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I'm using RecordMyDesktop to generate videos for some tutorials and I've tried using quite a lot of video editing programs but haven't been able to get these videos to fit perfectly into the YouTube dimensions (without the black margins).

How can I do this without losing video quality?

Some more info that might help

Running ffmpeg -i on the files returns the following:

Stream #0.1: Video: theora, yuv420p, 944x512 [PAR 1:1 DAR 59:32], 30 fps, 30 tbr, 30 tbn, 30 tbc - although I have various files, each with different dimensions.

I've tried the following editors: Kdenlive, PiTiVi, Avidemux & Cinelerra (I prefer the first 2).

mind.blank
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2 Answers2

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For Pitivi, in 2023, I use this process:

  • first, change the rendering project settings to change the size of your output video file:
    • click Render > Advanced > Project Settings
    • go to the Size section and set your desired Width and Height for the final video.
  • second, shift the video into position:
    • go back to the main window > Clip tab > Transformation section
    • set X and Y to negative offset values to shift the portion of the input video you want to keep into the cropped output region.
  • finally, you can render the video, and it should cropped to the size and region you specified.

I wrote a blog post about it which has some pretty pictures and video clips:

I was misled by an effect called Crop which does not actually seem to affect the size of the output video. :|

Richard Schwarting
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It's easier and better to resize the window you're recording to 1280x720 (or any 16:9 proportion).

xdotool getactivewindow windowsize 1280 720 will do it for you.

If you really want to do the cropping, it's quite easy in Kdenlive:

  • Right-click on a clip in the timeline, go to Add Effect → Crop and transform → Crop.
  • Check Automatic center-crop, or try different settings until you get the desired result.
Oleh Prypin
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