How to fix video distortion

Motherofthyme

I have old silent home movies that I am editing, adding music and titles. However one of them displays distorted, squashed shorter than it should be, like it’s in 16x9 but displays with black bands top, bottom and sides. I can’t seem to get it to crop it to play larger. Is there something in its programming that keeps it displaying shorter? When videopad crops it, will it stay cropped or keep the black bars. Should I change the aspect ratio to 4:3 or does that do anything when saved?
what am I missing. Any help is appreciated.

borate

What version of Videopad is being used? Look at the bottom-left of the screen. Update to the latest. For licensed users upgrades are free for up to six months from purchase date. After that, VP will continue to fully function but a fee will be required in order to register the newest. Retain your old install file and registration info.

In Effects, try applying the Letterbox or Crop A/R transform to the clip... Note the many drop-down box presets.

If that doesn't help, someone here will ... if you make the effort to share your project. The process is easy, quick and can be done privately. Just follow these steps...

Back up --- With your project on the timeline, click on MENU at the top-left. Click FILE|BACK UP PROJECT FILES TO FOLDER. Choose a folder and SELECT FOLDER.
Upload --- Use a free server - Google Drive, MS OneDrive, etc.* - to upload the saved, numbered FOLDER. Do NOT upload the individual VPJ or export file.
Get link --- Get a public link. If using Google Drive click GET SHAREABLE LINK. If necessary change "restricted" to "anyone with the link can view"
Share --- Click COPY LINK | DONE. Paste that link here, or click the folder at the top-right of this forum to message it privately to me. It won't be shared.

* Before uploading, right-click the folder, click PROPERTIES. Look at the File Size to confirm that it's not too big for the free space on the server.

Motherofthyme

I figured out that two videos that were saved in different aspect ratios were joined into one video and the players couldn’t switch between the two mid playing so it stuck with the first aspect ratio which resulted in a forced ratio for the second part no matter how many times I zoomed, or tried to change the aspect ratio while joined. The only way I could fix it was to separate the two again, remove the first half, change the aspect ratio of the “squashed” half, save it (ie export it) and re attach them as a new film. Still not perfect (the second half doesn’t fill the screen like the first half but much better. That took me a week to research, try and try again, export and transfer to tv to see the results on the wide screen etc. There’s still something I’m not quite getting about the problem but I’ve spent enough time on a film that will likely only be watched a couple of times.

borate

To see what clips will look like on your monitor try the MATCH MONITOR mode.

Then size each clip using the various A/R Transform or scaling effects to get the desired result.

If you submit your project, as instructed above, someone will make more specific suggestions.