Once you insert a video clip on your slide, you can do so much more to
enhance its look. Probably, you may want to apply
corrections or
recolor your videos. Additionally, you can also apply any of
the preset Video Styles available. This is a quick and easy way to add some
character to your video without spending too much time. Further, there are small niceties that
PowerPoint 2016 provides, such as adding a border to your video clip. In this tutorial,
we'll explore how to add a frame-like effect to your video by using the Border option.
Follow these steps to learn more:
- Open your presentation, and navigate to the required slide where you have already
inserted a video clip. Just select or double-click the video clip to bring
up the two Video Tools tabs in the Ribbon. These two
tabs are Format and Playback, Click the Format tab to activate it, as shown in
Figure 1 (highlighted in blue).

Figure 1: Video Tools Format tab of the Ribbon
Tip: When you insert the video clip, if you see just a black rectangle on your slide, a
Poster Frame can be applied to your video clip. Because, when
you are choosing different Video Borders, it is good to see a
Live Preview of
the actual video clip being applied with those
Video Borders, rather than seeing a black rectangle. Anyhow, applying a
Poster Frame is entirely optional, and has no relation to your being able to follow the rest of this tutorial.
- Now, you can add a border to your selected video using any of the two ways mentioned below:
i. Apply a Video Style that includes a border, and edit it
later, as required.
ii. Click the Border button (not the down-arrow), as shown highlighted in
blue within Figure 2, below. This adds the default border that you can edit later.

Figure 2: Video Border button
- Once you have added the border to your selected video, you can edit the applied border with the border editing options. To do so, click
the down-arrow next to Video Border button (highlighted in red within Figure 2, above).
- This opens the Video Border drop-down gallery that you can see in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Video Border drop-down gallery
Let us explore all options within the Video Border drop-down gallery, as marked in Figure 3,
above:
A. Theme Colors: Here you can select any of the colors which are from the active Theme of the presentation. You
can also select any of the 5 tints or shades for any Theme color. Learn more about Themes
here.
B. Standard Colors: Here you can choose from any of the ten standard colors. These ten standard colors are just choices of
colors that PowerPoint believes to be widely used. You don't have to limit yourself to either the Theme colors or Standard colors, as
you'll learn in the next options, although it's a good design idea to use Theme colors as far as possible.
C. Recent Colors: Here you can find the colors most recently used. If you have just launched PowerPoint and created a new
presentation, the Recent Colors option may be entirely absent since you haven't selected any color recently!
D. No Outline: Choose this option to remove the border altogether from your selected video clip.
E. More Outline Colors: This option summons the Colors dialog box, which helps you to create new colors
to use as a background fill. To learn more about how to work with the More Colors option, read our
Formatting Lines (and Shape Outlines) in PowerPoint
2016 for Windows tutorial, explore step 4E in that tutorial.
F. Eyedropper: This option enables you to pick an exact color from anywhere, sometimes even from somewhere outside
PowerPoint. Explore our Eyedropper Option in
PowerPoint 2016 tutorial to learn more.
G. Weight: Change the thickness of the border from hairline to a chunky, thick line. Learn more about line thickness in
our Formatting Outlines for Shapes in
PowerPoint 2016 - Weight tutorial. Although the linked tutorial is about shape borders, the procedure explained in the tutorial applies
to video borders as well.
H. Dashes: These are different dash types for the video border. Learn more about these options in our
Formatting Outlines for Shapes in
PowerPoint 2016 - Dash tutorial. Again, although the linked tutorial is about shape borders, the procedure explained in the tutorial
applies to video borders as well.
- Once you have edited the video border, remember to save your presentation. In Figure 6 you can see a border added to the
selected video. Compare Figures 1 and 6.

Figure 6: Video border added and enhanced
- Save your presentation often.
See Also:
Video Borders in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Video (Movie) Borders in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac
Video Borders in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows