No keyboard, no stepping
On a phone there are no shortcuts at all. Dropping to 0.25× and tapping pause is the usual workaround, and it is never exact. The buttons here are taps.
Free · no sign-upWorks on mobileNothing uploaded
YouTube frame by frame
Step through any YouTube video one frame at a time. Use the buttons, or the same , and . keys YouTube uses. Then save the frame you land on, without the paused controls in shot.
Paste a link, step one frame at a time, save the frame.
Signed in, typed text and settings save automatically to your private account. Text opened from files stays in this browser’s local storage. Files stay in your browser. Account saving
or
Screen capture needs a desktop browser. On mobile, use the video frame extractor instead.
Your video plays herePaste a link above, or share a tab you already have open.
0:00.000 / 0:00
Frozen
Drag a box around just the video picture
Shared source preview. Click Capture frame to save the current frame.
F freeze / resume · Space freeze while the preview is focused
You are sharing a whole screen or window, so a capture would include everything around the video. Click Select video area and drag a box around just the picture. The selection is reused for every capture.
Free · no sign-up · nothing recorded. Frames are drawn straight to a canvas in this tab.
Width
How to step through a video
Paste the video link
Any YouTube URL: watch, youtu.be, Shorts or embed. The player opens right here with a transport bar under it.
Step to the exact frame
Use the frame buttons, or the comma and full-stop keys. Set the frame rate to match the video if a step lands twice on the same picture.
Save it if you need it
Capture this player crops to the video alone, and Freeze holds the frame so the paused controls are never drawn into the image.
The keys YouTube gives you, and where they run out
YouTube has frame stepping built in. It is genuinely good, and most people never find it. But it has three hard edges.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| , | Back one frame, paused only |
| . | Forward one frame, paused only |
| K / Space | Pause without summoning the control bar |
| < > | Slow down to 0.5× and 0.25× |
| J / L | Jump ten seconds back or forward |
Finding a frame is not keeping it
Stepping needs the video paused, and a paused player draws its controls over the picture. The shortcuts get you there; they cannot get you out with the image.
No timecode, no frame number
The player shows seconds. If you are logging a moment, citing a frame or comparing two takes, you want milliseconds and a frame count. Both are under the player here.
How the stepping actually works
A web page cannot press YouTube's keys for you. The player runs in a cross-origin iframe, and synthetic keystrokes do not cross an origin boundary. That is a security boundary, not an oversight.
What is available is YouTube's own IFrame Player API, which accepts a seek to a precise time. So a frame step here is a seek of exactly one frame's worth of time. That was worth checking rather than assuming: five consecutive 30fps steps each moved 0.0333s, landing exactly where asked, with no accumulated drift.
Why the frame rate is a setting
The API reports current time and duration, but there is no field anywhere for frames per second. YouTube does not tell us. So a step has to be expressed as a fraction of a second, and something has to choose the fraction.
The default is 30. If a step lands on the same picture twice, the real rate is lower. Try 24 or 25. If it appears to skip, the rate is higher. Try 60. Most YouTube uploads are 24, 30 or 60, and the picker sits next to the timecode so you can correct it in one click.
Getting the frame out
This is where the built-in shortcuts stop being enough. Pausing is exactly what pins the play button, progress bar and title over the picture, so a screenshot of a paused player always contains them.
Capture this player crops the recording to the video element alone, so no browser or page furniture can appear. Freeze then holds your chosen frame still while playback continues underneath. The controls never fade in, because as far as YouTube is concerned nothing was paused. Full detail on that is on the screenshot tool.
Stepping works anywhere. Saving uses the Screen Capture API, which is desktop only. On a phone, step here and use your device's own screenshot, or open the file in the video frame extractor if you have it.
Using the frame by frame player
The player and capture tray stay on the page. Controls appear as you open a video and start sharing.
Opening a video or another source
Paste a watch, youtu.be, Shorts or embed link into the YouTube link field. Press Open the player. Use YouTube's own play, timeline, volume and settings controls to find the moment.
The capture a tab or window you already have open link opens your browser's sharing picker instead. Screen capture needs a supported desktop browser. Opening and playing the embedded video does not grant screen access.
Playback and frame stepping
| Control | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Play / Pause | Start or pause the embedded video. |
| −1s / +1s | Pause and move one second backwards or forwards. |
| ◀ frame / frame ▶ | Pause and seek by one frame's worth of time at the selected rate. |
| Frame rate | Choose 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 59.94 or 60 fps. YouTube does not report its source rate. The default is 30. |
| Playback speed | Choose 1×, 0.5× or 0.25×. This changes playback speed, not the frame-step interval. |
The timecode shows the current position and duration. The frame counter is calculated from your chosen frame rate. It is an estimate, not a frame number supplied by YouTube.
