On Wednesday March 19th from 2PM - 2:15PM PDT (9PM - 9:15PM UTC), we will be performing system maintenance for about 15 minutes, probably less. During that brief maintenance window, the site will be in read-only mode, so users will not be able to login to their accounts or create/modify content.

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Black bars on youtube videos aren't black

  • 1 reply
  • 0 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by zeroknight

When I watch youtube videos in fullscreen where the aspect ratio is different than my monitor, the black bars that appear won't stay properly black, but instead a dark gray or some sort of approximation of the avarage color of the rest of the image. This is very distracting, especially when the video already have baked in black bars and I end up with a two toned striped situation. Is there anyway I can change this so the bars stay completely black? (In the image you can see how the bars at the edges are different color than the black bars that are baked into the video)

When I watch youtube videos in fullscreen where the aspect ratio is different than my monitor, the black bars that appear won't stay properly black, but instead a dark gray or some sort of approximation of the avarage color of the rest of the image. This is very distracting, especially when the video already have baked in black bars and I end up with a two toned striped situation. Is there anyway I can change this so the bars stay completely black? (In the image you can see how the bars at the edges are different color than the black bars that are baked into the video)
Attached screenshots

All Replies (1)

Disable "Ambient mode" in youtube settings:

To use Ambient mode: Once you turn on Dark theme, ambient mode is automatically enabled. To turn off ambient mode: In the watch page, click Settings. Click Ambient mode. Toggle to turn Ambient mode off for all videos.