Server Version#: 1.43.0.10492 on Windows Server 2019
Player Version#: Plex Web 4.158.0 in Chrome 144.0.7559.134 on Windows 10 Pro 19045.6809
I have a piece of video media made by someone else, where they seem to have remuxed DVD content into an MKV container. The video is anamorphic WS. It plays fine in the Plex Windows app as well as in VLC.
However, in Plex web app the video gets vertically squashed by extra inserted black bars top and bottom. It seems like perhaps the anamorphic transformation is applied twice.
However again, if I “jump around” a bit in the video it sometimes happens that the aspect ratio gets fixed, and then it seems to stay fixed after that even if I go back to parts of the media that was displayed earlier and wrongly. The behaviour seems inconsistent to me, but there is probably some underlying reason for it that I don’t understand.
Visit this Imgur link to see both an example of the wrong AR and how it looks after somehow being fixed, both in the web app: https://imgur.com/a/965iJXy
I guess there could be issues with how this media was created that causes the issue in Plex, but still I would expect the web app player to 1) behave as the Windows app and 2) not change the aspect ratio depending on me navigating though the media. If this can all be fixed by correcting some error with the container/video metadata, I would be most grateful for help on how to do that for this specific media.
Full mediainfo -f output is included below, with possibly the most relevant part here:
Width : 720
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576
Height : 576 pixels
Sampled_Width : 720
Sampled_Height : 576
Pixel aspect ratio : 1.422
Display aspect ratio : 1.778
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
If I inspect the video track properties in MKVToolNix I see in video properties that display width/height is set to 1024x576.
If I look at the video content I see that there are no black bars in the actual content and that 720x576 display ratio gives a horizontally(!) squashed picture (ie, without the anamorphic WS display treatment) and that 1024x576 display ratio gives the correct picture. (Imgur examples, exported from AviDemux and VLC respectively: https://imgur.com/a/C4k3SHP)
NB: The media I have is in two parts using the Plex “pt1/pt2” stacking function, if that could be contributing to the issue.
Thanks for any help!
full mediainfo -f output
General
Count : 331
Count of stream of this kind : 1
Kind of stream : General
Kind of stream : General
Stream identifier : 0
Unique ID : 227151651973134154600414407046687745011
Unique ID : 227151651973134154600414407046687745011 (0xAAE3D11CC481447A82E96FC276DDE3F3)
Count of video streams : 1
Count of audio streams : 3
Count of text streams : 5
Count of menu streams : 1
Video_Format_List : MPEG Video
Video_Format_WithHint_List : MPEG Video
Codecs Video : MPEG Video
Video_Language_List : English
Audio_Format_List : AC-3 / AC-3 / DTS
Audio_Format_WithHint_List : AC-3 / AC-3 / DTS
Audio codecs : AC-3 / AC-3 / DTS
Audio_Language_List : English / English / English
Text_Format_List : VobSub / VobSub / VobSub / VobSub / VobSub
Text_Format_WithHint_List : VobSub / VobSub / VobSub / VobSub / VobSub
Text codecs : VobSub / VobSub / VobSub / VobSub / VobSub
Text_Language_List : English / German / French / Spanish / Portuguese
Complete name : Jeff Waynes Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds 2006 DVD Remux-HDz{tmdb-16377} - pt1.mkv
File name extension : Jeff Waynes Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds 2006 DVD Remux-HDz{tmdb-16377} - pt1.mkv
File name : Jeff Waynes Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds 2006 DVD Remux-HDz{tmdb-16377} - pt1
File extension : mkv
Format : Matroska
Format : Matroska
Format/Url : https://matroska.org/downloads/windows.html
Format/Extensions usually used : mkv mk3d mka mks
Commercial name : Matroska
Format version : Version 4
File size : 3086111999
File size : 2.87 GiB
File size : 3 GiB
File size : 2.9 GiB
