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If a game stretches across your ultrawide screen or displays black bars, first check its resolution and display mode. Then choose how your graphics card should scale the image: preserve its proportions and accept bars, or stretch it to fill the panel. Black bars are often expected when the game and monitor use different aspect ratios; removing them without distortion or cropping is not always possible.
Why a game stretches or shows black bars
A game image has its own aspect ratio, as does your monitor. When they differ, the image can be stretched to fill the screen, displayed with bars to preserve its proportions, or centered without being scaled. Steam Support describes black bars on the sides or top as compensation when a game’s aspect ratio does not match the display: Steam Support’s display troubleshooting guidance.
There is no setting that can always fill every pixel while also keeping the original geometry intact. Stretching fills the panel but can make objects look wider or taller; preserving proportions may leave bars. Which result is right depends on whether you prioritize a full-screen image or undistorted shapes.
Fix the problem in this order
1. Check the game’s resolution and display mode
- Open the game’s video, graphics, or display settings.
- Choose a resolution supported by both the game and monitor. If an ultrawide resolution is available, try it and apply the change.
- If the resolution you want is missing, try switching from fullscreen to windowed mode and check the available resolutions again.
- If it is still missing, check the host computer’s desktop resolution, then reopen the game’s settings.
Steam documents this sequence in guidance for Steam Link. It is useful general troubleshooting advice, but Steam Link’s instructions do not establish that every locally rendered game uses identical controls or behavior. For title-specific options or restrictions, consult that game’s support page.
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2. Choose a scaling mode in your graphics software
If the game does not offer the result you want, check the GPU scaling options. The setting names and whether they appear depend on your graphics card, driver, display, and connection.
| Scaling choice | Preserves proportions? | Fills the panel? | Likely result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aspect-ratio scaling | Yes | Not always | Bars may remain when the image is narrower or shorter than the screen. |
| Full-screen or full-panel scaling | No | Yes | The image is expanded to fill the screen and may look stretched. |
| No scaling or centered | Yes; the image stays at its original size | No | The game image is centered, with borders around it when it is smaller than the display. |
AMD Radeon Software
AMD lists three scaling modes: Preserve aspect ratio, Full panel, and Center. Preserve aspect ratio keeps the image’s proportions and can leave bars; Full panel expands it to fill the display and can stretch it; Center turns off scaling and may leave borders around the image. See AMD’s GPU scaling instructions for the current controls.
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NVIDIA Control Panel
NVIDIA’s corresponding choices are Aspect ratio, Full-screen, and No scaling. Aspect ratio expands the image while retaining its proportions, so borders may remain. Full-screen stretches it to fill the display. No scaling centers the image at its original size. See NVIDIA’s desktop size and position instructions. NVIDIA notes that scaling controls appear only for supported display types.
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3. Check whether the game mode limits the aspect ratio
Some games deliberately restrict the aspect ratio in particular modes. For example, Epic Games says Fortnite Competitive modes, including Ranked and tournaments, are restricted to 16:9 and that side bars are expected. Check the game’s mode-specific guidance before changing settings to work around a restriction; a GPU scaling change cannot make a mode support a resolution the game does not allow. See Epic Games Support’s Fortnite black-bar explanation.
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Choose the result you want
- Keep objects looking correctly proportioned: Use the game’s supported resolution and an aspect-ratio scaling mode. Accept bars if the image does not match the panel’s shape.
- Fill the entire ultrawide screen: Try an ultrawide resolution supported by the game. If none is available, full-panel or full-screen scaling may fill the display, but can distort the image.
- Keep the image unscaled: Choose Center or No scaling. The image may occupy less of the screen and have borders around it.
If the settings do not solve it
- The desired resolution is missing: Try windowed mode, then check the host desktop resolution, following Steam’s troubleshooting sequence. Also check the game’s own support guidance; there is no established universal compatibility list covering every game.
- GPU scaling is unavailable: Check whether the display type is supported. For AMD, verify the stated connection, native-resolution and refresh-rate, and driver prerequisites. Settings differ across hardware and software configurations.
- Bars appear only in one mode: Check whether that mode enforces a narrower aspect ratio. Fortnite Competitive is one documented example; do not assume the same rule applies to other games.
- The picture fills the screen but looks wrong: Switch from Full-screen or Full panel to Aspect ratio or Preserve aspect ratio to restore proportions. Bars may return because preserving the image shape and filling a differently shaped panel are competing goals.
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