Apple Final Cut Pro 6 User Manual
Page 1738
Chapter 18
Exporting Using QuickTime Conversion
255
III
Preserve Aspect Ratio
When the “Preserve aspect ratio using” checkbox is selected, the aspect ratio of your
source movie is preserved by choosing one of three options. In the following examples,
a 1280 x 720 (16:9) high definition sequence is shown scaled down to 320 x 240 (4:3).
Important:
These options do not take into account the effect of pixel aspect ratio
when determining what aspect ratio to preserve. For example, if you are exporting a
DVCPRO HD sequence (960 x 720), these options preserve the aspect ratio of the pixel
dimensions, which is 4:3 (960 ÷ 720), not 16:9 as you would expect. For best results,
always nest sequences with nonsquare pixels into a sequence format with square
pixels. In this case, you could nest your DVCPRO HD sequence into a sequence with
dimensions of 1280 x 720.
 Letterbox: Scales your clip or sequence video to fit proportionally in the clean
aperture dimensions of your exported movie. Black bars are added on the top and
bottom (letterboxed) or left and right (pillarboxed) as necessary.
1280 x 720 (16:9)
sequence
16:9 letterboxed within
320 x 240 (4:3)