Windowbox

Windowboxing is when the aspect ratio of a film is such that the letterbox effect and pillarbox effect occur simultaneously. Sometimes, by accident or design, a standard ratio image is presented in the central portion of a letterbox picture, resulting in a black border all around. It is generally disliked because it wastes a lot of screen space and reduces the resolution of the original image. It can occur when a 16:9 film is set to 4:3 (letterbox), but then shown on a 16:9 TV or other output device. It can also occur in the opposite direction (4:3 to 16:9 to 4:3). Few films have been released with this aspect ratio -- one example is The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, which had numerous scenes of widescreen pillar boxing. Some have suggested that selecting different aspect options by "zooming" could correct the windowbox problem.