Chrome Story

Why is My Chromecast Zoomed In?

Are you seeing pictures and videos on your Chromecast zoomed-in, displaying widescreen, or cropped off? This article will help you troubleshoot this issue and make Chromecast zoom out.

Why is it zoomed in or cropped off?

You might occasionally see Chromecast videos or even Ambient Mode wallpapers getting cropped off on the screen. Most of the time, this happens because of an incorrect aspect ratio. Here is a list of workarounds that we found while researching for this article.

Before we start, the first thing you should try is restarting both your TV and Chromecast. If that does not fix the issue for you, try one of the following workarounds that we found working for many users on Google’s official forum and Reddit.

Letterboxing

Another issue that you might be able to fix by switching to the correct aspect ratio is Letterboxing.

A 3:2 Chromebook (Pixelbook, Pixel Slate, C302, etc. will display with black edges, on a 16:9 TV, when someone casts the desktop, or tab from a Chromebook.

Change “Overscan” Settings

Overscan – image via Wikipedia

“Overscan is a behavior in certain television sets, in which part of the input picture is shown outside of the visible bounds of the screen”

Different TV makers might call this with different names. Look for “overscan” or something that sounds similar. If you find overscan IIRC, disable it. In some TVs, it is called 16:9 overscan. 

If your TV has “Just Scan”, use that option.

If you are not able to find overscan settings on your TV, try Googling “overscan + your TV model”. If you have your TV’s manual handy, be sure to refer to that as well. Look for “aspect ratio” or “overscan” here as well.

If you are lucky, you might find this option to change the display mode on the TV remote itself. Keep pressing the aspect ratio button to cycle through all the available options. Stop when you find the right aspect ratio for the Chromecast.

Change TV Zoom Settings

Directly related to the previous issue, zoom setting is how the TV set responds to content that is in the incorrect aspect ratio.

Refer to this article from Remove and Replace for recommendations on how to fix this issue.

Hope you found this article helpful. If you have any followup questions, post them in the comments section.

In

12 responses to “Why is My Chromecast Zoomed In?”

  1. Marek

    Well I am searching how to fix this problem. It is not TV. It is not designed to overscan anything. This is professional monitor Dell 3008WFPt. Definitely not cheap, definitely does not need with signal or receives, as raspberry pi 3B and raspberry pi 4B and even nVidia GeForce GTX 960 and AMD Radeon RX 580 does NOT show such problem. Problem is with chromecast alone. I wish to be able to find solution, but blame is always put on TV (again not TV, but professional monitor, which lacks this antifeature)

    Reply
    1. Morten Bonde

      Did you find a solution? :S I’m having same problem.

      Reply
  2. John Pershing

    Same, it’s with a gateway monitor and the lack of any options in the chromecast firmware is extremely disappointing.

    Reply
  3. bill

    i am same problem, hope google with fix it

    Reply
  4. J.

    Anything yet?
    This does not allow me to see the side menu at all.
    Following for a solution.

    Reply
  5. Ariane Brunoro

    Thank you so much! This will help my online lectures

    Reply
  6. Harri

    Its not a problem of the TV’s zoom or “overscan” settings. Its a problem of the chromecast. It cuts of the edges.

    Reply
  7. Lindsay Rohan

    This worked for me: Go into Chromecast settings on your phone and turn off “video smoothness”

    Reply
  8. Neil Cobbett

    On chromebook pixel, playing video via chrome browser it auto adjust to full width. When casting from settings menu I get a letterbox view of the video. Problem is chorme browser can only play certain limited video formats. Why does a Google Chrome book not play nice with a Google home casting device?

    Reply
  9. Jon

    Manually restarting the Chromecast from the settings -> system menu fixed this for me. Don’t know why.

    Reply
  10. philjc52 – Sydney, Australia – Christian Australian male. Married (recently) to a Mexican lady of similar age. Trying to learn a little Spanish.
    Phil

    On my TCL, I found it was on Wide Zoom under the Picture menu. Changed to 16:9 and I can see everything.
    TV recently spent a week off and I previously found the date had reverted to default.

    Reply
  11. Niko

    Thanks. The advice to select Just Cast fixed the problem on my LG TV.

    Reply

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