Zack Snyder’s Justice League – Widescreen Edition (16:9)
Hello everyone,
for quite some time now I’ve been working on my own 16:9 version of Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
Over the course of this project I’ve tried many different approaches — from traditional editing software to completely custom-made tools.
My goal is to create a true 16:9 version of the film while still preserving all Blu-ray standards and quality features without compromises:
- 4K
- HDR / 10-Bit
- all Audio tracks
- all subtitles
- chapters & metadata
Included audio languages:
- German (5.1 / 7.1 / Stereo)
- English (5.1 / 7.1)
- French (5.1 / 7.1)
- Italian (5.1)
- Spanish (5.1)
- Czech (5.1)
- Polish (5.1)
- Japanese (5.1)
… as well as a total of 28 subtitle tracks.
Software/tools used so far:
- MakeMKV – for ripping the Blu-rays
- MKVToolNix – for merging the two-part Blu-ray
- HomeCinemaCrop (my own Python application)
The last tool was developed specifically for this project.
In theory, it could also work for other older movies released in classic 4:3 or IMAX formats.
The primary source for this project is the German 4K Blu-ray release.
So why all this effort?
The movie was released in the IMAX format. While it certainly looks impressive, very few people actually own a real IMAX screen at home.
My own setup uses a 16:9 projection screen, and I wanted to create a version that fully fills the screen because I personally find that much more immersive.
However, I quickly ran into a major problem:
Simply cropping the top and bottom of the image is not enough.
Depending on the scene, this would cut off heads, subtitles, or other important visual elements. Because of this, I needed a dynamic crop system.
That’s exactly why I developed “ HomeCinemaCrop”.
To demonstrate how it works, I attached several screenshots further below.
The blue frame represents the final 16:9 crop area.
Depending on the scene, the crop can dynamically shift upward (“up”), stay centered (“center”), or move downward (“down”) in order to preserve important visual information.
The tool works using a CSV file that defines, for every single frame, whether the 16:9 crop should be positioned toward the top, center, or bottom of the image. This allows the crop position to dynamically adapt to each scene.
The final screenshot also shows the finished file loaded into HandBrake.
There you can see that all audio and subtitle tracks were preserved correctly.
The biggest remaining challenge right now is the final 4K resolution.
When you crop a 4:3 4K image into 16:9, you naturally lose vertical resolution.
Because of that, I’m currently experimenting with upscaling and possibly AI-based tools in order to get as close as possible to true 4K quality again.
If anyone here has experience with high-quality upscaling, HDR workflows, or similar projects, I’d really appreciate any advice or feedback.
And of course, if anyone has questions, suggestions, or general interest in the project:
Feel free to comment or message me.
