Resize video

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After you have imported your video file into Microsoft Expression Encoder, you can perform adjustments to the video to prepare it for encoding. By using the tools in Expression Encoder, you can crop, change the video dimensions, and set the correct pixel aspect ratio. You perform all these actions in the Video Profile category of the Encode panel.

If your video source has non-square pixels, you can also opt to preserve the original pixel aspect ratio. For more information, see Pixel aspect ratio essentials and To set video aspect ratios.

To display the Video Profile category

  • If you can't see the Video Profile category on the right side of the application window, on the Window menu, click Settings to open the Settings panel. If Settings is already selected, but the Video Profile category is still not visible, on the right side of the application window, click the Settings tab.

To crop video

  1. In the Media Content panel, select the video that you want to crop.

  2. Under Video Profile in the Encode panel, select Crop.

  3. If you want to retain the original aspect ratio of the footage as you crop it, select Maintain Aspect Ratio.

  4. Do one of the following:

    • In the Viewer panel, drag the corner points or the outlines.

    • In the Cropsection under Video Profile, drag the Top, Left, Width, and Height values. Drag up or right to increase the values, or drag left or down to decrease the values. Alternatively, you can click the values in each box and type new values.

  5. To eliminate the black bars that appear when you crop without maintaining aspect ratio, select Sync size to Crop.

To change video dimensions

  1. In the Media Content panel, select the video that you want to resize.

  2. In the Video Profile category (Encode panel), click an option from the first menu:

    • Click Profile to resize the video to match the dimensions that you specified in the Video category.

    • Click Profile Adaptive to use the pixel aspect ratio to determine the proper video aspect ratio.

    • Click Source to preserve the original dimensions.

    • Click Custom to enter the dimensions that you want. To create custom dimensions, you can either type new values in the Size and Width boxes, or drag the value up and right to increase it or down and left to decrease it. Also, in the Viewer panel, you can drag the corner points of the video to resize it. If you want the resized video to retain its original aspect ratio, select Maintain Aspect Ratio.

  3. In the Resize Mode menu, click Stretch if you want Expression Encoder to stretch your resized video to fit the new dimension, or click Letterbox if you want Expression Encoder to put black bars around the resized areas of your video.