FFmpeg extract frames from video: one, every second, or all

To extract frames from a video with FFmpeg, give it an image file as the output: -frames:v 1 stops after one frame, -ss picks where it's taken, -r 1 writes one frame per second, and a numbered pattern such as frame-%04d.png holds a whole sequence. FFmpeg's own example, ffmpeg -i foo.avi -r 1 -s WxH -f image2 foo-%03d.jpeg, extracts one frame per second and rescales each to WxH.

The FFmpeg facts come from its ffmpeg, filters, and formats documentation, and the Sume facts from the Video frames docs, all read on 2026-09-28.

How do I extract a single frame?

Stop after one frame, and seek first if you don't want the start:

• -frames:v 1 stops writing after one frame; FFmpeg's image muxer docs use it to make a single image from the start of a video.
• -ss before -i seeks the input. Writing an image means decoding, and with -accurate_seek, the default, FFmpeg decodes and discards the stretch between the nearest seek point and your position, so you get the frame at the time you asked for.
• -sseof -1 seeks one second before the end, and -update 1 overwrites the same file with each new image, so the file ends up holding the last frame. Extract the last frame of a video does the same with the Sume API.
• With an image extension such as .png and no -f, FFmpeg picks its image2 muxer automatically.

# The first frame
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -frames:v 1 first.png

# The frame at 5 seconds
ffmpeg -ss 5 -i input.mp4 -frames:v 1 frame.png

# The last frame
ffmpeg -sseof -1 -i input.mp4 -update 1 last.png

How do I extract a frame every second, or every Nth frame?

Set an output rate, or select frames with a filter. With select, add -fps_mode vfr, which FFmpeg's docs say passes frames through with their timestamps; in cfr mode, frames are duplicated and dropped to hold a constant rate:

# One frame per second
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -r 1 frame-%03d.jpeg

# Every 100th frame
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vf "select='not(mod(n\,100))'" -fps_mode vfr frame-%03d.png

How do I export every frame as an image sequence?

Pass every decoded frame straight through to a numbered file pattern:

• %05d pads each number to five digits. The first file is number 1 unless you set -start_number.
• Count before you run it: by our arithmetic, a 60-second clip at 30 fps is 1,800 images.
• PNG keeps every pixel; JPEG files are smaller but lossy. -s WxH rescales the images, as in FFmpeg's own example.

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -fps_mode passthrough frame-%05d.png

Can I extract frames with the Sume API?

Yes, as individual stills, not as a full sequence. POST /v1/video-frames returns at most 24 durable stills per call, at times you list in at[] or sampled with fps up to 2, from sources of up to 300 seconds, and the call is unbilled. Exporting every frame stays an FFmpeg job. How to extract frames with the Sume API covers the request, its fields, and its refusals.

• Its fps samples mid-bin: fps: 1 takes stills at 0.5 s, 1.5 s, and so on, where FFmpeg's -r 1 writes one frame per second of video.
• video_url must be your workspace's media.sume.com artifact or asset, such as an earlier Sume job's output; which URLs each endpoint accepts explains the rule.