How to extract images from videos?

Getting an image from a video is an essential task. Imagine that you took videos of a wedding. A few days later, you regret not taking any photos of the event. Well, you can obviously use the videos you made to extract photos. However, you do not know how to do it. We will see in this tutorial what tools to use on a mac.

What are the solutions to consider?

There are several ways to capture images from videos. However, they are not all equivalent in extraction quality, ease of use, and efficiency. We will list a few techniques below.

• Using Screenshot: The first and probably the easiest solution is to take a screenshot of your video player. Such a solution has many drawbacks. The most problematic issue is the quality of the resulting images. Indeed taking a picture of a screen displaying a video will seriously degrade the original quality. Moreover, the size of the produced images will not be equal to the size of the video. So, this method does not allow the extraction of a set of uniform photos.
• Using Quicktime: The second solution is much more enjoyable. Indeed, it allows extracting images of the same quality as the original video. You have to open the video with Quicktime and click on the gear icon. You will be able to export the current frame and save it in TIFF format. You will then have to convert it to JPEG. One drawback is that this method is time-consuming. (Besides, this function has been removed from the latest version of macOS.)
• Using SnapMotion: The third solution is to use SnapMotion. SnapMotion is an application for macOS that has been designed to extract images from videos. The app always allows you to get photos of the best possible quality, whether the video is in HD or 4K. The application offers two modes for maximum efficiency: a manual mode to obtain images with precision and a batch mode to extract hundreds or even thousands of pictures.

How to use the manual mode of SnapMotion?

The manual mode of SnapMotion allows making captures with precision. This mode is particularly suitable when you want to take pictures of events. To get started, you have to open your video with SnapMotion. For that, you just have to drag and drop the video on the SnapMotion window. You can also use the "Open" button or drag and drop the file on the icon.

Once the video is open, you can play the video. Buttons on the left of the slider allow you to navigate frame by frame. Hence, you can take a look at all frames of your file. Once you have decided the frame you want to save, just click on the blue button.

Once an image is captured, it is directly saved on your device in the folder of your choice. The app can export photos in PNG, JPEG, TIFF, HEIC. Do not hesitate to browse preferences to change advanced settings such as metadata.

How to use the batch mode of SnapMotion?

The batch mode of SnapMotion allows you to extract hundreds of images effortlessly. For example, this mode is very used in the domain of extreme sports. Video makers can get images of movements from all angles.

Of course, the first thing is to open your video in the app. Nothing is more simple. You just have to do as before. Please note that you can import multiple files at the same time.

To open the batch, you can click on the icon at the bottom left, as shown in the screenshot below.

A window with all the settings will appear. You can select the capture interval and set the capture options. Then press the capture button to start the export. One more time, you can select multiple files to apply the capture to all of them.

The app performs all the tasks in the background. You can take a look at the progress in the window title bar, and a notification will notify you at the end of an extraction task.

Where can I download SnapMotion?

If you want to capture images from video, you need SnapMotion. This is the only solution that guarantees you image quality and ease of use. A demo version of the app is available on our website. You can also find the app in the Mac App Store.