# Yahoo Messenger WebCam screencaps...possible? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-messenger-webcam-screencaps-possible/215806 "2003-11-28T23:55:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-messenger-webcam-screencaps-possible/215806/1 "2003-11-28T23:55:37Z")
Pretty simple question with hopefully a just as simple answer. If I’m cam chatting with a friend on Yahoo, is there anyway to save a frame or even a clip from the stream? I suppose I could do a screen capture and then edit out the parts that aren’t webcam but that would be a very small picture, wouldn’t it? Anyone ever tried and had success? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-messenger-webcam-screencaps-possible/215806/2 "2003-11-29T07:20:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Max Carnage \* > **I suppose I could do a screen capture and then edit out the parts that aren’t webcam but that would be a very small picture, wouldn’t it?** I don’t think you can get a bigger picture by another method, because what you see on the screen is all the information transmitted to you. You could enlarge it with an image editing program but of course, that would simply result in a fuzzy image. I’m not even sure if a normal screen capture captures a webcam image - some programs (e.g. Windows Media Player) write to the video device directly, and the image won’t show up a screen capture. Sorry, I don’t have Yahoo Messenger installed to try it. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-messenger-webcam-screencaps-possible/215806/3 "2003-11-29T08:07:40Z")
I just did it today, actually. Here’s how you do a screenshot: Control-C-PrintScreen, then Paste it into Paint, then you can edit the image as you choose. I don’t know about a clip. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-messenger-webcam-screencaps-possible/215806/4 "2003-11-29T14:17:01Z")
Trillian Pro allows you to capture screencaps off Yahoo webcams. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-messenger-webcam-screencaps-possible/215806/5 "2003-11-29T14:58:32Z")
For Mac OS X users, the Grab utility will do a screen capture. It will save your image as a TIFF file that you can then edit. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yahoo-messenger-webcam-screencaps-possible/215806/6 "2003-11-29T16:36:32Z")
Ok, I tried alt-PrintScreen and just got the foreground window (the cam) captured. Then was able to paste it else where. So that I’ve got. now just gotta figure out if I can do a clip.