23.11.

2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

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Cutting out images (/cutting-out-images/)
Exporting frames with VLC (/vlc-export-frames/)
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Plugin pack (/plugin-pack/)

How to extract the frames from a video using VLC

VLC has the ability to extract the frames from a video and will handle virtually anything you can throw at it. This
tutorial will show you how.

See this tutorial (/vlc-export-frames-pre-rincewind/) if you are using an old version of VLC (pre-
Rincewind).

1. Create a folder to store your frames and copy the path to it. For Mac OSX/Linux users, this must be the full path
(no ~).

2. Click Tools -> Preferences in VLC.

3. Under “show settings”, click “all”.

4. Under “Video”, select “Filters”. Tick “Scene video filter”.

5. Expand “Filters” and select “Scene filter”,

6. Paste the path from earlier into “directory path prefix”.

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23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

7. Decide what proportion of the frames you want to export. For example, if you want to export 1 in 12 frames,
type “12” in the “recording ratio” box.

8. Click “save”.

9. Click Media -> Open Video and find your video. Patiently let the whole thing play.

10. Click Tools -> Preferences. Under “show settings”, click “all”. Under “video”, select “filters”. Uncheck “Scene
video filter”. Click “save”. This is so that VLC won’t generate thumbnails the next time you play a video.

11. Open the folder you created earlier. The thumbnails should be there.

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23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

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LC
Leonard C − ⚑
9 years ago

For those who couldn't get it to work, even after setting the filter, make sure you run vlc as
administrator if it isn't already set that way. Thanks for the Tut Simon.

32 0 Reply • Share ›

N
Nils > Leonard C − ⚑
9 years ago

Thanks, that the solution!

1 0 Reply • Share ›

T
Tony > Leonard C − ⚑
4 years ago

legend. Thanks for the suggestion

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Diego Santos Leao > Leonard C

− ⚑
4 years ago

Dude, you are a lifesaver! Thank you very much ;D

0 0 Reply • Share ›

C
Chan Dicken > Leonard C
− ⚑
5 years ago

Thank you very much!

0 0 Reply • Share ›

A
Andi > Leonard C − ⚑
5 years ago
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23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

thank you! that solved my problem

0 0 Reply • Share ›
Copyright (C) Simon Brown 2009 - 2023. All rights reserved. .
gloves12 > Leonard C
− ⚑
9 years ago

I agree, this fixed!

0 0 Reply • Share ›

G
geoff − ⚑
10 years ago

I have just downloaded the latest version of VLC for Windows 32 - 2.1.2 Rincewind and it works
fine to do this.
Steps:
1 - Click Tools > Preferences and click radio button All
2 - Scroll down and click the + sign next to Video to expand
3 - Scroll down and click on Scene Filter and fill in the info for Directory Path prefix (where you
want to save frames). Don't click Save.
4 - Scroll up and click on the word Video under Filters
5 - Click the check box for Scene video filter and click Save.
6 - Open and run a video and it will save .png's
7 - To stop saving frames go back to step 5 and uncheck Scene video filter.
Easy really once you know where to find the settings.

10 0 Reply • Share ›

M
Matty > geoff − ⚑
8 years ago

I just tried this and the word Video does not appear under filters, it appears directly
above which does open a list of tickboxes but none of those say Scene video filter. This
was after opening vl with 'run as administrator'.

2 0 Reply • Share ›

Jack Johnson > Matty − ⚑

8 years ago

you actually have to click on the filters heading to get the video filter check
box.

1 0 Reply • Share ›

joão > Jack Johnson

− ⚑
2 years ago

thanks so much jack johnson

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Marusame
https://www.isimonbrown.co.uk/vlc-export-frames/
> geoff − ⚑
4/10
23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown
Marusame > geoff ⚑
9 years ago

ahhh so you can have the settings saved but then just uncheck the checkbox on the
filters. Okay so they need to udpate the page to let you know to do that.

2 0 Reply • Share ›

Supafairy > geoff − ⚑

8 years ago

Just giving this a bump. Point 4 and 5 needs to be performed as well. Worked for me
after checking the box off. Thanks a bunch!

1 0 Reply • Share ›

Avata This comment was deleted. −

M
Matthew Minnich > Guest − ⚑
6 years ago

a radio button is the circle that has a dot after it is selected. It is simply the
type of button instead of a check box which is a square and has a check mark
after it is selected.

0 0 Reply • Share ›

C
Chase Morgan − ⚑
8 years ago

If you're having trouble, change the format to bmp. You wont lose quality (as with jpg), and more
importantly, it seems to work.

7 0 Reply • Share ›

Soycrates > Chase Morgan − ⚑

7 years ago

My video was choppy so frames weren't being captured properly (but were still being
exported). Switched to bmp and this fixed it! Thanks.

1 0 Reply • Share ›

G
Guest > Chase Morgan − ⚑
3 years ago

This works beautifully, and afterwards you can just run the files through a converter and
convert them all to png if you want that format. Thank you so much (from the future)!

0 0 Reply • Share ›

patrickoriley > Chase Morgan − ⚑

4 years ago

Dude, 5 years later, but lifesaver. thanks.

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23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

0 0 Reply • Share ›

J
Jim > Chase Morgan − ⚑
8 years ago

Thank you! Combined with geoff's comment above, this worked for me.

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Mladen Dragovic > Chase Morgan − ⚑

8 years ago

BMP definitely worked for me! Thanks!

0 0 Reply • Share ›

L
Liz − ⚑
9 years ago

Did all that and folder is empty. This didn't work. I made sure it's in the correct directory and did a
search for the frames but nothing.