File size : 2.87 GiB
File size : 2.874 GiB
Duration : 2934120
Duration : 48 min 54 s
Duration : 48 min 54 s 120 ms
Duration : 48 min 54 s
Duration : 00:48:54.120
Duration : 00:48:53:23
Duration : 00:48:54.120 (00:48:53:23)
Overall bit rate mode : VBR
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 8414412
Overall bit rate : 8 414 kb/s
Frame rate : 25.000
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
Frame count : 73348
IsStreamable : Yes
Encoded date : UTC 2024-03-02 00:41:32
File creation date : UTC 2026-02-18 08:56:25.899
File creation date (local) : 2026-02-18 09:56:25.899
File last modification date : UTC 2026-02-18 08:56:05.774
File last modification date (local) : 2026-02-18 09:56:05.774
Writing application : mkvmerge v81.0 ('Milliontown') 64-bit
Writing application : mkvmerge v81.0 ('Milliontown') 64-bit
Writing library : libebml v1.4.4 + libmatroska v1.7.1
Writing library : libebml v1.4.4 + libmatroska v1.7.1
Video
Count : 383
Count of stream of this kind : 1
Kind of stream : Video
Kind of stream : Video
Stream identifier : 0
StreamOrder : 0
ID : 1
ID : 1
ID in the original source medium : 224
ID in the original source medium : 224 (0xE0)
Unique ID : 1
Format : MPEG Video
Format : MPEG Video
Commercial name : MPEG-2 Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings : CustomMatrix / BVOP
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format settings, Matrix : Custom
Format_Settings_Matrix_Data : 0808080908090B0B0B0B0B0B0D0C0D0D0D0D0D0D0D0D0D0D0D0E0E0E1111110D0D0D0C0C0D0D10101111121012111111111313141414181817171C1C1D222229 / 080808080808090909090909090909090909090909090909090909090A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0A0B0B0B0B0B0B0B0B0B0B
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Format settings, picture structure : Frame
Internet media type : video/MPV
Codec ID : V_MPEG2
Codec ID/Info : MPEG 1 or 2 Video
Codec ID/Url : http://ffdshow-tryout.sourceforge.net/
Duration : 2934120.000000
Duration : 48 min 54 s
Duration : 48 min 54 s 120 ms
Duration : 48 min 54 s
Duration : 00:48:54.120
Duration : 00:48:53:23
Duration : 00:48:54.120 (00:48:53:23)
Bit rate mode : VBR
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 6753581
Bit rate : 6 754 kb/s
Maximum bit rate : 9800000
Maximum bit rate : 9 800 kb/s
Width : 720
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576
Height : 576 pixels
Sampled_Width : 720
Sampled_Height : 576
Pixel aspect ratio : 1.422
Display aspect ratio : 1.778
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : CFR
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000
Frame rate : 25.000 FPS
FrameRate_Num : 25
FrameRate_Den : 1
Frame count : 73348
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : TFF
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.651
Delay : 0
Delay : 00:00:00.000
Delay : 00:00:00:00
Delay : 00:00:00.000 (00:00:00:00)
Delay, origin : Container
Delay, origin : Container
Stream size : 2476977210
Stream size : 2.31 GiB (80%)
Stream size : 2 GiB
Stream size : 2.3 GiB
Stream size : 2.31 GiB
Stream size : 2.307 GiB
Stream size : 2.31 GiB (80%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.80262
Language : en
Language : English
Language : English
Language : en
Language : eng
Language : en
Default : No
Default : No
Forced : No
Forced : No
Buffer size : 229376
Original source medium : DVD-Video
intra_dc_precision : 10
Audio #1
Count : 318
Count of stream of this kind : 3
Kind of stream : Audio
Kind of stream : Audio
Stream identifier : 0
Stream identifier : 1
StreamOrder : 1
ID : 2
ID : 2
ID in the original source medium : 189-128
ID in the original source medium : 189 (0xBD)128 (0x80)
Unique ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Format/Url : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 2933920.000000
Duration : 48 min 53 s
Duration : 48 min 53 s 920 ms
Duration : 48 min 53 s
Duration : 00:48:53.920
Duration : 00:48:53.920
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448000
Bit rate : 448 kb/s
Channel(s) : 2
