Freeze frame video.

A freeze frame video holds one picture still for a few seconds while the rest of the clip plays as normal. This tool does it for a video you drop on it. You choose the exact frame, how long to hold it, from 1 to 30 seconds, and what the sound does. You can hold several frames in one go. The result is an MP4 with H.264 picture and AAC sound, at your video's own size and frame rate.

How to freeze a frame

1. Drop a video on the box, or click to choose one. It plays under Pick the frame to hold.
2. Find the moment. Drag the video's own bar, type a time such as 0:04.00 in Time and press Enter, or press Back 1 frame and Forward 1 frame. The comma and full stop keys do the same.
3. Under Hold length tap 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10 seconds, or type any number from 1 to 30.
4. Press Freeze this frame, or the F key. The hold appears in a list and as a purple mark on the bar. Add more the same way.
5. Pick what the sound does in During the hold. The video is made after each change, and the green line says how long it will be.
6. Play the result at the top, then press Download the MP4.

To change a hold, edit its seconds in the list or press Change this hold on the same frame. Remove deletes it.

What the sound does

Pause is the default because it keeps picture and sound together afterwards. The cost is a gap in the sound, which is plain silence. With speech, the gap can sound abrupt. Sound plays on suits a voice-over or music, but the picture stops covering part of the clip: the frames that would have played during the hold are hidden, and the picture jumps ahead to where the sound has reached. Silent does the same without the sound.

A worked example

Take a 10 second video at 30 fps. That is 300 frames. Freeze the frame at 4.00 s, which is frame 120 (120 / 30 = 4), for 3 seconds with Pause.

• The hold adds 3 x 30 = 90 frames, so the video has 390 frames and lasts 13 seconds.
• The sound plays for 4 s, is silent for 3 s, then plays the last 6 s.
• All 90 added frames are the same picture as frame 120. The other 300 frames are your original frames, in order.

With Sound plays on, the same freeze keeps 10 seconds. Frames 120 to 209 (90 frames, 3 seconds) show frame 120. The sound is untouched. Frame 210 and the rest play normally.

Videos from phones are often 29.97 fps, which is really 30000 / 1001. The tool uses that exact rate, so a frame at 4 s is frame 120 at 4.004 s and nothing drifts over a long clip.

Size, quality and what is re-encoded

The whole video is drawn again and encoded as H.264, because a hold is a new run of frames. Quality sets the bitrate from the picture size, and it never goes much above what your video used. A held frame costs very little, since nothing moves, so a 30 second hold adds far less than 30 seconds of normal video. The line under the settings gives an upper size.

How a hold is stored has two choices. The default, One long picture, writes the held frame once and tells the player to show it for the whole hold. The file stays small and every frame of the hold is exactly the same picture. The frame rate then changes at the hold, which players handle but some editors flag as variable. Choose A picture for every frame if an editor or an upload site wants a steady rate. The hold then holds one picture per frame, and the encoder may let tiny differences creep in between them.

Tips for a clean freeze

• Step a few frames either side. Fast motion often has a blurred frame next to a sharp one.
• For a laugh or a reaction, freeze just after the movement stops, not during it.
• Holds of 1 to 3 seconds feel like emphasis. Longer than that feels like a pause in the film.

Common problems

• It says a hold starts while another is running. This happens with Sound plays on or Silent, where holds cover part of the clip. Move the second freeze later or shorten the first.
• The preview stays black or the file will not load. The picture codec may not be one your browser can decode. Try a current Chrome, Edge or Safari.
• The sound is missing from the result. The result line says so when the browser cannot read the sound.
• A long video fails. The result is held in memory. Close other tabs, or cut the clip first with the video trimmer.

To make a clip repeat instead, use loop a video. To change its pace, try the video speed changer, and reverse video plays it backwards.