tb wrote:Key thing here, if I understand your queston:
TVs, computer screens, etc are landscape aspect (wide but not high), so when people film things on their phones in portrait (tall and narrow) – because that's how people hold phones – and it's shown on a landscape device like a TV, the choice is either to have black blocks either side of the image, or those blurry bits.
And someone decided the blurry stuff looks better.
(There's a video on how to do it – complete with annoying ad) here:
https://youtu.be/-Ax8yUp5Ru0 Thanks for that tb.
So I presume how it looks right now, will be the same for generations to come - oh joy.