How can I make the background dark while watching video?

Question

While watching videos on my desktop(not in browser) I want to make the background dark.
For eg:

In the above pic I want everything to be black except the video. I don't want to make it full screen due to the reduction in the quality of the video.

Answer 1

You can do this with the VLC media player:

1. Install vlc
2. Load your video.
3. Uncheck Video ➜ Scale. This will keep the video the same size when viewed in fullscreen.
4. Hit F11 to make VLC fullscreen.
5. Hit Ctrl+H to hide the interface.

Answer 2

This is actually not a solution but may I suggest you to use a more advanced player like VLC?

With VLC you can disable scaling with Video->Scale .

Answer 3

Probably a nicer solution is the compiz-plugin dim inactive which once enabled will fade out all windows except the active one.

Ensure you have installed the package compiz-plugins-extra

To try it out, run ccsm (compiz-config-settings-manager) and

• enable Dim Inactive found in the Accessibility section
• Press <super>p

Answer 4

For F11 to work, you will have to go to video tab and deselect always fit window. Then you can select the video size.

Answer 5

In VLC, go to VIDEO-->UNCHECK "ALWAYS FIT WINDOW" .

Now you can go full screen without the video being stretched.