I am new to Kdenlive and video editing. I would like to know if there is a solution to my issue.

Clips with a different aspect ratio than the project profile have black bars added to them automatically. These black bars affect transformation effects. Is there a way I can stop Kdenlive from adding black bars?

https://images2.imgbox.com/b5/26/bWBKrsSB_o.png

Each of these clips are 240x160 (4:3). When I add the clip to the project, kdenlive adds black bars to the side of the clip to make it 16:9. These black bars are visible in the clip monitor. When I use the "composite and transform" composition, with the aspect ratio locked, and set the width to 960, the height is automatically set to 540, which makes a 16:9 aspect ratio.

Ideally, I would like any clips I add to the project to keep their source aspect ratio, and for any effects and compositions that use aspect ratio to use the aspect ratio of the clip instead of the aspect ratio of the project.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you.

I have found a workaround, which is to not use the "lock aspect ratio" option in the "composite and transform" composition settings. I was wrong, the black bars are not actually black, they are transparent.