Anamorphic content plays with wrong aspect ratio

[curiousstranger]

iPadOS 18.5. Client version 2025.17.0 (1082). When I play anamorphic content, it is displayed stretched vertically. This happens with every Display Mode, except maybe Original, which shows the video in a small box in the center of the screen, so it’s hard to tell (see screenshots). These same files worked fine in the old client and the web player.

❯ ffmpeg -i /Volumes/Videos/TV\ Shows/The\ West\ Wing\ \(1999\)/Season\ 06/The\ West\ WIng\ \(1999\)\ S06E21.mkv
ffmpeg version 7.1.1 Copyright (c) 2000-2025 the FFmpeg developers
  built with Apple clang version 16.0.0 (clang-1600.0.26.6)
  configuration: --prefix=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/ffmpeg/7.1.1_2 --enable-shared --enable-pthreads --enable-version3 --cc=clang --host-cflags= --host-ldflags='-Wl,-ld_classic' --enable-ffplay --enable-gnutls --enable-gpl --enable-libaom --enable-libaribb24 --enable-libbluray --enable-libdav1d --enable-libharfbuzz --enable-libjxl --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-librav1e --enable-librist --enable-librubberband --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsrt --enable-libssh --enable-libsvtav1 --enable-libtesseract --enable-libtheora --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvmaf --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libxvid --enable-lzma --enable-libfontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-frei0r --enable-libass --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libspeex --enable-libsoxr --enable-libzmq --enable-libzimg --disable-libjack --disable-indev=jack --enable-videotoolbox --enable-audiotoolbox --enable-neon
  libavutil      59. 39.100 / 59. 39.100
  libavcodec     61. 19.101 / 61. 19.101
  libavformat    61.  7.100 / 61.  7.100
  libavdevice    61.  3.100 / 61.  3.100
  libavfilter    10.  4.100 / 10.  4.100
  libswscale      8.  3.100 /  8.  3.100
  libswresample   5.  3.100 /  5.  3.100
  libpostproc    58.  3.100 / 58.  3.100
[h264 @ 0x13ee043f0] Increasing reorder buffer to 2
Input #0, matroska,webm, from '/Volumes/Videos/TV Shows/The West Wing (1999)/Season 06/The West WIng (1999) S06E21.mkv':
  Metadata:
    title           : THE WEST WING SEASON 6 DISC 6
    creation_time   : 2025-01-16T17:46:10.000000Z
    ENCODER         : Lavf61.7.100
  Duration: 00:43:31.25, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 465 kb/s
  Chapters:
    Chapter #0:0: start 0.000000, end 290.765000
      Metadata:
        title           : Chapter 1
    Chapter #0:1: start 290.765000, end 751.092000
      Metadata:
        title           : Chapter 2
    Chapter #0:2: start 751.092000, end 1353.093000
      Metadata:
        title           : Chapter 3
    Chapter #0:3: start 1353.093000, end 1852.968000
      Metadata:
        title           : Chapter 4
    Chapter #0:4: start 1852.968000, end 2574.140000
      Metadata:
        title           : Chapter 5
    Chapter #0:5: start 2574.140000, end 2611.177000
      Metadata:
        title           : Chapter 6
  Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (Main), yuv420p(tv, smpte170m/smpte170m/bt709, progressive), 720x478, SAR 32:27 DAR 1280:717, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn (default)
      Metadata:
        DURATION        : 00:43:31.251000000
  Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 192 kb/s (default)
      Metadata:
        title           : Stereo
        DURATION        : 00:43:31.232000000
  Stream #0:2(eng): Subtitle: ass (ssa)
      Metadata:
        DURATION        : 00:42:34.533000000

[curiousstranger]

Also, as with the original poster, forcing a transcode by disabling direct play on the iPad client resolves it.

[Chattykinson]

Got it! Thank you, I’ve got this recorded and will let you know of any updates.

[Craig_Holliday]

Could you share a sample file of that episode you’re seeing the issue with?

[curiousstranger]

See attached.

west-wing-sample-001.mkv.zip (2.9 MB)

[Craig_Holliday]

Thank you! I’ll take a look