Right-Click Twice to Copy a Video Frame

1:42 To save the exact frame of a YouTube video as an image, pause the video on a computer, nudge it to the frame you want with . (period, one frame forward) and , (comma, one frame back), then right-click the video twice and choose Save video frame as... (or Copy video frame). That is how George Vanous, who runs the Freedom! YouTube network, shows it in his Aug 16, 2026 video: he stops the video, steps back with the comma key to the instant his character leaves a platform, right-clicks twice, picks Save video frame as, and the image is on his hard drive. The second right-click is the trick. The first opens YouTube's own menu over the player; the second, made while that menu is open, opens the browser's menu with the video options. The browser takes the frame from the video itself, so the image has no player controls, captions bar or mouse pointer over it, unlike a screenshot.

Quick facts

How do I copy a frame from a YouTube video?

1. Open the video on youtube.com in Chrome on a computer.
2. Set the quality first: open the gear (Settings > Quality) and pick the highest the video offers.
3. Pause it at the moment you want, with k or the space bar, or by clicking the video. To get near the moment faster in a long video, click a chapter under the player.
4. To land on the exact frame, press . (period) to step forward one frame and , (comma) to step back one, as many times as needed (Frame by Frame with Comma and Period).
5. Right-click the video. YouTube's own menu opens (Loop, Miniplayer, Copy video URL, Copy video URL at current time, Copy embed code, Copy debug info, Troubleshoot playback issue, Stats for nerds).
6. Right-click the video again while that menu is open, on a spot of the video away from it. Chrome's menu opens in its place.
7. Choose Save video frame as... to save the frame as an image file, or Copy video frame to put it on the clipboard, then paste it with Ctrl + V (Command + V on a Mac) into a document, an image editor or a chat.

0:00 George's video opens on exactly that: one right-click, a second right-click, then Save video frame as, which saves the frame to the hard drive as a PNG "which you can then share or store" in an image gallery. 9to5Google described the same two right-clicks when Chrome 116 brought Copy video frame: after YouTube's menu appears, right-click again elsewhere in the video window (9to5Google). It also noted that on a Mac the copied frame could not be pasted straight onto the desktop: paste it into an app.

Getting the full resolution

0:24 The frame is saved at the resolution the player is streaming, not at the size of the window. George Vanous puts it first among his tips: set the highest resolution before you save, because at 144p "it'll be a very low quality image". So open the gear (Settings > Quality) and pick the highest quality the video offers; a frame from a 360p stream is only 360 pixels tall whatever the window size.

Getting to the right moment

0:41 A playing video moves too fast to stop on the right frame by clicking, so George's video shows two helpers. To reach the part you want, open the video's chapters under the player and jump to the right section. Then, once paused, nudge with the period and comma keys until the frame is right: in his video he steps forward with the period key to replace a frame where he disliked his facial expression, then right-clicks twice again to save the better one. A thumbnail is a different thing: to get the image a creator uploaded as a thumbnail, see Get a Video's Full-Size Thumbnail.

Other browsers

0:26 The two right-clicks are a feature of Chromium browsers, not of YouTube. OneCoolTip's 2023 video names Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, then right-clicks a YouTube video twice and picks Copy video frame. For Firefox and Safari, Vi.ki has not found a source it trusts on what their second right-click menu offers on YouTube, so check your own browser. Where a browser offers nothing, a screenshot of a paused full-screen video (Windows: Win + Shift + S; Mac: Command + Shift + 4) is the fallback, though it captures whatever is on screen.

What creators say

0:37 In an October 2026 video, BrenTech reported a shortcut that skips the right-clicks: in Chrome 155, as he described it, the global media controls button in Chrome's toolbar gained a Save video frame button that saves the current frame as a PNG in your downloads. He called it "a step in the right direction", since before it you had to right-click and then choose Save video frame as. He was unsure whether the rollout was global or regional, so look for the button in your own Chrome.

0:12 OneCoolTip, in the 2023 video, presented Copy video frame as a way to capture a single frame "at high definition" and paste it into image editing software, Microsoft Word or PowerPoint.

Frequently asked questions

Why doesn't Copy video frame show when I right-click a YouTube video? YouTube replaces the browser's right-click menu with its own. Right-click a second time while YouTube's menu is open, and Chrome's own menu with Copy video frame and Save video frame as appears.

Does copying a YouTube frame need the video to be paused? No, but pausing is how you choose the frame. Pause, then step with the comma and period keys to the exact frame before the two right-clicks.

What format is a saved YouTube frame? PNG. Save video frame as saved a PNG file in George Vanous's video, and Chrome's newer Save video frame button saved a PNG in BrenTech's.

Can I copy a video frame in the YouTube app on a phone? The YouTube app has no such option; on a phone, a screenshot of the paused video is the usual way.

Is a copied YouTube frame full resolution? It is the resolution the player is streaming at that moment, so set Settings > Quality on YouTube to the highest level before you copy.

Can I use a frame I copied from someone's YouTube video? The frame belongs to whoever owns the video. Copying it for yourself is one thing; publishing it is a copyright question for that owner, and Fair Use on YouTube covers when quoting a frame may be allowed.

Sources

• Right-click twice to capture any video frame on YouTube, Freedom!, Aug 16, 2026 (video)
• How to Use the New Copy Video Frame feature, OneCoolTip, Sep 2, 2023 (video)
• Chrome Adds Save Video Frame Button to Global Media Controls, BrenTech, Oct 8, 2026 (video)
• Keyboard shortcuts for YouTube, YouTube Help, read Nov 6, 2026
• New Chrome 'Copy Video Frame' is an alternate to screenshots, 9to5Google, Aug 31, 2023
• Chrome 121 Beta allows users to save frames from YouTube videos directly, Chrome Unboxed, Jan 18, 2024
• YouTube's right-click menu as it appeared on a watch page in Chrome, checked on Nov 6, 2026