Windowbox (filmmaking)

[1][2][3] Sometimes, by accident or design, a standard ratio image is presented in the central portion of a letterbox picture (or vice versa), resulting in a black border all around.

Few films have been released with this aspect ratio — one example is The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, which had numerous scenes with Steve & Terri Irwin using widescreen pillar boxing.

During the opening, documentary-style sequence of Rent on the DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases, the picture is windowboxed to suggest an older camera meant to present at a 4:3 aspect ratio; as the movie transitions from that segment, it then expands horizontally from a windowboxed 4:3 to a letterboxed 2.39:1 aspect ratio.

On the theatrical and Widescreen DVD release, the beginning of the film is windowboxed until Kenai, the main character, becomes a bear.

Critics often argue that windowboxing of this ratio is unnecessary due to the image loss caused by overscan being negligible.

However, letterboxing never ensured that the TV displaying it was showing the full image, just that it was present in the signal, while anamorphic enhancement on DVDs was designed to maximize the resolution used by widescreen films on the format, again with no compensation for overscan.