Video
What is keyframe extraction?
Keyframe extraction selects representative frames — fixed rate or scene changes — so search and models run on stills instead of every encoded frame.
Updated · Part of What is a frame iterator?
How it works
- A higher rate catches shorter actions and costs more embeddings.
- A lower rate is cheaper and misses brief moments.
- The frame you keep must still know its time in the source.
What it is not
It is not indexing every compressed frame, and it is not picking a thumbnail by hand.
keyframe extraction: this, and the thing it is confused with
| This | Not this | |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Enough stills to find the moment | Every encoded frame |
| Tradeoff | Recall versus embedding cost | A single poster frame |
| Output | Rows with timestamps | A contact sheet with no times |
Where Pixeltable fits
Pixeltable extracts those stills with a frame iterator. The rate is the fps argument, not a separate thumbnail job.
Questions
How does keyframe extraction work?
A higher rate catches shorter actions and costs more embeddings. A lower rate is cheaper and misses brief moments. The frame you keep must still know its time in the source.
What is keyframe extraction often confused with?
It is not indexing every compressed frame, and it is not picking a thumbnail by hand.
Next step
Install the Pixeltable skill, or sign up for Cloud and run the same file on a hosted database.