How to change the aspect ratio in Handbrake without pulling your hair out

[davexnet]

Assume you have a video of 1280x720, 1:1 pixels, 16/9 display.

But the video is stretched and really should be played back at 960x720 (4:3)

For the situation where you want to reencode the video to 960x720 set the options like so.
Deselect "Automatic"
Deselect "Optimal Size"
Set "Display Size" to 960
Set "Scaled Size" to 960x720

[Alwyn]

Good job Dave, that tab is a nightmare for the uninitiated.

[ProWo]

Use clever Ffmpeg-GUI.
Load your movie, click main page, click various, click change DAR.
Insert 1.33 and click change.
Done.
So easy, no re-encode, no quality loss.

[davexnet]

Thanks ProWo, I thought about this too, but I wanted to talk about the situation where
the file is to be re-encoded.
The sizing options in Handbrake are a little weird, hence my post above

I like the functionality you added in Clever, but its design takes a bit of getting used to

[johns0]

Vidcoder is easier to use for resizing.

[davexnet]

Yes, agreed. The other nice thing it has is "target size" for the VBR rate control. Calculates the bitrate for you, takes into account the audio

[Sharc]

Assume you have a video of 1280x720, 1:1 pixels, 16/9 display.

But the video is stretched and really should be played back at 960x720 (4:3)

Good job Dave, that tab is a nightmare for the uninitiated.

First thing to blame is probably the GUI/tool/user which produced that videofile rather than the GUIs which are used to fix it