Loom's web player and the file you download are not the same shape. The player fits your video into a fixed frame; the downloaded MP4 keeps the frame you actually recorded. When those two disagree, the video looks correct on the share page and stretched everywhere else.
Loom documents this on its own download page — and the wording contains a number worth reading twice.
What "stretched after download" actually means
Loom's page on downloading your video gives the mechanism in two parts. First, what the player does:
"Our web player adjusts the aspect ratio of a video to 16:9 (1280 x 800), which makes the video appear proportional."
Then what the download does:
"However, when you download a video, it is in the original aspect ratio the video was recorded in. That being said if you recorded in an atypical aspect ratio your video may look stretched out."
So the share page is not showing you the file. It is showing you a video that has been adjusted to fit a frame. Download it and that adjustment goes away: you get the original proportions back, and if those proportions were unusual, your desktop player has nothing to hide them behind. Nothing broke during the download — the stretch was being papered over before.
Now the number. Loom prints the target as 16:9 (1280 x 800). The two halves of that do not agree with each other: 1280 x 800 works out to 16:10, not 16:9. That is quoted exactly as Loom wrote it rather than quietly corrected, because when you are trying to match a frame, the difference between those two is precisely the kind of thing that leaves a picture slightly off. For the frame the player targets today, check the official documentation instead of the arithmetic in that parenthesis.
The fastest fix
Loom's suggestion on the same page is aimed at your next recording rather than the file already on your disk:
"To avoid this problem, we suggest changing your screen resolution to a 16:9 ratio."
That is the official route, and it is worth doing before a re-record: match the screen to the shape you want out the other end, and the recorded frame and the player's frame stop fighting.
Loom's HD page names the frames the desktop app aims at, which is useful when you are choosing a screen resolution to match: "If your device allows it, your desktop app recordings can be captured in Full HD, 1080p (1920x1080px) and up to 4K recording which roughly translates to 3840x 2160 pixels." Both of those are 16:9 on the nose.
For a file you have already downloaded, the re-encode happens outside Loom. And if your plan is to put a corrected version back into Loom, note the official path first — Loom's upload page states that "Video uploading is only available to users on Loom's Loom's Business, Business + AI or Enterprise plans" (the repetition is in the original). Loom also names the format it wants back:
"We recommend exporting your video using the media specifications in the above table (H.264/AAC to . MP4 file.)"
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
That runs inside your browser tab — the file is read from disk, re-encoded locally, and handed back, so a recording that was private in Loom does not travel through someone else's server to get fixed. The output is H.264 in an MP4 container, which is the pairing Loom's own table asks for. If you want the standalone version with the quality knobs exposed, it is at compress video.
Other causes, in order of likelihood
You recorded a custom-size area. Custom-size recording is the one mode where you draw the frame yourself, which makes it the easiest way to end up with a ratio the player has to adjust. Loom's page on it gives a hard floor — "The minimum size for a custom size video is 251 x 251 pixels" — and warns that "using a smaller custom size can affect the resolution of your video." It adds: "if your selected area is too small to support 4K, the system may automatically downgrade the recording resolution."
Your monitor is not feeding Loom a 16:9 picture. Loom's recording-quality page treats large monitors as a quality problem rather than a shape problem, but it points at the same setting: "If you're using a larger monitor, you will see some quality loss in your recordings. To combat this, you can change your monitor resolution to 1920x1080 to match 1080 pixels guideline." Two separate symptoms, one knob.
The resolution you picked was refused. On the same page, Loom says you may see a "not supported by your device" alert telling you "that high resolutions are disabled in your desktop quality selector," and explains when: "This will happen if your device's height or camera height does not support recording in those high resolutions." The word Loom uses is height — the geometry of the source, not just its megapixel count.
You are comparing a stream to a file. What you watched on the share page was adaptive streaming. Loom describes the behaviour directly: "The Loom web player will automatically choose the highest-quality version of the video that your internet connection can support." The stored media differs by recorder, too — Loom's encoding table lists "DASH with WebM" with "Codec: VP8/VP9" for the Chrome extension and "HLS with TS" with "Codec: H.264" for the desktop apps. Downloads, meanwhile, are always one thing: "All videos downloaded from Loom will be in a .MP4 format. The MP4 media encoding specs are similar to the RAW media recorded." Similar, in Loom's word — not identical. One more player-side quirk sits in the same area: Loom notes that "The video quality selector is not available for video's that have been trimmed or stitched at this time," so on an edited video you cannot even check which version you were watching. More on the recorder split in Chrome extension vs desktop app quality.
How to tell it worked
Open the downloaded MP4 in any player that shows file info and read the pixel width and height, then divide. That ratio is the file's real shape — the one every app other than Loom's player will honour. Compare it to the frame you meant to record, not to what the share page looked like.
One thing a re-encode will not bring back: subtitles. Loom's download page lists what gets dropped — "other Loom features, including CTAs, Filler Word + Silence removal, Chapters, and Closed Captions, will not be included in the downloaded file." If your corrected video also needs captions, that is a separate job, covered in Loom downloads missing captions.
FAQ
Why does my Loom look fine in the browser but stretched after I download it? Because the web player adjusts the aspect ratio to make the video "appear proportional," and the downloaded file does not carry that adjustment — Loom says a download "is in the original aspect ratio the video was recorded in."
What aspect ratio does Loom's web player use? Loom's page says the player adjusts video to "16:9 (1280 x 800)." Those two figures describe different ratios, so treat the number as printed and check the official documentation for the current value.
How do I stop this happening on the next recording? Loom's own suggestion: "changing your screen resolution to a 16:9 ratio." If you record custom-size areas, keep the area's proportions in mind too — Loom warns that a smaller custom size can affect the resolution.
Can I re-upload the corrected file to Loom? Uploading is documented as a Business, Business + AI or Enterprise feature, and Loom asks for "H.264/AAC to . MP4 file." Loom also limits uploads to "4 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less."
The Download option is missing entirely — is that related? No, that is a permissions question rather than an aspect-ratio one. Loom states that "The download feature is only available on Business, Business+ AI, or Enterprise plans" and that "Users on the Starter Free plan can't download videos." The full role-by-role breakdown is in why you can't download your Loom video.
Does a downloaded Loom keep my captions or chapters? No — Loom lists CTAs, Chapters and Closed Captions among the features that "will not be included in the downloaded file."
Quotes from Loom's official help center pages on downloading videos, video encoding settings, recording quality, custom-size recording and uploads, checked 16 September 2026. Loom's pages sometimes disagree with one another — verify against the current documentation before relying on a detail. More download and export troubleshooting lives in the fix guides, and every browser-based converter is listed under Clapr tools.
