Raw MP4 video to Bitmap images

Sapien 1 · 01 Mar 2023

When cutting videos with Movie Maker the quality changes and is noticeable when comparing the raw video to the cut video, even if its the same format before and after. Say I load a raw MP4 into the editor, cut a clip out of it, and then save the clip back into MP4, the image becomes slightly less sharp, pixel colors might change, data is lost. You have to look close to see it but I have been working on a frame by frame basis with the tiniest details and the change is very easy to see.

I want to preserve that raw quality without a single pixel changing. I learned that BMP does that, keeping each pixel as it was, no compression, no data loss, no color changes.

Is there a way to save videos with that same preservation of quality? Is there a W10 application that can cut an MP4 video, frame by frame, and save them as individual bitmap images? Perhaps a video editor that keeps all the pixels precisely as they are when they get recorded?

Samuria · 01 Mar 2023

You have to understand codecs some record every frame so only change difference so if you cut a frame you may loose details hitfilm free edition is the best free one it's down to codec recorded with and output codec from editor

Bree · 01 Mar 2023

Sapien 1 said:

When cutting videos with Movie Maker the quality changes and is noticeable when comparing the raw video to the cut video....
I want to preserve that raw quality without a single pixel changing. I learned that BMP does that, keeping each pixel as it was, no compression, no data loss, no color changes.
Is there a way to save videos with that same preservation of quality? Is there a W10 application that can cut an MP4 video, frame by frame, and save them as individual bitmap images? Perhaps a video editor that keeps all the pixels precisely as they are when they get recorded?

the .png format is a better one to use than .bmp. It is lossless too, but can make for a smaller file size than .bmp.

I frequently do just that, save all individual frames from a section of an mp4 video. My requirement is to be able to edit each frame individually to remove an unwanted artefact, then reassemble them into a clean video. For that I use the command line tool FFMpeg. Download FFmpeg

To extract all frames between 10 seconds and 30 seconds and save as frame-1.png, frame-2.png, etc.:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 10 -to 30 frame-%d.png

How to Extract Images from a Video Using FFmpeg - Bannerbear

Sapien 1 · 16 Mar 2023

Bree said:

the .png format is a better one to use than .bmp. It is lossless too, but can make for a smaller file size than .bmp.

I frequently do just that, save all individual frames from a section of an mp4 video. My requirement is to be able to edit each frame individually to remove an unwanted artefact, then reassemble them into a clean video. For that I use the command line tool FFMpeg. Download FFmpeg

To extract all frames between 10 seconds and 30 seconds and save as frame-1.png, frame-2.png, etc.:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -ss 10 -to 30 frame-%d.png

How to Extract Images from a Video Using FFmpeg - Bannerbear

Well, I installed ffmpeg correctly but I get the error "Unable to find a suitable output format for 'i' when I use any of the commands in the help pages. I tried both using "input.mp4" and replacing that with "nameofvideo.mp4" but same results. How does ffmpeg know what video I want to work with?

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I realized what was wrong, I wasn't running CMD from the target video, I was using it from the Start menu. Okay, now I got it. Thanks. This seems like the choice program for video editing as all searches recommend it.

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ffmpeg is definitely better. I'm re-checking old videos and finding more details that Movie Maker doesn't see.