letterboxing

IPA/ˈlet.ə.bɒks/
IPA/ˈlet̬.ɚ.bɑːks/

letterboxing — noun

  • letterboxingsingular
  • letterboxingsplural

1. a display technique for video or film in which the complete wide-frame image is

1.nounB2
Definition

a display technique for video or film in which the complete wide-frame image is shown on a differently shaped screen by placing horizontal black bars above and below the picture.

Example

Hugo watched a 1950s western on his tablet, shown with letterboxing to keep the original wide view.

shown with letterboxing — common passive pattern

Anong explained that letterboxing preserves the director's original framing without cutting off the sides.

Common collocations
  • with letterboxing
  • letterboxing effect
  • use letterboxing
  • letterboxing bars
Synonyms
Antonyms
  • pan and scan

    the opposite technique, which crops the sides of a widescreen image to fill a narrower screen

  • full-screen formatting

    a method that stretches or crops the image to avoid black bars

Usage Note

This sense is an uncountable mass noun. Do not say 'a letterboxing' to mean a single instance — instead use 'letterboxing effect' or 'letterboxed format'. Distinct from sense 2 and 3 (physical objects); this sense is specific to film and video technology.

Common Mistakes

The movie uses a letterboxing effect that cuts off the top of the image.
Letterboxing adds black bars; it never cuts off the image.
Letterboxing preserves the full width; it is 'pan and scan' that crops the sides.

2. a long narrow opening cut into a door or the wall beside it, fitted with a movab

2.nounB1
Definition

a long narrow opening cut into a door or the wall beside it, fitted with a movable flap, through which letters and small packages are pushed into a house or building.

Example

Tunde installed a metal flap over the letterboxing on the front door to stop cold drafts from the hallway.

cover over the letterboxing — common collocation

Hui pushed the padded envelope through the letterboxing on the office door and heard it land on the mat inside.

through the letterboxing — prepositional pattern

Common collocations
  • through the letterboxing
  • cover over the letterboxing
  • letterboxing flap
Synonyms
  • mail slot

    standard American English term for the same fixture

  • letter slot

    less common synonym, mainly in formal building descriptions

Grammar Patterns

letterboxing + [preposition: through/in]

3. a tall metal container placed on a pavement or in a public square where people c

3.nounB1
Definition

a tall metal container placed on a pavement or in a public square where people can deposit letters for the postal service to collect and send onward.

Example

Ari walked to the corner letterboxing to post the wedding invitation before the final collection at five o'clock.

corner letterboxing — locative collocation

The red letterboxing on High Street is emptied twice a day by postal workers in small vans.

Common collocations
  • into the letterboxing
  • letterboxing on [street name]
  • metal letterboxing
Synonyms
  • postbox

    the far more common British term for this; 'letterboxing' for this sense is relatively rare

  • mailbox

    standard American term; in British English 'mailbox' usually refers to a private household container

letterboxing — verb

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

'Letterboxing' (noun sense 1) names the specific technique of preserving a film's original wide-frame composition by adding black horizontal bands. 'Letterbox format' is a near-synonym used interchangeably, though it can also refer to the resulting appearance rather than the active process. 'Widescreen' is a broader descriptor covering any image wider than the standard 4:3 ratio — it does not specify how the image is displayed. 'Aspect ratio' is a measurement term (e.g. 16:9, 2.35:1) that describes the proportional relationship between width and height but says nothing about black bars. 'Pan and scan' is the conceptual opposite: it removes the black bars by cropping the sides of the image, which can cut off up to half the original frame. For example, a 2.35:1 film letterboxed on a 16:9 TV will have small black bars top and bottom; the same film pan-and-scanned would fill the whole screen but lose about 30% of the picture at each side.

letterbox formatwidescreen ↗aspect ratiopan and scan

Common collocations

Prepositions

Etymology

EnglishOld FrenchLatin

Formed by adding the suffix '-ing' to the noun 'letterbox' (itself a compound of 'letter' + 'box'). 'Letterbox' originally referred to a physical box or slot for receiving letters (16th century). The film-technical sense emerged in the 1980s when home video formats like VHS struggled to show widescreen cinema images on standard 4:3 televisions, and engineers described the black-bar effect as resembling the slot shape of a door letterbox.

First known use

1977

1977, in the meaning defined at sense 2