Skip to content
Nick MissiaenFreelance Film & Video Editor
06Plugins

Tools from the edit suite

Small Premiere Pro plugins I build for my own edits and share for free. Leave your email, get the download, and you'll hear from me when there's an update.

01 Premiere Pro · macOS and Windows · Free · v1.0.0

Black Bars

Cinema letterbox and pillarbox mattes, made at your sequence's exact size. Pick a ratio, see it on your own footage, and drop it on the timeline in one click.

Free. I only email you the download link and a note when there's an update. Unsubscribe in one click.

Needs Premiere Pro 25.6 or later. DaVinci Resolve version in the works:download now and you'll get an email when it's out.

The Black Bars panel in Premiere Pro: a 2.39:1 preview with rounded corners on a museum shot, saved presets, 14 aspect ratio buttons, corner and soft edge sliders, and the Export PNG & Import button.
A 16:9 shot from a KMSKA museum film with 2.39:1 black bars and softly rounded corners.
2.39:1 with 40 px rounded corners, straight out of the panel. Still from my KMSKA film.

How it works

  1. 01

    Open your sequence

    The panel reads its frame size and shows the frame under your playhead.

  2. 02

    Pick a ratio

    2.39:1, 1.85:1, 4:3, 9:16 and nine more, or type your own like 2.1 or 21:9.

  3. 03

    Shape the window

    Round the corners, or let a soft edge fade the black into the picture.

  4. 04

    Export & import

    One click saves a transparent PNG, imports it into a Black Bars bin and lays it on the top track at your playhead.

The panel set to 9:16 vertical: pillarbox bars with a 60 px soft edge, and three saved presets named Scope soft, Doc 1.85 and Reels.
Vertical, square, anything. 9:16 and 4:5 give pillarbox bars for social cut-downs. Save a look once and it's one click next time.
The bottom of the panel: the Export button, a Buy me a coffee button, and the What's new list for version 1.0.0.
Updates come to you. The panel tells you when a new version is out, and so does your inbox.

Install

  1. Double-click the downloaded .ccx file. Creative Cloud installs it.
  2. Restart Premiere Pro.
  3. Open Window → UXP Plugins → Black Bars.

Good to know

  • Bars are whole, even pixel sizes, so they stay razor sharp.
  • Wider than your sequence gives bars top and bottom. Narrower gives bars left and right.
  • PNGs land in a Black Bars folder next to your project file. Nothing gets overwritten.
  • Your sequence size changes? The panel follows it. You can also type any frame size.

Free, no catch

No trial, no watermark, no account. If Black Bars saves you time on a job, a coffee keeps the next plugin coming.

Buy me a coffee

More plugins

  • 02

    SyncMaster

    Multicam audio sync · Premiere Pro · macOS · Free

    v0.42.0 →
  • 03

    Black Bars for Resolve

    DaVinci Resolve · Free

    In the works