home / skills / openclaw / skills / video-frames

video-frames skill

safe

This skill extracts video frames or thumbnails using ffmpeg, helping you generate quick visuals for previews and reviews.

npx playbooks add skill openclaw/skills --skill video-frames

Review the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.

Files (3)

SKILL.md

776 B

---
name: video-frames
description: Extract frames or short clips from videos using ffmpeg.
homepage: https://ffmpeg.org
metadata: {"clawdbot":{"emoji":"🎞️","requires":{"bins":["ffmpeg"]},"install":[{"id":"brew","kind":"brew","formula":"ffmpeg","bins":["ffmpeg"],"label":"Install ffmpeg (brew)"}]}}
---

# Video Frames (ffmpeg)

Extract a single frame from a video, or create quick thumbnails for inspection.

## Quick start

First frame:

```bash
{baseDir}/scripts/frame.sh /path/to/video.mp4 --out /tmp/frame.jpg
```

At a timestamp:

```bash
{baseDir}/scripts/frame.sh /path/to/video.mp4 --time 00:00:10 --out /tmp/frame-10s.jpg
```

## Notes

- Prefer `--time` for “what is happening around here?”.
- Use a `.jpg` for quick share; use `.png` for crisp UI frames.

Overview

This skill extracts individual frames or short clips from videos using ffmpeg. It provides quick commands to grab the first frame or a frame at a specific timestamp, making thumbnailing and visual inspection fast and scriptable. The outputs are standard image formats suitable for sharing or UI display.

How this skill works

The skill wraps ffmpeg calls to seek a video and export a single image or very short clip. You pass the video path and optional time parameter; the script runs ffmpeg to decode and write a .jpg or .png. The tool favors a named --time option for precise frame selection and produces outputs ready for thumbnails or UI previews.

When to use it

Generate a thumbnail for a video listing or gallery.
Quickly inspect what’s happening at a specific timestamp.
Create visual markers for video review or QA.
Produce shareable previews for messaging or documentation.
Batch-process videos to produce one representative frame each.

Best practices

Use --time when you need a frame from a precise moment rather than automatic selection.
Save thumbnails as .jpg for small file size and quick sharing.
Use .png when you need lossless quality for UI or detailed inspection.
Run ffmpeg on a copy or read-only source to avoid accidental modifications.
Normalize output resolution if you need consistent thumbnail sizes.

Example use cases

Extract the first frame of onboarding videos to use as default thumbnails.
Grab a frame at 00:00:10 to show a critical moment for a bug report.
Batch-create thumbnails for an archive to build a searchable visual index.
Produce PNG frames for a UI preview where crisp detail matters.
Create quick frames to attach to messages or tickets when describing content.

FAQ

Which format should I choose, .jpg or .png?

.jpg is smaller and faster for sharing; .png preserves quality for UI and inspection.

How do I select a specific moment in the video?

Use the --time option with a timestamp like 00:00:10 to extract the frame at that moment.