Please Don't Look Black: The DMS Tips Against Letterboxing.

The Blackout in Digital Signage.

First things first: what is letterboxing? In the context of Digital Signage, it’s not good news — but luckily, it’s also not unsolvable. Letterboxing occurs when content doesn’t fill the entire screen. You end up with black bars or empty spaces at the top and bottom or on the sides of the display. To put it simply: it's a kind of visual blackout. But the good news is, there are several tips and tricks to avoid it.

No letterboxing — that’s how it works:

1. Side by side — what if the aspect ratio is wrong? Yes, that’s where we come to the most common cause of letterboxing. If the displayed content doesn’t match the native resolution or aspect ratio of the screen, it goes to the letterbox. And now what? Just make sure that the content is created in the right aspect ratio for the digital signage screen and is happy.
2. Let’s play! The digital signage player must also score points with the right setting! Check your digital signage player settings. If scaling or aspect ratio need to be adjusted — just do it! The content already correctly fills the digital signage screen.
3. Content is king — when it’s created correctly. When creating content for digital signage, use software or tools that allow you to create content in the exact resolution and aspect ratio of your digital signage screen. For a perfect digital solution!
4. More about the settings — and those of the ads in fact. Some digital signage displays have settings that allow you to stretch or zoom the content to fill the screen. But: When using these settings, be careful not to distort the images.
5. How to use — pay attention to the user-defined templates. If you use templates for your digital signage solution, they must also match the aspect ratio of the display.
6. Scaled correctly — if you have different content with different aspect ratios, you may need to scale or adjust each and every piece of content to make sure it’s displayed. This is how we impress!
7. Not hard at all: the hardware limitations. In some cases, the hardware itself may have limitations — and there’s letterboxing again. Make sure that your hardware is able to display content in the resolution and aspect ratio you want.

With DMS, your digitization partner for full-service solutions, you don’t have to be blind when it comes to letterboxing — we are happy to answer any questions you may have. So that you can find digital solutions that meet our standards: You simply have to be wow.

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