Aspect Pad
Add solid-color bars (letterbox or pillarbox) to a video so it fits a target aspect ratio without cropping or stretching. Choose any background color to match your brand or platform requirements. Processing runs entirely on your self-hosted instance.
Features
- Supports any target aspect ratio including 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, and 4:3
- Custom background color picker for padding bars in any hex value
- Preserves original video quality and audio without re-encoding the audio stream
- Handles portrait-to-landscape and landscape-to-portrait conversions
- Processes on your own server with no cloud dependency
What you can do
- Convert vertical phone recordings to 16:9 for YouTube upload with black bars
- Prepare widescreen footage for square Instagram feed posts with branded color padding
- Reformat old 4:3 archive footage to 16:9 for a modern presentation
- Add consistent white padding to product demo videos before embedding on a website
Self-hosted. Your files never leave your network.
SnapOtter runs entirely on your own infrastructure. Files processed with Aspect Pad are never uploaded to third-party servers. Deploy a single Docker container and process files with full privacy, no watermarks, and no usage limits. Open source under AGPL-3.0.
Frequently asked questions
- Does padding reduce the video resolution?
- No. The original video frame is embedded at its full resolution inside the new canvas. The output resolution increases to accommodate the padding. All processing runs locally on your server.
- Can I use a custom color for the bars?
- Yes, you can set any hex color for the padding bars. This is useful for matching brand guidelines or creating a clean look. The color is applied during local processing without uploading your file anywhere.
- What aspect ratios are supported?
- You can target any aspect ratio. Common presets include 16:9, 9:16, 1:1, 4:3, and 21:9, but custom ratios are also accepted. SnapOtter calculates the padding automatically on your own server.
Ready to try Aspect Pad?
Deploy SnapOtter in under a minute. All 157 tools included. Open source and free forever.