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Channel positions : 2/0/0
Channel layout : L R
Samples per frame : 1536
Sampling rate : 48000
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Samples count : 140828160
Frame rate : 31.250
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Frame count : 91685
Compression mode : Lossy
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay : 0
Delay : 00:00:00.000
Delay : 00:00:00.000
Delay, origin : Container
Delay, origin : Container
Delay relative to video : 0
Delay relative to video : 00:00:00.000
Delay relative to video : 00:00:00.000
Stream size : 164299520
Stream size : 157 MiB (5%)
Stream size : 157 MiB
Stream size : 157 MiB
Stream size : 157 MiB
Stream size : 156.7 MiB
Stream size : 157 MiB (5%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.05324
Title : Stereo
Language : en
Language : English
Language : English
Language : en
Language : eng
Language : en
Service kind : CM
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : Yes
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Forced : No
Original source medium : DVD-Video
bsid : 8
Dialog Normalization : -31
Dialog Normalization : -31 dB
compr : 10.56
compr : 10.56 dB
dynrng : -18.20
dynrng : -18.20 dB
dsurmod : 1
dsurmod : Not Dolby Surround encoded
acmod : 2
lfeon : 0
dialnorm_Average : -31
dialnorm_Average : -31 dB
dialnorm_Minimum : -31
dialnorm_Minimum : -31 dB
dialnorm_Maximum : -31
dialnorm_Maximum : -31 dB
dialnorm_Count : 828
compr_Average : 3.97
compr_Average : 3.97 dB
compr_Minimum : 0.53
compr_Minimum : 0.53 dB
compr_Maximum : 10.88
compr_Maximum : 10.88 dB
compr_Count : 612
dynrng_Average : 10.64
dynrng_Average : 10.64 dB
dynrng_Minimum : -21.93
dynrng_Minimum : -21.93 dB
dynrng_Maximum : 23.80
dynrng_Maximum : 23.80 dB
dynrng_Count : 828
Audio #2
Count : 316
Count of stream of this kind : 3
Kind of stream : Audio
Kind of stream : Audio
Stream identifier : 1
Stream identifier : 2
StreamOrder : 2
ID : 3
ID : 3
ID in the original source medium : 189-129
ID in the original source medium : 189 (0xBD)129 (0x81)
Unique ID : 3
Format : AC-3
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Format/Url : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC3
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Commercial name : Dolby Digital
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 2933920.000000
Duration : 48 min 53 s
Duration : 48 min 53 s 920 ms
Duration : 48 min 53 s
Duration : 00:48:53.920
Duration : 00:48:53.920
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448000
Bit rate : 448 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Channel positions : 3/2/0.1
Channel layout : L R C LFE Ls Rs
Samples per frame : 1536
Sampling rate : 48000
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Samples count : 140828160
Frame rate : 31.250
Frame rate : 31.250 FPS (1536 SPF)
Frame count : 91685
Compression mode : Lossy
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay : 0
Delay : 00:00:00.000
Delay : 00:00:00.000
Delay, origin : Container
Delay, origin : Container
Delay relative to video : 0
Delay relative to video : 00:00:00.000
Delay relative to video : 00:00:00.000
Stream size : 164299520
Stream size : 157 MiB (5%)
Stream size : 157 MiB
Stream size : 157 MiB
Stream size : 157 MiB
Stream size : 156.7 MiB
Stream size : 157 MiB (5%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.05324
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : en
Language : English
Language : English
Language : en
Language : eng
Language : en
Service kind : CM
Service kind : Complete Main
Default : No
Default : No
Forced : No
Forced : No
Original source medium : DVD-Video
bsid : 8
Dialog Normalization : -31
Dialog Normalization : -31 dB
compr : 12.04
compr : 12.04 dB
dynrng : -0.86
dynrng : -0.86 dB
acmod : 7
lfeon : 1
dialnorm_Average : -31
dialnorm_Average : -31 dB
dialnorm_Minimum : -31
dialnorm_Minimum : -31 dB
dialnorm_Maximum : -31
dialnorm_Maximum : -31 dB
dialnorm_Count : 828
compr_Average : 5.27
