Chrome now enables copying of video frames for convenient sharing
Google has introduced a new feature in its Chrome web browser that simplifies the process of capturing video stills. The company acknowledged the difficulties users faced in obtaining high-quality images when taking screenshots, as the video’s progress bar would often appear on the captured image. However, this problem is now resolved for Chrome and other Chromium-based browsers, such as Microsoft’s Edge. Users can now pause a video, right-click, and choose the “Copy Video Frame” option from the pop-up menu to capture a still image.
We went ahead and tried the feature, but found that it didn’t work as intended. On YouTube, waking up a new option required two right clicks instead of one. The first right-click brought up the original YouTube menu, but after a second try, the menu with the new feature was available. When you click Copy Video Frame, Chrome captures the content currently being displayed, and you can paste your image into the browser’s supported text fields, such as Google Docs. We were also able to paste the image into Apple Notes; from there you can save the actual file.
Currently, it is not possible to save the copied video image directly to your desktop as a file. The feature is also limited by streaming services, many of which limit the ability to capture content. In fact, so far we’ve only gotten it to work on YouTube. So while this feature may technically be useful, it may need some fine-tuning to be more useful. Chrome’s new “Copy Video Frame” is rolling out today for Windows, Mac, Linux, and ChromeOS.
