YouTube in full screen on a 32:9 monitor
A super ultrawide monitor is great for games and work, but a normal YouTube video in full screen fills only the middle half of it. This guide shows what your options are, what each one costs in picture, and how to set them up in Chrome with UltraFill.
Why half of the screen stays black
A 32:9 monitor, such as 5120×1440 or 3840×1080, is exactly two 16:9 screens side by side. Most YouTube videos are 16:9, so the player fits the video to the height of the monitor and leaves a block of black on each side that together is as big as the video itself. On 5120×1440 the video is 2560 pixels wide; the other 2560 pixels are empty.
Wide uploads are not much better. A cinematic video exported in a 2.39 look but delivered as a 16:9 file has bars on all four sides, and covers only about 37% of the screen.
| Video on 32:9 | Black before | Crop keeps |
|---|---|---|
| 16:9 upload | 50% | 50% of the height |
| 2.39 look inside a 16:9 upload | 62.8% | 67.2% of the height |
| Native 2.39 upload | 32.8% | 67.2% of the height |
Compare your own setup in the black bar calculator. On a 21:9 monitor the numbers are much kinder; see YouTube on a 21:9 ultrawide.
Four ways to use the whole width
No method can show a 16:9 picture on a 32:9 screen with zero black, zero cropping and zero stretching at the same time. You pick the trade-off that suits the video:
- Crop (free): shapes stay perfect, but half of the height is cut. Good for wide landscapes, drone footage and racing, where the action sits in the middle band of the frame.
- Partial zoom (free): zoom in only part of the way with Alt + mouse wheel or Alt + =. You keep thin bars at the sides but lose far less at the top and bottom.
- Stretch (free): the whole picture, stretched evenly to twice its width. Everything stays visible, but people look very wide, so it suits abstract visuals and music videos more than talking heads.
- Elastic stretch (PRO): the center of the picture keeps its natural shape and the stretching goes mostly into the edges. On 32:9 this is often the most comfortable option for long viewing, because faces in the middle look normal and the sides still fill your peripheral vision.
Set it up step by step
- Add UltraFill to Google Chrome on Windows or macOS.
- Open a video on YouTube and switch to full screen.
- Hover over the top of the video and click UltraFill, or press Alt + U (Option + U on a Mac).
- Pick crop, stretch or elastic stretch, then click Fill the screen or press Alt + Z. Auto bars (Alt + B) removes any bars baked into the picture.
- With crop, drag the frame in the panel preview, or press Alt + Shift + arrow keys, to keep faces and captions on screen.
- Hold Alt + C to see the original for comparison.
Make it automatic
With PRO, auto-fill in full screen applies your fill as soon as a video goes full screen, so you set your preferred mode once and forget about it. Resume position remembers where you stopped in long videos, and sync carries your settings to Chrome on your other computers. The 7-day trial starts the first time you use a PRO feature and needs no card.
Picture and sound extras
Stretched or zoomed video shows compression more clearly, so on a big 32:9 panel the PRO sharpness and denoise controls are worth a try. The ambient glow spills the video's colors into the dark areas when you prefer to keep some bars. Because regular YouTube videos are not protected, these effects and all sound tools work directly, with no extra click. You can learn more about the general approach in how to stretch video to fill the screen.
Honest limits
Movies rented or bought on YouTube are protected with DRM. On those, the format is chosen by hand, sound tools need a click on the UltraFill icon or Alt + Shift + U (Option + Shift + U on a Mac), and effects that read the frames (denoise, ambient glow, split view, snapshot) do not work. Elastic stretch then uses a gentler, simpler stretch. UltraFill runs in Google Chrome on Windows and macOS.
Questions
Why does a YouTube video fill only half of my 32:9 monitor?
A 32:9 screen is as wide as two 16:9 screens. A 16:9 video keeps its shape, so it fills the height and only half of the width.
What is the best fill mode for YouTube on 32:9?
For people and talking, elastic stretch or a partial zoom usually looks best. For landscapes, games and racing, a full crop works well because the action is in the middle of the frame.
How much does crop cut on 32:9?
For a 16:9 video, crop keeps half of the height, a quarter from the top and a quarter from the bottom. You can move the frame to choose which part stays.
Can the fill turn on automatically in full screen?
Yes, with PRO. Auto-fill in full screen applies your chosen mode whenever a video goes full screen.
Does it work on 3840×1080 too?
Yes. 3840×1080 and 5120×1440 are both 32:9, so the proportions are the same.
UltraFill is an independent extension and is not affiliated with YouTube or Google. Service names are used only to describe compatibility.