In Full screen, focus the tool rather than the iframe. Comma or Left Arrow steps back; full stop or Right Arrow steps forward. Hold Shift for a one-second jump. K toggles playback. These shortcuts do not run while you edit a field.
Starting a capture session
| Control | What happens |
|---|---|
| Capture this player | Ask to share this tab. Where Region Capture is available, the source is cropped to the embedded player. Otherwise select the video area yourself. |
| Capture a tab or window | Choose an existing tab, window or screen in the browser's picker. Window and screen sharing include surrounding content until you crop it. |
| Freeze / Resume | Hold the shared picture still, then return to the live source. Keep the source playing so paused controls do not cover the picture. |
| Capture frame | Add the live or frozen picture to Captures. This creates a still image, not a video recording. |
| Stop sharing | End screen access. Captures already in the tray remain available. |
F toggles Freeze when focus is inside the tool and sharing is active. Space does the same when the shared source preview itself has focus. Expand preview enlarges the small preview. Shrink preview restores its size.
Selecting the picture area
For a manually shared source, keep the video visible and crop out surrounding content. The selection dimensions appear beside the box.
| Control | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Select video area / Adjust area | Open the crop selector. Drag a box around the picture in the shared source preview. Adjust area changes an existing selection. |
| Snap to 16:9 | Fit a widescreen rectangle inside the box you drew. Leave this alone for square or portrait video. |
| Use this area | Apply the selection to subsequent captures. A box must be at least 16 pixels wide and high. |
| Cancel | Close the selector without applying the new box. |
| Clear | Remove the crop and capture the entire shared source again. This Clear button belongs to the crop controls. |
Format and the captures tray
Format offers PNG, JPG and WebP where your browser supports WebP export. PNG keeps pixels losslessly. JPG and WebP use compression. Output reports the shared or cropped dimensions, which depend on screen capture rather than the video's native resolution.
Click a capture thumbnail to preview it. Download saves that capture; Remove deletes just that tray item. The preview has its own Download and Close buttons. Escape also closes the preview.
ZIP downloads every capture still in the tray. The tray's Clear removes them all. Each capture keeps the format selected when you took it. Changing Format does not convert earlier captures.
Working in full screen
Full screen expands the tool. Width offers Narrow, Wide and Full panel widths. Done, Escape or browser Back returns to the page. Keep the player visible while sharing it, because content covering the player can appear in a capture.
Frequently asked questions
How do I go frame by frame on YouTube?
On YouTube itself: pause the video, then press . to move forward one frame and , to move back one. They only work while paused, and the player must have keyboard focus. Click the video once first.
Paste a link above and you get the same thing as buttons, plus a running timecode, a frame counter and a way to save the frame you stop on.
Why is frame by frame not working on YouTube?
Nearly always one of three things. The video is still playing. The frame keys do nothing until you pause. Something else has keyboard focus, usually the comments or the search box; click once on the video itself. You are on a phone. The mobile apps and mobile web have no keyboard shortcuts at all. That is the one case YouTube cannot serve. The buttons on this page are ordinary taps, so they work there.
How do I go frame by frame on YouTube mobile?
You cannot do it in the YouTube app. There is no keyboard, and no frame-step gesture. The usual workaround is dropping the speed to 0.25× and tapping pause at the right moment, which gets you close but not exact. Use the step buttons above instead; they are taps rather than keystrokes, so they work on a phone.
How does stepping work if the page cannot press YouTube's keys?
It cannot. The player lives in a cross-origin iframe, and synthetic keystrokes do not cross an origin boundary. Instead this drives the player through YouTube's own IFrame Player API, seeking by exactly one frame's worth of time per step. In testing, five consecutive 30fps steps each moved precisely 0.0333 seconds with no drift.
Why do I have to pick the frame rate?
Because YouTube does not publish it. The API reports the current time and duration but has no field for frames per second, so a step has to be expressed as a fraction of a second and something has to decide the fraction. 30fps is the default; if a step lands on the same picture twice, or skips one, switch to 24, 25 or 60 and it will line up. Most YouTube uploads are 24, 30 or 60.
Can I save the frame I stop on?
Yes, and this is the part YouTube's own shortcuts cannot do. There is a catch worth knowing: stepping requires a paused player, and a paused player draws its play button, progress bar and title over the picture. An ordinary screenshot catches all of it. Capture this player crops the recording to the video alone, and Freeze holds your frame still while playback continues underneath, so no controls are ever drawn. Saving needs a desktop browser; stepping does not.
Is there a limit, or a watermark?
Neither. There is no account, no export cap and no watermark, and nothing is uploaded. The video streams from YouTube to your browser as normal. Any frame you save is drawn locally.
Something missing? Request a feature