When you need to quickly screenshot or save a video frame, it can be challenging depending on the media player you are using. Even YouTube lacked some of the features necessary to carry out these tasks, especially if you’re trying to get a screenshot of just the video without all the buttons and player controls. But it’s now possible todirectly copy YouTube framesthanks to a feature being tested in Chrome for desktop. If you’ve been hoping that something similar would come to your Android device, there is some good news.
Google Chrome will let you save YouTube video frames
Google already added the option to copy frames, but saving is more convenient in many cases
According to an update posted on X (formerly Twitter) by code sleuth@Leopeva64, the ability to copy and save video frames in Android seems to be in the works. However, code suggests that the feature has not been cleared to go live just yet. Specifically, there is a note that says it should be marked as disabled until Google has given the feature the green light.
When the feature launches for Android devices, it could look similar to what has already been rolled out for desktop. For instance, users saw a“Save video frame” toolpop up in Chrome Canary at the end of 2023. This was seen as a follow-up to the feature that allows users to copy a video frame to their clipboards, and although it was unstable, it began to phase out the need for a third-party workaround tool.
In Chrome for desktop, Google has needed to adjust some of the functionality of YouTube to allow for the copying and saving of video frames. For instance, the media player has to be right-clicked twice to use the features — this was an intentional move by Google since the first right-click is meant to bring up YouTube’s own context menu. If the company intends on rolling out similar features to improve UI in the future, such adjustments will likely be necessary. Whether it’s Chrome for desktop or YouTube, these types of platforms often need to be altered to support the new, unexpected needs of users.