compr_Average : 5.27 dB
compr_Minimum : 0.53
compr_Minimum : 0.53 dB
compr_Maximum : 12.04
compr_Maximum : 12.04 dB
compr_Count : 828
dynrng_Average : -0.89
dynrng_Average : -0.89 dB
dynrng_Minimum : -12.90
dynrng_Minimum : -12.90 dB
dynrng_Maximum : 0.00
dynrng_Maximum : 0.00 dB
dynrng_Count : 828
Audio #3
Count : 286
Count of stream of this kind : 3
Kind of stream : Audio
Kind of stream : Audio
Stream identifier : 2
Stream identifier : 3
StreamOrder : 3
ID : 4
ID : 4
ID in the original source medium : 189-138
ID in the original source medium : 189 (0xBD)138 (0x8A)
Unique ID : 4
Format : DTS
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format/Url : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS_(sound_system)
Commercial name : DTS
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 2933888.000000
Duration : 48 min 53 s
Duration : 48 min 53 s 888 ms
Duration : 48 min 53 s
Duration : 00:48:53.888
Duration : 00:48:53.888
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 754500
Bit rate : 754 kb/s
Channel(s) : 6
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Channel positions : 3/2/0.1
Channel layout : C L R Ls Rs LFE
Samples per frame : 512
Sampling rate : 48000
Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz
Samples count : 140826624
Frame rate : 93.750
Frame rate : 93.750 FPS (512 SPF)
Frame count : 275052
Bit depth : 24
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay : 0
Delay : 00:00:00.000
Delay : 00:00:00.000
Delay, origin : Container
Delay, origin : Container
Delay relative to video : 0
Delay relative to video : 00:00:00.000
Delay relative to video : 00:00:00.000
Stream size : 276702312
Stream size : 264 MiB (9%)
Stream size : 264 MiB
Stream size : 264 MiB
Stream size : 264 MiB
Stream size : 263.9 MiB
Stream size : 264 MiB (9%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.08966
Title : Surround 5.1
Language : en
Language : English
Language : English
Language : en
Language : eng
Language : en
Default : No
Default : No
Forced : No
Forced : No
Original source medium : DVD-Video
Text #1
Count : 298
Count of stream of this kind : 5
Kind of stream : Text
Kind of stream : Text
Stream identifier : 0
Stream identifier : 1
StreamOrder : 4
ID : 5
ID : 5
ID in the original source medium : 189-32
ID in the original source medium : 189 (0xBD)32 (0x20)
Unique ID : 5
Format : VobSub
Format : VobSub
Commercial name : VobSub
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration : 2754177.000000
Duration : 45 min 54 s
Duration : 45 min 54 s 177 ms
Duration : 45 min 54 s
Duration : 00:45:54.177
Duration : 00:45:54.177
Bit rate : 2643
Bit rate : 2 643 b/s
Frame rate : 0.100
Frame rate : 0.100 FPS
Frame count : 276
Count of elements : 276
Stream size : 910148
Stream size : 889 KiB (0%)
Stream size : 889 KiB
Stream size : 889 KiB
Stream size : 889 KiB
Stream size : 888.8 KiB
Stream size : 889 KiB (0%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.00029
Language : en
Language : English
Language : English
Language : en
Language : eng
Language : en
Default : No
Default : No
Forced : No
Forced : No
Original source medium : DVD-Video
Text #2
Count : 298
Count of stream of this kind : 5
Kind of stream : Text
Kind of stream : Text
Stream identifier : 1
Stream identifier : 2
StreamOrder : 5
ID : 6
ID : 6
ID in the original source medium : 189-33
ID in the original source medium : 189 (0xBD)33 (0x21)
Unique ID : 6
Format : VobSub
Format : VobSub
Commercial name : VobSub
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration : 2849234.000000
Duration : 47 min 29 s
Duration : 47 min 29 s 234 ms
Duration : 47 min 29 s
Duration : 00:47:29.234
Duration : 00:47:29.234
Bit rate : 3144
Bit rate : 3 144 b/s
Frame rate : 0.082
Frame rate : 0.082 FPS
Frame count : 233
Count of elements : 233
Stream size : 1119916
Stream size : 1.07 MiB (0%)
Stream size : 1 MiB
Stream size : 1.1 MiB
Stream size : 1.07 MiB
Stream size : 1.068 MiB
Stream size : 1.07 MiB (0%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.00036
Language : de
