Letterbox

Format used widely on laser disc and many DVDs to fit wide-aspect-ratio movies (1.85:1 and 2.35:1, for example) into a smaller frame, such as the 1.78:1 area of an anamorphic DVD or the 1.33:1 area of a laser disc or video tape. The image is shrunk to fit the screen, leaving blank space on the top and bottom. This process sacrifices some vertical detail that must be used to record the black bars.

Letterbox