diff --git a/js/app.js b/js/app.js
index d4f2528..6e6fc61 100644
--- a/js/app.js
+++ b/js/app.js
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ const state = {
   keep: new Set(),          // frames that get their own plate drawing
   frame: 0, playing: false, faceBox: null,
   fps: 12, audio: null,     // fps comes from manifest.json, never guessed
+  aspect: 1,                // imgW/imgH; converts MediaPipe's anisotropic space
 };
 
 const el = (id) => document.getElementById(id);
@@ -134,7 +135,7 @@ function rebuild(resetKeep) {
   const o = opts();
   const N = state.dense.length;
 
-  state.stab = stabilize(state.dense, o.smoothWin);
+  state.stab = stabilize(state.dense, o.smoothWin, state.aspect);
 
   const ap = state.stab.aperture;
   const head = Math.max(1, Math.floor(N / 4));
@@ -440,11 +441,13 @@ async function runFrames() {
     }
     const { dense, missing } = await detectAll(images);
     state.images = images; state.dense = dense;
+    state.aspect = images[0].naturalWidth / images[0].naturalHeight;
     el('scrub').max = dense.length - 1;
     state.frame = 0;
     rebuild(true);
     const dur = (dense.length / state.fps).toFixed(2);
-    status(`${images.length} frames · ${state.fps}fps · ${dur}s` +
+    status(`${images.length} frames · ${images[0].naturalWidth}x${images[0].naturalHeight} · ` +
+      `${state.fps}fps · ${dur}s` +
       (state.audio ? ' · audio loaded' : ' · no audio') +
       (missing.length ? ` · no face on ${missing.length} (held previous)` : ''),
       missing.length ? 'warn' : 'ok');
@@ -455,6 +458,8 @@ function runSynthetic() {
   state.images = [];
   attachAudio(null);
   state.fps = 12;
+  state.aspect = 1;         // synthetic landmarks are generated square
+
   state.dense = synthDense(72);
   el('scrub').max = 71;
   state.frame = 0;
diff --git a/js/pipeline.js b/js/pipeline.js
index 90ae12f..d75ea99 100644
--- a/js/pipeline.js
+++ b/js/pipeline.js
@@ -5,13 +5,22 @@
 import { RIGID, LIPS_OUTER, LIPS_INNER, APERTURE, FACE_OVAL, EYE_INNER, subsampleSlots } from './landmarks.js';
 import { fitSimilarity, applySimAll, applySim, fitResidual, procrustesMean, smoothTransforms, movingAverage } from './mathutil.js';
 
-const pick = (lm, idx) => idx.map((i) => ({ x: lm[i].x, y: lm[i].y }));
+// MediaPipe normalises x by image WIDTH and y by image HEIGHT, so its normalised
+// space is anisotropic: for a 1080x1920 frame, one unit of x is 1080px and one
+// unit of y is 1920px. Treating those as comparable stretches everything
+// horizontally by H/W, and worse, makes fitSimilarity fit a "rotation" in a
+// sheared space, so head roll comes out subtly wrong as well.
+//
+// Multiplying x by aspect = W/H converts to an ISOTROPIC space whose unit is one
+// image height, so equal numbers mean equal pixels. Everything downstream -
+// Procrustes, the similarity fit, the raster transform - depends on that.
+const pick = (lm, idx, aspect) => idx.map((i) => ({ x: lm[i].x * aspect, y: lm[i].y }));
 
 // Stage 1-3: fit the rigid transform per frame, smooth its parameters, then map
 // every contour through it into the reference frame. The result is head-local:
 // translation, roll and depth-scale of the head are gone.
-export function stabilize(dense, smoothRadius) {
-  const rigid = dense.map((f) => pick(f, RIGID));
+export function stabilize(dense, smoothRadius, aspect = 1) {
+  const rigid = dense.map((f) => pick(f, RIGID, aspect));
   const ref = procrustesMean(rigid);
   const raw = rigid.map((r) => fitSimilarity(r, ref));
   const tfs = smoothTransforms(raw, smoothRadius);
@@ -26,12 +35,12 @@ export function stabilize(dense, smoothRadius) {
     // Residual rises with out-of-plane rotation, which no 2D similarity can
     // remove. High values mean this section wants a different head plate.
     residual: tfs.map((tf, i) => fitResidual(tf, rigid[i], ref)),
-    outer: dense.map((f, i) => applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, LIPS_OUTER))),
-    inner: dense.map((f, i) => applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, LIPS_INNER))),
-    oval: dense.map((f, i) => applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, FACE_OVAL))),
-    eyes: dense.map((f, i) => applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, EYE_INNER))),
+    outer: dense.map((f, i) => applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, LIPS_OUTER, aspect))),
+    inner: dense.map((f, i) => applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, LIPS_INNER, aspect))),
+    oval: dense.map((f, i) => applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, FACE_OVAL, aspect))),
+    eyes: dense.map((f, i) => applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, EYE_INNER, aspect))),
     aperture: dense.map((f, i) => {
-      const a = applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, APERTURE));
+      const a = applySimAll(tfs[i], pick(f, APERTURE, aspect));
       return Math.hypot(a[0].x - a[1].x, a[0].y - a[1].y);
     }),
   };
diff --git a/js/selftest.js b/js/selftest.js
index cbf616e..0e41def 100644
--- a/js/selftest.js
+++ b/js/selftest.js
@@ -113,6 +113,40 @@ export function run() {
   const apRange = Math.max(...stab.aperture) - Math.min(...stab.aperture);
   ok('stabilisation preserves mouth motion', apRange > 0.05, `aperture range ${apRange.toFixed(4)}`);
 
