BlackBox rejected your footage: every rejection email explained
Last updated: 20 July 2026 — written by Ivan Kuznetsov, BlackBox Global contributor and developer of Brollr
BlackBox Global sends rejection emails from info@blackbox.global. Each one contains a short technical message. This page lists the real messages, what each one means, and how to fix the clip so it passes. The examples come from actual rejection emails received as a contributor.
Invalid framerate
Your clip was recorded at a variable frame rate. iPhone footage is the usual case: the camera adjusts the rate while filming, so the average lands on an odd value such as 29.95 or 29.94 instead of an exact 29.97 or 30. The BlackBox portal measures the real rate and rejects anything that is not on its list. The fix is to re-encode the clip at a constant supported frame rate.
Why it happens: iPhone cameras adjust the frame rate while recording to save battery and handle low light. A clip labelled "30 fps" is usually 29.9-something in reality. Desktop editors often pass this through untouched, so the export fails the portal check even though the editor showed "30 fps".
How to fix it: re-encode the clip with a constant frame rate from the accepted list. In Brollr this happens automatically on export: the app measures the source, picks the nearest supported rate, and re-encodes the clip to a constant rate, so variable frame rate iPhone footage passes the portal check. You can do the same on a desktop with any encoder that has a constant frame rate option.
Invalid resolution
The portal accepts only exact standard resolutions, landscape and portrait. Odd sizes such as 888x1920 usually come from cropping or reframing in an editor, from a screen recording that ended up in the batch by accident, or from apps that export at non-standard sizes. A clip with a non-standard resolution has to be re-exported at one of the accepted sizes, or left out of the batch.
How to fix it: check the resolution before you upload. Brollr shows the reason directly on the clip in its video picker, for example "888x1920px not supported by BlackBox", so these clips never reach the upload step. For clips you want to rescue, re-export them at an exact accepted resolution in an editor.
Technical data could not be extracted
The file arrived incomplete or corrupted, usually because the FTP upload was interrupted. The portal could not read the video metadata, so it discarded the file. Upload the same file again; the clip itself is normally fine.
How to fix it: re-upload the file and keep the connection stable until the transfer finishes. Brollr uploads over FTP with TLS and shows per-file progress, so an interrupted transfer is visible immediately and can be retried from the app.
Release Issues
This one comes from the agencies, not from the portal's technical check. "Release Issues" means the clip shows people, private property, or trademarks without a signed release attached. No technical tool can fix this. Attach the model or property release in the BlackBox portal, or submit the clip as editorial if it qualifies.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my iPhone footage keep getting rejected by BlackBox?
Usually the frame rate. iPhones record at a variable frame rate, and the BlackBox portal requires an exact constant rate. Re-encode at a constant supported rate before uploading. Brollr does this automatically on iPhone and iPad.
Which frame rates does BlackBox accept?
The portal's own rejection email lists: 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 48, 50, 59.94, 60.
Which resolutions does BlackBox accept?
1920x1080, 1280x720, 3840x2160, 4096x2160, 4096x2304 in landscape, and 2304x4096, 2160x4096, 2160x3840, 1080x1920 in portrait.
Can rejected footage be resubmitted?
Yes. Fix the technical issue and upload the file again. For "Release Issues", attach the missing release in the portal instead.