Language : German
Language : German
Language : de
Language : deu
Language : de
Default : No
Default : No
Forced : No
Forced : No
Original source medium : DVD-Video
Text #3
Count : 298
Count of stream of this kind : 5
Kind of stream : Text
Kind of stream : Text
Stream identifier : 2
Stream identifier : 3
StreamOrder : 6
ID : 7
ID : 7
ID in the original source medium : 189-34
ID in the original source medium : 189 (0xBD)34 (0x22)
Unique ID : 7
Format : VobSub
Format : VobSub
Commercial name : VobSub
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration : 2849234.000000
Duration : 47 min 29 s
Duration : 47 min 29 s 234 ms
Duration : 47 min 29 s
Duration : 00:47:29.234
Duration : 00:47:29.234
Bit rate : 2849
Bit rate : 2 849 b/s
Frame rate : 0.082
Frame rate : 0.082 FPS
Frame count : 233
Count of elements : 233
Stream size : 1014800
Stream size : 991 KiB (0%)
Stream size : 991 KiB
Stream size : 991 KiB
Stream size : 991 KiB
Stream size : 991.0 KiB
Stream size : 991 KiB (0%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.00033
Language : fr
Language : French
Language : French
Language : fr
Language : fra
Language : fr
Default : No
Default : No
Forced : No
Forced : No
Original source medium : DVD-Video
Text #4
Count : 298
Count of stream of this kind : 5
Kind of stream : Text
Kind of stream : Text
Stream identifier : 3
Stream identifier : 4
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ID : 8
ID : 8
ID in the original source medium : 189-35
ID in the original source medium : 189 (0xBD)35 (0x23)
Unique ID : 8
Format : VobSub
Format : VobSub
Commercial name : VobSub
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration : 2849234.000000
Duration : 47 min 29 s
Duration : 47 min 29 s 234 ms
Duration : 47 min 29 s
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Duration : 00:47:29.234
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Bit rate : 2 923 b/s
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Frame rate : 0.082 FPS
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Stream size : 1041240
Stream size : 1 017 KiB (0%)
Stream size : 1 017 KiB
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Stream size : 1 016.8 KiB
Stream size : 1 017 KiB (0%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.00034
Language : es
Language : Spanish
Language : Spanish
Language : es
Language : spa
Language : es
Default : No
Default : No
Forced : No
Forced : No
Original source medium : DVD-Video
Text #5
Count : 298
Count of stream of this kind : 5
Kind of stream : Text
Kind of stream : Text
Stream identifier : 4
Stream identifier : 5
StreamOrder : 8
ID : 9
ID : 9
ID in the original source medium : 189-36
ID in the original source medium : 189 (0xBD)36 (0x24)
Unique ID : 9
Format : VobSub
Format : VobSub
Commercial name : VobSub
Muxing mode : zlib
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : Picture based subtitle format used on DVDs
Duration : 2849234.000000
Duration : 47 min 29 s
Duration : 47 min 29 s 234 ms
Duration : 47 min 29 s
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Duration : 00:47:29.234
Bit rate : 2933
Bit rate : 2 933 b/s
Frame rate : 0.082
Frame rate : 0.082 FPS
Frame count : 233
Count of elements : 233
Stream size : 1044912
Stream size : 1 020 KiB (0%)
Stream size : 1 020 KiB
Stream size : 1 020 KiB
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Stream size : 1 020 KiB (0%)
Proportion of this stream : 0.00034
Language : pt
Language : Portuguese
Language : Portuguese
Language : pt
Language : por
Language : pt
Default : No
Default : No
Forced : No
Forced : No
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Menu
Count : 102
Count of stream of this kind : 1
Kind of stream : Menu
Kind of stream : Menu
Stream identifier : 0
Chapters_Pos_Begin : 94
Chapters_Pos_End : 102
00:00:00.000 : en:Chapter 01
00:00:40.400 : en:Chapter 02
00:03:49.040 : en:Chapter 03
00:08:30.800 : en:Chapter 04
00:12:58.160 : en:Chapter 05
00:24:40.440 : en:Chapter 06
00:35:27.480 : en:Chapter 07
00:43:09.120 : en:Chapter 08
