Extract Frames from Video C#

I ended up using MediaToolkit to solve a similar problem after having a ton of trouble with Accord.

I needed to save an image for every second of a video:

using (var engine = new Engine())
{
    var mp4 = new MediaFile { Filename = mp4FilePath };

    engine.GetMetadata(mp4);

    var i = 0;
    while (i < mp4.Metadata.Duration.Seconds)
    {
        var options = new ConversionOptions { Seek = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(i) };
        var outputFile = new MediaFile { Filename = string.Format("{0}\\image-{1}.jpeg", outputPath, i) };
        engine.GetThumbnail(mp4, outputFile, options);
        i++;
    }
}

Hope this helps someone some day.


I figured this out just yesterday.

Here is full and easy to understand example with picking video file and saving snapshot in 1st second of video.

You can take parts that fits your project and change some of them (i.e. getting video resolution from camera)

1) and 3)

TimeSpan timeOfFrame = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 1);

        //pick mp4 file
        var picker = new Windows.Storage.Pickers.FileOpenPicker();
        picker.SuggestedStartLocation = Windows.Storage.Pickers.PickerLocationId.VideosLibrary;
        picker.FileTypeFilter.Add(".mp4");
        StorageFile pickedFile = await picker.PickSingleFileAsync();
        if (pickedFile == null)
        {
            return;
        }
        ///


        //Get video resolution
        List<string> encodingPropertiesToRetrieve = new List<string>();
        encodingPropertiesToRetrieve.Add("System.Video.FrameHeight");
        encodingPropertiesToRetrieve.Add("System.Video.FrameWidth");
        IDictionary<string, object> encodingProperties = await pickedFile.Properties.RetrievePropertiesAsync(encodingPropertiesToRetrieve);
        uint frameHeight = (uint)encodingProperties["System.Video.FrameHeight"];
        uint frameWidth = (uint)encodingProperties["System.Video.FrameWidth"];
        ///


        //Use Windows.Media.Editing to get ImageStream
        var clip = await MediaClip.CreateFromFileAsync(pickedFile);
        var composition = new MediaComposition();
        composition.Clips.Add(clip);

        var imageStream = await composition.GetThumbnailAsync(timeOfFrame, (int)frameWidth, (int)frameHeight, VideoFramePrecision.NearestFrame);
        ///


        //generate bitmap 
        var writableBitmap = new WriteableBitmap((int)frameWidth, (int)frameHeight);
        writableBitmap.SetSource(imageStream);


        //generate some random name for file in PicturesLibrary
        var saveAsTarget = await KnownFolders.PicturesLibrary.CreateFileAsync("IMG" + Guid.NewGuid().ToString().Substring(0, 4) + ".jpg");


        //get stream from bitmap
        Stream stream = writableBitmap.PixelBuffer.AsStream();
        byte[] pixels = new byte[(uint)stream.Length];
        await stream.ReadAsync(pixels, 0, pixels.Length);

        using (var writeStream = await saveAsTarget.OpenAsync(FileAccessMode.ReadWrite))
        {
            var encoder = await BitmapEncoder.CreateAsync(BitmapEncoder.JpegEncoderId, writeStream);
            encoder.SetPixelData(
                BitmapPixelFormat.Bgra8,
                BitmapAlphaMode.Premultiplied,
                (uint)writableBitmap.PixelWidth,
                (uint)writableBitmap.PixelHeight,
                96,
                96,
                pixels);
            await encoder.FlushAsync();

            using (var outputStream = writeStream.GetOutputStreamAt(0))
            {
                await outputStream.FlushAsync();
            }
        }

If you want to display frames in xaml Image, you should use imageStream

BitmapImage bitmapImage = new BitmapImage();
bitmapImage.SetSource(imageStream);

XAMLImage.Source = bitmapImage;

If you want to extract more frames, there is also composition.GetThumbnailsAsync

2) Use your mediaCapture, when your timer is ticking


Use ffmpeg and install Accord.Video.FFMPEG

using (var vFReader = new VideoFileReader())
{
    vFReader.Open("video.mp4");
    for (int i = 0; i < vFReader.FrameCount; i++)
    {
        Bitmap bmpBaseOriginal = vFReader.ReadVideoFrame();
    }
    vFReader.Close();
}