free tool
Make a contact sheet of a video
One image with frames from the whole video, laid out in a grid with timestamps: a quick way to see what's in a long recording, or to show someone what a video holds without sending it.
What a contact sheet is
Photographers used to print a whole roll of film on one sheet to pick the shots worth enlarging. A video contact sheet does the same for a recording: frames taken at even steps from start to end, side by side, so the whole video fits on one screen.
How it works
Pick a video, and the tool opens it in your browser's own player, jumps through it and copies a frame at each step: 16 frames for a 4 × 4 grid, each from the middle of its sixteenth of the video. Choose the grid, the width of the image, a dark or light background, and whether to print the file's details and timestamps. The image redraws as you change them. Download it as JPEG or PNG.
What people use it for
- Checking what's in a long recording without watching all of it.
- Showing a client or a friend what a video holds before sending the file.
- A cover or a poster for a video in a catalogue.
- Keeping track of an archive of home videos or digitised tapes.
Limits
The tool can only take frames from a video your browser can play. MP4 and WebM work everywhere; MOV and HEVC depend on the browser and the system; AVI and some MKV files usually don't play in a browser at all. On tapeshelf every video you upload gets a 16-frame preview like this automatically, and visitors to your shelf can scrub through it. How tapeshelf works
Questions
- Is my video uploaded anywhere?
No. The frames are taken by your browser's own player, and the file never leaves your device.
- Which videos work?
Any video your browser can play. If one doesn't open, convert it to MP4 (H.264) and try again.
- How are the frames chosen?
Evenly: the video is cut into as many equal parts as there are frames, and the tool takes the frame from the middle of each part. That also skips the first and last moments, which are often black.