How to take photos from a video on your mobile or PC

Taking photos from a video

Have you ever needed a picture, but it’s only on video? It’s possible that if you’ve ever wanted take pictures from a video, you have taken a screenshot of the screen. Although this is useful, the quality of the extracted frame drops quite a bit, and there are many other ways you can achieve this without losing too much resolution in the image.

Therefore, in this oneHOWTO article we are going to give you several tricks and programs with which you will know how to take photos from a video quickly and easily. Whether you are on a PC, an Android mobile or an iPhone, you will find a solution for you!

How to take photos from a video on PC

If you need to take photos from a Windows video, you have many alternatives to obtain a good result. Of course, take into account that the captured image will be in accordance with the quality of the video. Another interesting point to mention is that if you want to capture an image of a scene in full motion or action scene, you must wait for the precise moment in which the image is static, otherwise you will get a blurry photo. For this reason, there are programs with which you can play the video frame by frame to easily capture the appropriate frame.

Below we collect the most popular and free options so you know how to take photos from a video in Windows:

How to take photos from a video without programs

If you want to avoid taking a screenshot, but you need a good quality video image, Windows 10 offers an integrated program that will allow you to make certain edits to videos and photos without the need to download programs. This is the Photos application, and these are the steps you must follow to take pictures from a video without programs:

  1. Open the video in the Photos app. It is usually the default option for Windows, but if it is not, you can find it in the Open with options by right-clicking on the video.
  2. Play the video up to the frame you need and pause.
  3. At the top right of the screen you will see an option called Edit and create. Expand the options and choose Save photos.
  4. A screen will open for editing the video and you will only have to choose the option Save a photo.
  5. The image will be saved in the same location as the video.
How to Take Photos from Video - How to Take Photos from Video on PC

VLC Player

This video player stands out for being compatible with a wide variety of formats. It is used to capture both video and gif images. If you don’t have it yet, you can download it for free at this VLC Player link. For take photos from a video with VLC Player, follow the steps below:

  1. Open the video with the player. You can do this by selecting Media> Open File and browsing for the video. You can also right click on the video in the folder where you have it saved and select “Open with”. It will give you the option to open it with VLC Player.
  2. Play the video until the exact moment that interests you and pause.
  3. Press Shift + Caps Lock + S.
  4. The image is automatically saved in the image gallery. If you want to change the storage folder, enter the VLC Player menu and change the destination folder.
  5. If you have a hard time getting the frame you want, go to the VLC Player menu and select View> Advanced Controls. 4 new buttons will appear on the panel, among which you can see Capture Screen and Advance Frame by Frame. You can play the video more slowly to select the image you want to take.
  6. If you want to manipulate the quality of the frame you extract, go to Tools> Preferences> All> Filters. You can alter the width, height, intervals, and you can select to capture multiple frames at the same time if you need more than one image.

If the video whose image you want to extract is on the Internet or on YouTube, in our article How to download a YouTube video without programs we give you the best options to save it on your PC.

How to extract frames from a high-quality video

If you want to get a quality frame, you need a professional or semi-professional program. In this sense, there are many alternatives in editing and post production programs, both for Mac and PC: Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, Pinnacle Studio, Sony Vega Pro, Corel VideoStudio, iMovie, Window Movie Maker, VideoPad Video Editor, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, among others.

How are these programs different from other non-professionals? Mainly in two things: the output formats have high quality options (for example tiff) and offer you different output sizes (screen sizes). If you want get a more professional result, follow the steps below:

How to take photos from a video in Adobe Premiere

  1. When you open Premiere, a window with certain preferences appears, locate and select “New Project”. Once open, put the preferences you need.
  2. Look in the menu File> New> Sequence
  3. Select the menu Files> Import or drag it from the folder to the project panel.
  4. Select the Files tab> Export> Media from the menu.
  5. A window called Export Settings will open.
  6. Choose the Formats option. A list of video and other format options will be displayed. Select between print and web formats: JPG, TIFF, and PNG.
  7. Just below the option above, locate Default Settings. Select the final size of the frame (the list shows screen size formats).
  8. Find Export file and press to the right. A window will open where you can choose where to save the final image.
  9. Look to the right of the panel, you will find a box with the video. Just below, you will see the timeline of the render.
  10. Select the frame or image. Press the letter “i”, the right arrow key and the letter “o”.
  11. Choose Export. This option is at the bottom of the panel on the right.
  12. Find the captured image in your chosen output folder.

How to take photos from a video on your mobile

Although you can always use the screen capture to take photos of a video, the result is not the best, as it depends on the resolution of the screen. Fortunately, most of today’s phones have video recording software that allows you to capture images while recording.

However, although the latter sounds ideal, it does not always work, since sometimes we need to take a photo of an already recorded video. In those cases, things get a little more complicated for us, so it is best to use an app. For this reason, below we describe you step by step cHow to take photos from an Android video and how to take photos from an iPhone video (for phones and tablets).

Video to Image Converter (Android)

Although its interface is not very attractive or up-to-date, Video to Image Converter allows us to do the job very easily and efficiently. It is also a free app.

  1. Download and open the app. When you open it, a button called Select will appear.
  2. Press the Select button. You will access the gallery of your Android.
  3. Select the video that interests you. Once chosen, it will show you the interface of the app, made up of a video player.
  4. Locate the frame you want to extract. Do it in the time bar, sliding it manually or playing the video and stopping it at the right moment.
  5. Press the Shutter button. It’s located at the bottom center of the screen.
  6. Find the photo in the Gallery folder.

Another app that works very well to capture images from videos is Frame Capture.

Slidely Capture – Photos & Collages From Your Videos (iOS)

If it is iPhone, Slidely Capture is the best option if you want to capture quality video images.

  1. Install the app.
  2. Open the video from which you want to extract the image or images.
  3. Stop it at the frame you want to extract.
  4. Capture the image by pressing the camera button. It is located in the central part of the window.

If you can’t find this app, another option you can try is Video Screenshot. It is very popular and works very well for iPhone.

If you want to read more articles similar to Taking photos from a video, we recommend that you enter our Software category.

Advice

  • Frames are images that follow one another; by passing them in sequence they create the illusion of movement.