Alex Ruben
How To Remove Fortnite Black Bars Effectively
If you’ve ever jumped into Fortnite and noticed those annoying black bars on the sides or top of the screen, you’re definitely not alone. It’s super frustrating when your game looks all squished or letterboxed, especially when all you want is that full-screen immersion. Usually, it’s because the game’s resolution or aspect ratio doesn’t quite match your monitor’s settings. Sometimes, it’s a tiny tweak in a config file, other times it’s your graphics card settings messing with things. Whatever the cause, this guide is gonna walk through some practical solutions—no fancy tech jargon, just stuff that’s worked for folks like you and me. When done right, you’ll get that sweet, borderless view, and gaming feels way more natural.
How to Fix Black Bars in Fortnite
Adjust Display Settings in Windows
This one’s a good first step — sometimes Windows just doesn’t tell your monitor to use its full potential. Making sure your display resolution and scale are set correctly can clear up a lot of weird visual glitches.
- Hit the Windows key and type Display Settings. Click on the result.
- Make sure the correct monitor is selected if you’ve got multiple screens. It sounds silly, but sometimes Windows gets confused and defaults to a different display.
- Check that the Scale and Layout options are at 100% (or whatever the recommended value is). If it’s not, that can mess with your aspect ratio.
- Set the Display Resolution to the recommended for your monitor (usually 1920×1080 for full HD, or higher if you’ve got a 2560×1440 or 4K). If these are off, your game might be trying to stretch to something different, causing black bars.
- Confirm the Display Orientation is set to Landscape.
Locate and Edit Fortnite Configuration Files
This is where you get a little more hands-on, but it’s often needed if the game isn’t respecting your resolution settings. Fortnite’s config file can stubbornly hold onto old values, so changing them directly can help.
- Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
- Type
%localappdata%and hit Enter. That should take you to a folder likeC:\Users\YourUsername>\AppData\Local. - Navigate to the folder called FortniteGame, then open Saved, then Config, and lastly WindowsClient.
- Look for a file named GameUserSettings.ini. Right-click and choose Properties. Make sure the Read-Only box is unchecked—sometimes Windows keeps the file locked, and that can prevent changes.
Edit the Resolution Settings in the Config File
This is the meat and potatoes—getting Fortnite to match your monitor’s native resolution often clears those dang black bars. Just a heads up: on some setups, editing the file might not work immediately, or Fortnite might overwrite it after a patch. So, it’s a bit of trial-and-error.
- Open GameUserSettings.ini in Notepad or your preferred text editor.
- Press Ctrl + F and search for
ResolutionSizeX. You’ll likely see something likeResolutionSizeX=1280. - Change the values to match your monitor’s resolution. For example:
ResolutionSizeX=1920 ResolutionSizeY=1080 LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeX=1920 LastUserConfirmedResolutionSizeY=1080 DesiredScreenWidth=1920 DesiredScreenHeight=1080> Make sure every line that mentions the resolution matches your display, or Fortnite might just revert to old settings.
- Save the file, then right-click, select Properties, and check the Read-Only box again to prevent Fortnite from overwriting it.
Configure Your Graphics Card Settings
This can be a real game-changer. Sometimes, the graphics card control panel has its own scaling rules which override game settings. Tweaking that can make Fortnite stretch without black bars.
- Right-click on the desktop and select Nvidia Control Panel or AMD Radeon Settings, depending on your GPU.
- Navigate to Change Resolution and double-check your monitor’s resolution is correctly set here too.
- Next, go to Adjust Desktop Size and Position. Under scaling options, choose Full Screen instead of Aspect Ratio or Letterbox. This forces the GPU to stretch the game to fill the entire screen. Hit Apply.
Extra Tips & Common Pitfalls
- After making these tweaks, a reboot is often needed. Not sure why, but it seems to help reset any odd scaling settings.
- If things still look weird, try updating your graphics drivers—sometimes, an older driver can cause weird resolution issues.
- Don’t forget to check for Fortnite updates too. Sometimes, the devs patch these kinds of bugs in latest updates.
Wrap-up
Fixing black bars in Fortnite isn’t always a one-click deal, but it’s usually a matter of making sure your resolution and aspect ratio match across Windows, your game config, and graphics card. Experimenting with those settings typically gets you to that full-screen sweet spot. Just remember, some games and setups are quirky, and the changes might need a bit of patience. But hey, once it’s done, gaming on a borderless screen feels so much better, right?
Summary
- Check your display resolution and scale in Windows.
- Edit Fortnite config files to match your monitor’s resolution.
- Adjust your graphics card scaling settings for full-screen stretching.
- Restart and update drivers or game patches if needed.
- Sometimes, it’s trial-and-error, but it all pays off in the end.