How to edit 4:3 aspect ratio video (recorded in iPad) on Windows
Most recently I start recording some book reading videos and since those books are available in an iPad application, it’s very natural for me to use iPad’s own recording feature to do that. However, there is one thing that’s pretty annoying and there are some traps during within. I cannot find a good way to edit it!
I try several ways:
- Edit in iPad’s photo app doesn’t help.
I first use “edit” within iPad’s photo application: it does very handy but it’s not that powerful. It can easily allow me to trim beginning and end while it’s hard to delete some frames in the middle and insert another clip in the same place.
2. iMovie doesn’t help either.
I switch to iMovie and try both iPad version and Mac version(which is more powerful compared to iPad version). They are both good but one astonishing fact I realize later is that: iPad actually records your screen (yes because the reading occurs inside the App which is full screen) in 4:3 aspect ratio but in iMovie, it only support (losslessly) for wide screen (16:9 aspect ratio)! That means I will get both side black bars OR I need to crop my video (and then scale up) to fit 16:9. Honestly I don’t need to transfer my video from 4:3 to 16:9 (which for sure will cause some loss) but I do need to edit it in 4:3 aspect ratio.
There is also a discussion thread in Apple’s website. But the reply only points out I can edit in on my computer. No further details!
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8441444
3. Windows 10 Video Editor helps but …
To my surprise, Windows 10 does have a tool name “Video Editor” and I can just type “video” in search bar. That’s great since I don’t need to download anything from Internet and I do trust Microsoft for software quality.
However, there is some trap waiting ahead too.
I have used iPad’s photo app to trim head frames after a screen recording video is taken; that particular video, when imported to PC and opened in video editor, will be out of sync with its audio. It takes me several frustrated hours to figure that out! Again, a video trimmed on iPad’s photo app may have its audio out of sync in Windows video editor. In addition, when I import that kind of video into Lightworks or OneShot, the video is just pure black although with audio.
But in the end, I can edit 4:3 aspect video (screen recording in iPad) on Windows video editor!
