Capture Ultrawide in OBS Without Black Bars

Capturing an ultrawide monitor (21:9 or 32:9 aspect ratio) in OBS Studio often results in empty black bars on the top and bottom of your recordings or streams when viewed on standard 16:9 screens. This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to eliminate these black bars by either outputting in native ultrawide resolution or cropping your source to fit standard widescreen displays.

Method 1: Record in Native Ultrawide Resolution

If you want your final video to be in a true ultrawide aspect ratio (ideal for YouTube viewers who also have ultrawide monitors), you need to match your OBS canvas to your monitor’s resolution.

  1. Open OBS Studio and click on Settings in the bottom-right corner.
  2. Select the Video tab from the left menu.
  3. Click on Base (Canvas) Resolution and enter your native ultrawide resolution (e.g., 2560x1080 or 3440x1440). If it is not in the dropdown, you can type it in manually.
  4. Set the Output (Scaled) Resolution to match the Base Resolution.
  5. Click Apply and then OK.
  6. In your Sources box, right-click your Display or Game Capture, go to Transform, and select Fit to screen.

Note: Viewers on standard 16:9 screens will still see black bars on the top and bottom of your video, but ultrawide users will get a seamless, full-screen experience.

Method 2: Crop the Ultrawide Source to 16:9

If you are streaming to platforms like Twitch or standard YouTube feeds, you will want a 16:9 output without black bars. This requires cropping the left and right edges of your ultrawide capture.

  1. Go to Settings > Video in OBS.
  2. Set your Base (Canvas) Resolution and Output (Scaled) Resolution to a standard 16:9 ratio, such as 1920x1080 or 2560x1440. Click OK.
  3. In your active Scene, select your Display or Game Capture source.
  4. Hold down the Alt key on your keyboard, then click and drag the left and right bounding box handles of your source in the preview window. This will crop the edges of your ultrawide screen.
  5. Release the Alt key, then drag the corners of the remaining cropped image to stretch it until it fully fills the 1080p canvas.

Method 3: Change Your In-Game Resolution

If you are capturing PC gameplay and want to avoid cropping out your peripheral vision in OBS, you can force the game itself to run in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

  1. Launch the game you wish to capture.
  2. Go to the game’s graphics or video settings.
  3. Change the resolution to a 16:9 format (such as 1920x1080).
  4. Set the display mode to Windowed or Borderless Windowed.
  5. In OBS, use Game Capture or Window Capture to target the game. It will fit perfectly on a standard 16:9 OBS canvas with no black bars.