Why this beats a screenshot
A screen capture gives you the video at the size it was displayed, with the player’s scaling and any compression the screen capture applies. Extracting a frame gives you the actual pixels at full resolution — a 4K video yields a 4K image, whatever size the window was.
Frame-by-frame stepping matters more than it sounds. Pausing catches whatever moment the player happened to land on, which for a fast movement is rarely the one you wanted.
PNG or JPG
PNG is lossless, so the frame is exactly what the video contained. JPG is smaller and adds a second round of compression to footage that has already been compressed once, which shows on detailed frames.
Take PNG if you are going to edit it; JPG only if the size matters more than the quality.
Frequently asked questions
Will the image be full resolution?
Yes — the frame comes from the video itself, not from what is on screen, so a 4K video gives a 4K image regardless of the window size.
PNG or JPG?
PNG for anything you will edit — it is exactly the frame. JPG adds a second round of compression to already-compressed footage.
Can I step one frame at a time?
Yes, which is the point. Pausing lands on an arbitrary moment, and for fast motion that is rarely the frame you wanted.
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