# Still Image from YouTube? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 29, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528 "2010-09-29T22:11:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/1 "2010-09-29T22:11:44Z")
How does one capture & copy a single frame image from YouTube? I want to use it as a wallpaper on my desktop. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/2 "2010-09-29T22:15:34Z")
The long and very crude method would be to pause, press print scr, paste it into Paint, then erase all the stuff you don’t want. If you view it in full scree this will make for a lot less erasing. Pressing alt and print scr will take a picture of just the window, no bar on the bottom if you’re not in fullscreen. If you do it in fullscreen you may not even need to paste the image into Paint at all, just find out where your computer saves individual files on your clipboard and cut/move it somewhere else so you can find it in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/3 "2010-09-29T22:16:30Z")
Use the “Print Screen” key on your keyboard to capture the frame. Open Paint (or IrfanView or some graphics handler) Past the image (it’s on the Clipboard) into the graphics handler Crop out what you don’t want to keep Save it as a picture. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/4 "2010-09-29T23:28:02Z")
Thank You. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ramel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ramel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramel)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/5 "2010-09-30T04:08:02Z")
The pictures on YouTube can be a bit blurry, due to the conversion from a photo to a video. You can try finding the original image. Screenshot the YouTube video, clip the image so that the photo is central, then save it. Then go to [http://www.tineye.com/](http://www.tineye.com/) and upload it That website is a reverse image search engine. You can upload an image there and it’ll attempt to find other similar images. It’s good for finding original images, or larger ones. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/6 "2010-09-30T15:29:11Z")
My work computer has a program called [Snagit](http://download.cnet.com/Snagit/3000-2192_4-10004813.html), which lets you define and capture any rectangular portion of your screen, and it’s ridiculously simple to use. I just tried it out on a paused Youtube image and it worked great. Looks like it costs 50 bucks, but there’s a free trial available. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/7 "2010-09-30T16:04:34Z")
I like Jing for screen captures > **[TechSmith Snagit | Screen capture and screen recorder](https://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.html)** > > Screen capture and recording software for Windows and Mac. Quickly get images and videos. Start your free trial today! ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/8 "2010-10-01T16:54:51Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > then erase all the stuff you don’t want. If you view it in full scree this will make for a lot less erasing. Why on earth would you use an erase tool when you could instead use a cut or crop tool, which would take only a second \*and \*give you clean edges? ---
**Author:** ![moldybread](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@moldybread](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moldybread)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/9 "2010-10-01T18:00:57Z")
You could download the video from youtube (.flv extension) and open the file using VLC media player. In vlc you can pause it at the picture and there is a screen grab tool built into it. I use an addon in firefox to download youtube clips. I can’t recall the name and I’m at work at the moment. I will try to post it later. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/10 "2010-10-01T18:25:55Z")
If you have a PC there should be a “Snipping Tool” in the Accessories menu that is a lot easier to use than prt-scrn. While this doesn’t help the fact that stills from YouTube can be blurry, I’ve found that if you pick the “frame” (as it were) carefully, you can get a clearer still. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/still-image-from-youtube/555528/11 "2010-10-01T21:49:20Z")
You can also make animated gifs by using [Gif Soup](http://www.gifsoup.com/).