Take a Snapshot of a Video Running in Windows Media Player

If you want to capture a special moment from your favorite video, you may be wondering how to take a screenshot of Windows Media Player. In newer versions of Windows, this is a pretty straightforward process, but it can be a little tricky in Windows XP. There are also dedicated screen capture programs that can make the process much simpler.

Steps

Windows Vista, 7, and 8

  1. Make your video the size that you want. You can capture the image when the video is playing full screen or when it's windowed. Lower-quality videos may not look very clear when played full-screen.
  2. Pause the video on the frame you want to capture. You'll have a much easier time capturing the snapshot if you pause the video on the frame that you want to save.
  3. Press the PrtScn button to capture the screenshot. This might be labeled slightly differently on your keyboard, but can typically be found above the Insert key. If you're on a laptop, you may have to press the Fn key first.
    • You won't receive any indication that the snapshot was captured, but it will have been copied to the clipboard.
  4. Open Paint. You can find this by opening the Start menu or screen and searching for "paint". This is the free image editor that comes installed with Windows.
  5. Paste the screenshot. Either click "Edit" → "Paste" or press Ctrl + V to paste your screenshot onto the Paint canvas. You'll notice that the screenshot captured your entire screen.
    • If you paste the image and all you see is black in the Windows Media Player window, click here.
  6. Use the rectangular selection tool to select just the video. Click and drag the selection box around the video frame. Click "Edit" → "Copy" or press Ctrl + C to copy the selected area to your clipboard.
  7. Start a new Paint document and paste the copied selection. By default, your new Paint document will be exactly the same size as the copied image. Click "Edit" → "Paste" or press Ctrl + V to paste the selection onto the canvas. You now have a screenshot of only the frame from Windows Media Player.
  8. Save your image. After pasting the image, click "File" → "Save As" and save your new image to your computer.[1]

Windows XP

  1. Open Windows Media Player. Before you can take a snapshot in Windows XP, you'll need to adjust some settings so that the image shows up when you capture the screen.
  2. Click the "Tools" menu and select "Options". This will open the Windows Media Player Options window.
  3. Click the "Performance" tab and then click the "Advanced" button. This will open another new settings window.
  4. Uncheck the "Use Overlays" box and click "Apply". This will allow you to capture images from Windows Media Player. You should only uncheck this box when you're trying to capture images, because it may cause Windows Media Player to not function properly.
  5. Start your video and size it how you'd like. You can capture the image when the video is running at any size. You can capture full-screen video or windowed video.
  6. Pause the video on the frame that you want to capture. This will make it much easier than trying to time your keypresses to capture the right moment.
  7. Press PrtScn to capture your entire display. If you're on a laptop, you may have to press Fn first. You won't receive any indication that your screen was captured.
  8. Open Paint. You can find this in the Accessories folder of your Start menu. This is the free image editor that comes installed with Windows.
  9. Paste the captured image. Click "Edit" → "Paste" or press Ctrl + V to paste your snapshot onto the blank Pain canvas. You'll notice that the entire display was captured, not just the video playing.
  10. Use the rectangular selection tool to select the video. Use the rectangular selection tool to select just the image from Windows Media Player. Click "Edit" → "Copy" or press Ctrl + C to copy the selection to your clipboard.
  11. Open a new document in Paint. The new blank canvas will automatically be the same size as your copied selection. Click "Edit" → "Paste" or press Ctrl + V to paste your selection onto the new blank canvas. You now have a screenshot of your Windows Media Player video.
  12. Save the image. Click "File" and select "Save As" to save your new screenshot to your computer.[2]

Using a Capture Program

  1. Download and install a capture program. Some hardware configurations just won't let you take screenshots of video that is playing in Windows Media Player. If this is the case, you can use a screen capture program to take your screenshots. Popular free programs include:[3]
    • Jing
    • Fraps
    • PicPick
  2. Pause the video on the frame you want to capture. This will make it much easier to capture an image without worrying about the timing of your keypress.
  3. Press the screen capture button. With your new screen capture program running, all you'll need to do to capture your screen is to press the dedicated screenshot shortcut. The exact key varies from program to program, and can often be set by the user.
  4. Use the screen capture program to select just the video. After capturing the screenshot, you'll be able to use the capture program to edit the shot so that it only shows the image from Windows Media Player. You may also be able to perform additional edits and annotations using these programs.
  5. Save your image. After you're finished capturing your image, you can save it to your computer using the capture program's "Save" command.

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Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://screenshot.net/screenshot-windows-media-player.html
  2. ↑ http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000723.htm
  3. ↑ http://lifehacker.com/5880928/the-best-screen-capture-tool-for-windows
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