7 1 Reply • Share ›

Dan > Liz − ⚑

9 years ago edited

run vlc as administrator

2 0 Reply • Share ›

Darth Continent − ⚑
9 years ago

This didn't work for me.

I had to actually click ON Filters and then check a box there called "Scene video filter" to actually
enable that filter during video playback. After doing this, it worked.

3 0 Reply • Share ›

Hussain Zidane > Darth Continent − ⚑

7 years ago

Thanks it helped me, it's saving as JPG now.

1 0 Reply • Share ›

I
Imara > Darth Continent − ⚑
8 years ago

I can not find anything named Scene Video Filter :/

1 0 Reply • Share ›

A
Anonymous
https://www.isimonbrown.co.uk/vlc-export-frames/
> Imara − ⚑
6/10
23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

A
Anonymous aa
7 years ago

(1) Expand "Video" by clicking the "+"

(2) Highlight "Filters" - on the right side you will see some check-boxes - enable
"Scene Video Filter".
(3) Expand "Filters" by clicking on the "+" , under this you will again see "Scene
Filter" - Highlight this and on the right side panel you will see options to set.

--> So there are two steps - a) Enable the filter and b) set options for the filter.

Hope this helps.

Thanks to everyone here (geoff esp) I got it to work finally!

1 0 Reply • Share ›

Darth Continent > Imara

− ⚑
8 years ago

What OS are you using? I saw that option in the Windows version of VLC.

0 0 Reply • Share ›

F
fwoeifj − ⚑
10 years ago

No longer works in VLC version 3+

4 1 Reply • Share ›

DontBeMadBro − ⚑
7 years ago edited

it works! You guys make sure you click first on the filters tab to make active and then unfold this
tab to actually select plugin to set up.
also you don't have to run it as administrator, just make sure the directory exists, otherwise
nothing happens.
I wonder, why my images are gone. Here is link to imgur: http://imgur.com/a/goN2A (in my case
it was set to drive 'X' and folder 'vlc', this is my ramdisk, so unused content will be wiped off after i
turn off the pc)

2 0 Reply • Share ›

M
Mercury − ⚑
8 years ago

Hasn't anybody heard of Anyframe? http://www.anyframe.net

It's a service that allows video frame extraction.

2 0 Reply • Share ›

Andre > Mercury − ⚑

2 years ago

It doesn't exist anymore

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23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Glenn Ray − ⚑
5 years ago

For those still unable to export, make sure that the image width and Image height settings have
values. My default settings were "-1" for each! Once I reset them to 1920 and 1080, respectively,
the export worked. ⛺ View — uploads.disquscdn.com

1 0 Reply • Share ›

Rockman Rock > Glenn Ray − ⚑

4 years ago

I did all this. Every single bit of advice has been used, ticking the filter box, putting in the
correct image width, using .jpg, running as admin etc etc, nothing shows in the
destination folder.

1 0 Reply • Share ›

Andre > Rockman Rock − ⚑

2 years ago

Same here, plus using source video format mp4, webm and avi. Nothing
works. Windows 10 / VLC 3.0.16

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Matt Scheurich − ⚑
7 years ago

In Mac/Linux, I ended up using Terminal and `ffmpeg` with a shell script:

https://gist.github.com/lvl...

1 0 Reply • Share ›

A
Adnan − ⚑
9 years ago

Not working .
I ran it as administrator but folder is empty

1 0 Reply • Share ›

P
pedro − ⚑
10 years ago

I have VLC 2.1.3 Rincewind and I dont have scene filter under Output modules. It only has
Dircet3D DirectX Dummy and YUV output. Am I missing a plugin or an add-on? Please advise.
Thanks in advance.

1 0 Reply • Share ›

henrybowman_az − ⚑
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23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

a year ago

Doesn't seem to work on a Mac (Monterey, VLC 3.0.18). Tried with and without trailing slash; tried
png (the default) and jpg. There is no "running as administrator" on a Mac. Guess I'm stick with a
low-quality screen shot. :-(

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Paul_BD − ⚑
4 years ago

This works for me with .avi movies, but not with .mp4

0 0 Reply • Share ›

GetItGoing − ⚑
6 years ago

Thanks so much - this works great!

Fantastic for:
• Getting any thumbnail image you want from a video
• Capturing images from a video that you couldn't otherwise find anywhere

I used it to snatch the background images from a video maker program that aren't accessible
otherwise. ;)

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Kouki Matsumoto − ⚑
6 years ago

it actually capture, not extract

test it, doesn't work with 1 (per frames)

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Z
Zizo Tron > Kouki Matsumoto − ⚑
6 years ago edited

Same.

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Kevin Matthew − ⚑
6 years ago

in the middle of the video, it starts to lag and seems to pause on a certain frame before picking
up again. this makes frames in the middle repeat as the video "paused" during the lag. What can I
do to fix this?

0 0 Reply • Share ›

Z
Zizo Tron > Kevin Matthew
− ⚑
6 years ago
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23.11.2023, 22:13 How to extract the frames from a video using VLC - isimonbrown

get a better pc, lol.

0 1 Reply • Share ›

Isadora's Brush − ⚑
7 years ago

It doesn't work.

0 0 Reply • Share ›

T
Tilly − ⚑
7 years ago

Could someone tell me how to capture 3 frames per second out of a 3m38s video please? Also
the steps I follow and click save, tried it full screen but its not working on my MacBook Pro?

0 0 Reply • Share ›

D
Deena Kirkham − ⚑
7 years ago

The instructions themselves work great, but the pictures I have when I've done this are either too
narrow or too small, like this ⛺ View — uploads.disquscdn.com

0 0 Reply • Share ›

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