How to Stretch Video in DaVinci Resolve in 11 Seconds

Stretching a video–or increasing its pixel aspect ratio–involves disproportionately increasing its horizontal resolution concerning its vertical resolution. Although unorthodox, this is sometimes done to output video at a different aspect ratio to the one in which it was shot.

Here are the steps to stretch a video clip in your DaVinci Resolve project:

1. Open your DaVinci Resolve project
2. Go to the “Edit” tab
3. Select a clip in your timeline
4. Go to the “Inspector” tab > then the “Video” tab
5. In the “Zoom” setting, click the Link icon once to deactivate it
6. Change the X or Y axis to stretch the video horizontally or vertically

Method 1: Stretching an individual video clip

1. Open the DaVinci Resolve project

Once you have opened DaVinci Resolve, go to the “Edit” tab.

2. Select a clip in your timeline

Just click on the video clip in your timeline that you want to stretch.

3. Go to the “Inspector” tab > “Transform” options

Simply:

1. Go to the “Inspector” tab
2. Click on “Video“
3. Go to the “Transform” section

We’re going to focus on the “Zoom” setting.

4. Deselect the Link icon & change the axis values

In the “Zoom” setting, you must deselect the Link icon by clicking it once. This will de-attach the axis from changing together.

You can then adjust the X or Y axis value to adjust the horizontal or vertical resolution. Check this video below:

Method 2: Aspect ratio – stretch all imagery to fit

1. Open your project in DaVinci Resolve

When Resolve opens, all the projects saved on your system will be visible in the Project Manager window. If you’re working on another project, you can navigate to the Project Manager window by:

1. Scrolling through the options under the “File” tab at the top of your screen or pressing “Shift+1“
2. Once the “Project Manager” window is open, select the project you want to work on. 

2. Go to the aspect ratio/timeline resolution settings

Clicking the Cog icon at the bottom-right corner of your screen will open the “Project Settings” window. This is where you can adjust your project’s universal settings, including how its source video is processed. Changing the resolution of your source video is one of these options.

1. Click the Cog icon in the bottom-right
2. Navigate to the “Project Settings” window
3. Under “Master Settings“, go to “Timeline Format“

3. Change your output resolution

Most standard output resolutions will be available under the “Timeline Format” drop-down menu. Select your desired output resolution from among these.

For example, if you’d like to stretch your 1440×1080 source video (which has an aspect ratio of 1:33) to perfectly fit a 1920×1080 timeline (giving it an aspect ratio of 1:77:1), set your timeline to 1920×1080.

If the output resolution you want isn’t available, select the custom option and manually enter the resolution numbers in the “For processing” field below.

5. Set “Input Scaling” to “Stretch frame to all corners”

Finally:

1. Select the “Image Scaling” section in the panel on the left of your “Project Settings” window
2. Select either “Scale entire image to fit” or “Stretch frame to all corners” from the input scaling options. Do what suits your needs.

The next time you create a timeline and import footage into it, your footage should appear stretched.

Video tutorial to stretch or fix aspect ratio

Final thoughts 

Following the above steps will stretch the footage you import across timelines. You can perform the same action for individual timelines by modifying timeline settings for a specific timeline in the media pool.

You can also export video clips from a modified timeline and import them into a regular timeline. This way, you can use stretched video alongside a video that does not appear stretched.   

Finally, several online sources suggest cropping, scaling, or repositioning a clip to stretch a video. While these actions change a clip’s aspect ratio, they don’t modify its pixel aspect ratio.