+  // ASPECT: a shape that is circular in PIXEL space must stay circular in raster
+  // space. MediaPipe normalises x by width and y by height, so for a portrait
+  // frame equal normalised numbers are unequal pixel distances; feeding those
+  // straight through stretches everything horizontally by H/W. This asserts the
+  // isotropic conversion, and fails at ~1.78 for a 1080x1920 clip without it.
+  for (const [W, H] of [[1080, 1920], [1920, 1080], [640, 640]]) {
+    const aspect = W / H;
+    const N = 24, cx = 0.5, cy = 0.5, rPx = 200;
+    // a true circle of radius rPx, expressed in MediaPipe normalised coords
+    const circleFrames = [];
+    for (let t = 0; t < 4; t++) {
+      const pts = new Array(478).fill(null).map(() => ({ x: 0.5, y: 0.5, z: 0 }));
+      RIGID.forEach((id, k) => {
+        const a = (k / RIGID.length) * Math.PI * 2;
+        pts[id] = { x: cx + (120 * Math.cos(a)) / W, y: cy + (120 * Math.sin(a)) / H, z: 0 };
+      });
+      LIPS_OUTER.forEach((id, k) => {
+        const a = -(k / LIPS_OUTER.length) * Math.PI * 2;
+        pts[id] = { x: cx + (rPx * Math.cos(a)) / W, y: cy + (rPx * Math.sin(a)) / H, z: 0 };
+      });
+      FACE_OVAL.forEach((id, k) => {
+        const a = -(k / FACE_OVAL.length) * Math.PI * 2;
+        pts[id] = { x: cx + (420 * Math.cos(a)) / W, y: cy + (420 * Math.sin(a)) / H, z: 0 };
+      });
+      circleFrames.push(pts);
+    }
+    const st2 = stabilize(circleFrames, 0, aspect);
+    const ring = toRasterRing(st2.outer[0], LIPS_OUTER, 16, (p) => p);
+    const xs = ring.map((p) => p.x), ys = ring.map((p) => p.y);
+    const ratio = (Math.max(...xs) - Math.min(...xs)) / (Math.max(...ys) - Math.min(...ys));
+    ok(`circle stays circular at ${W}x${H}`, Math.abs(ratio - 1) < 0.02,
+       `w/h ratio ${ratio.toFixed(4)}`);
+  }
+
   // key selection
   const xf = (p) => ({ x: p.x * 320, y: p.y * 200 });
   const shapes = stab.outer.map((r) => toRasterRing(r, LIPS_OUTER, 8, xf));
diff --git a/js/underlay.js b/js/underlay.js
index 81ba004..14f8478 100644
--- a/js/underlay.js
+++ b/js/underlay.js
@@ -10,11 +10,13 @@ import { applySim } from './mathutil.js';
 
 // Compose pixel-space -> raster-space into one affine.
 //
-// MediaPipe normalises x by width and y by height, so normalised space is a
-// stretched pixel space and the composition is a general affine rather than a
-// similarity. Three mapped points determine it exactly.
+// Landmarks are converted to an isotropic space (unit = one image height) before
+// fitting, so pixels map in the same way: BOTH axes divide by imgH, not by their
+// own dimension. Dividing x by imgW here instead is what stretched the underlay
+// horizontally by H/W and made it disagree with nothing - it matched the equally
+// wrong vector shapes.
 export function frameAffine(tf, xform, imgW, imgH) {
-  const map = (px, py) => xform(applySim(tf, { x: px / imgW, y: py / imgH }));
+  const map = (px, py) => xform(applySim(tf, { x: px / imgH, y: py / imgH }));
   const P0 = map(0, 0), P1 = map(imgW, 0), P2 = map(0, imgH);
   return {
     a: (P1.x - P0.x) / imgW, b: (P1.y - P0.y) / imgW,