Now, It's Your Move

So, hopefully, you can use FlexCLip to convert your videos to widescreen in a breeze. If you find this tutorial helpful, do share it with friends on Facebook and Twitter and leave your comments to tell us how you would like to convert your video to widescreen. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Frank /

Passionate about photography, video-making and travel, Frank is a seasoned copywriter and a beloved father of 2-year-old daughter at FlexClip. He is always keen to share his latest discovery about video marketing and tricks to relive your memories through videos and images.