<p>I doubt there will be much difference in the rendering capabilities between any of the software you list, as long as they play the video correctly. The biggest quality loss has already happened when the video was compressed to mp4. </p>

<p>Use whatever is easier. This is how you do it with ffmpeg</p>

<pre><code>ffmpeg -i themovie.mp4 -ss 1.23 -t 1 -r 1 -f image2 outputImage.png
</code></pre>

<p>where <code>1.23</code> is the time in seconds you want to capture. </p>

<p><strong>How that works</strong> is it tells ffmpeg to <code>-ss</code> search to 1.23, then <code>-t 1</code> means only export 1 second's worth of video, <code>-r 1</code> means at frame rate 1 frame per second (i.e. export only one frame). If you don't do the <code>-t 1 -r 1</code> dance it will complain about not being able to export the entire movie as a frame sequence. <code>-f image2</code> just telss ffmpeg to export as a still frame (it's probably redundant because you're specifying a .png as your output).</p>

<p>Many free, video players like <a href="http://mpv.io/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MPV</a>, <a href="https://mpc-hc.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MPC-HC</a> or <a href="https://www.videolan.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">VLC</a> can do this from a gui, meaning you can line up the exact frame by eye. They all use high quality video renderers which share a lot of code with ffmpeg. Using one of these, the task would be basically <a href="https://mpv.io/manual/stable/#keyboard-control" rel="nofollow noreferrer">hitting the s key</a> (or whatever) when you find the frame you want.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-07T02:10:09.657Z
This answer worked great.  One side note:  I had the  hardest time running this from cmd or powershell.  Finally did it in Mobaxterm linux window, like this:: "/drives/c/Program Files (x86)/ffmpeg/bin/ffmpeg.exe" -i VID_2012_1116787.mp4 -ss 77.0 -t 1 -r 1  outputImage.png
Marinaio
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-07T03:34:22.867Z
You probably need to add ffmpeg to your Path environment variable. Then you won't need to specify the full path to the executable. Another trick is that most terminal emulator apps let you drag files or executables, which will automatically generate the correct path
stib
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-05T07:47:08.000Z
2018-02-05T07:52:17.153Z
2018-02-05T07:52:17.153Z
stib
<p>I have a MP4 that I really really want a still from.
I want to make a canvas from that still.
I have access to: Adobe premiere elements 12, ffmpeg and gimp.
I want the still to be the highest resolution and quality possible.
Using one or more of those tools, is there a method that will have higher quality than other methods?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-04T23:39:54.043Z
Have you tried [this](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/using/freezing-holding-frames.html)?
Ambo100
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-05T01:39:31.037Z
@Ambo100  Will look into this,  Could be what I wanted.  thanks
Marinaio
<video><video-capture>
Highest quality way to extract a still from video
Marinaio
# Highest quality way to extract a still from video

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-04)

I have a MP4 that I really really want a still from.
I want to make a canvas from that still.
I have access to: Adobe premiere elements 12, ffmpeg and gimp.
I want the still to be the highest resolution and quality possible.
Using one or more of those tools, is there a method that will have higher quality than other methods?

**Tags:** video, video-capture

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Have you tried [this](https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/using/freezing-holding-frames.html)?  
> **username_0**: @username_1  Will look into this,  Could be what I wanted.  thanks  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-02-05. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

I doubt there will be much difference in the rendering capabilities between any of the software you list, as long as they play the video correctly. The biggest quality loss has already happened when the video was compressed to mp4. 
Use whatever is easier. This is how you do it with ffmpeg
ffmpeg -i themovie.mp4 -ss 1.23 -t 1 -r 1 -f image2 outputImage.png

where 1.23 is the time in seconds you want to capture. 
How that works is it tells ffmpeg to -ss search to 1.23, then -t 1 means only export 1 second's worth of video, -r 1 means at frame rate 1 frame per second (i.e. export only one frame). If you don't do the -t 1 -r 1 dance it will complain about not being able to export the entire movie as a frame sequence. -f image2 just telss ffmpeg to export as a still frame (it's probably redundant because you're specifying a .png as your output).
Many free, video players like MPV, MPC-HC or VLC can do this from a gui, meaning you can line up the exact frame by eye. They all use high quality video renderers which share a lot of code with ffmpeg. Using one of these, the task would be basically hitting the s key (or whatever) when you find the frame you want.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: This answer worked great.  One side note:  I had the  hardest time running this from cmd or powershell.  Finally did it in Mobaxterm linux window, like this:: "/drives/c/Program Files (x86)/ffmpeg/bin/ffmpeg.exe" -i VID_2012_1116787.mp4 -ss 77.0 -t 1 -r 1  outputImage.png  
> **username_2**: You probably need to add ffmpeg to your Path environment variable. Then you won't need to specify the full path to the executable. Another trick is that most terminal emulator apps let you drag files or executables, which will automatically generate the correct path  

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