View source for Documentation:Snapshots

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There are two ways to take snapshots (i.e., screenshots or frame grabs) with VLC:
#Open the ''Video'' menu, and select the ''Snapshot'' menu item.
#Press the snapshot hotkey
#*Linux / Unix / Windows (Qt interface): Shift-s
#*Mac OS X: Command-Alt-s

When a snapshot is taken, it will briefly preview as a thumbnail with its filename and then fade away.

To change the hotkey, go to Tools -> Preferences. If "Show settings" is set to Simple, click Hotkeys; if "Show settings" is set All, navigate to Interface -> Hotkeys settings. Set the hotkey for Take video snapshot.

==Snapshot location, format and name==

The snapshot location depends upon your operating system:

*Windows XP: My Documents\My Pictures\
*Windows Vista, 7, and 8: C:\Users\''Username''\Pictures\
*Linux / Unix: $(HOME)/.vlc/
*Mac OS X: Desktop/

===Configuring snapshot options under Windows:===
The location, format and name of snapshots may be changed in the ''Preferences'' menu item in the ''Tools'' tab, subsection ''Video''.

[[File:Basic_snapshots_config.png]]

The default format for snapshots is PNG, but this may be changed to JPEG.  Also, the default name for snapshots is ''vlcsnap-'' followed by a timestamp that is ''not'' the time of the frame in the video you're viewing, but rather the current date and time--as in 2014-01-16-14h57m19s163.

Also, you may substitute other text for ''vlcsnap-'' in the ''Video snapshot file prefix'' and you may choose to have snapshots numbered sequentially (i.e., 000001, 000002, 000003, and so on) instead of with a timestamp.

As of version 0.9.0, you may even use [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Format String|variables]] in the text used for the filename.  For example, ''$T'' (must be upper case) will insert the video's time code into the file name.  If you were to change the prefix to ''Friends-$T-'' while watching a DVD of ''Friends'', then the snapshot filenames would look something like this: ''Friends-00_05_21-2014-01-16-14h57m19s163.png''.  This indicates a snapshot taken at 5 minutes and 21 seconds into the video; and it was taken on this day at this time: ''2014-01-16-14h57m19s163''. 

For a shorter file name, check the "Sequential numbering" option in the configuration box (below). Instead of numbers like ''2014-01-16-14h57m19s163'', VLC will simply insert the count of snapshots for that session--for example, ''00004''. Thus, in the example above, a snapshot with sequential numbering would look like this: ''Friends-00_05_21-000001.png''

For a full list of variables, please see [[Documentation:Play HowTo/Format String]].

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