As we mentioned in an earlier post, Mac users can export still images from videos or movies using Apple’s video apps, QuickTime Player, the default media player, and iMovie, the free video editor from Apple. No need to download or install third-party video or image editors. In fact, we found even the Photos app comes with the ability to grab frames from videos on Mac.
Export frames from video in Photos app
Open the Photos app on Mac, go to import the video to Photos app and play the video or move in Photos app. Pause at the frame which you like to extract. Or drag the playhead to browse through frames until you reach the frame you like to export. Then go to the top menu bar, choose File > Export > Export Frame to Pictures.
After that, the selected frame in the video will be saved to your photos library as a picture in TIFF format. Note that the video frames will be saved to the Pictures folder other than the Photos app. See how you can access the Pictures folder to find those extracted still frames below.
Find exported video frames in Finder
Open Finder by clicking its icon in your Dock. From the top menu bar, select Go > Home. When your Home window opens in Finder, you can find the Pictures along with many other folders beneath. Double-click the icon to open Pictures and find the video frames we have just extracted from the Photos app.
Other Tools to grab still images from videos on Mac
- QuickTime Player: Check out how to extract still frames from video in QuickTime Player on Mac? It’s much easier than you think.
- iMovie: two methods to grab frames from videos in iMovie.
- VLC media Player: It is not just a media player. See how to take video snapshots with VLC media player, find video snapshots, change the default save folder on Mac?