Python VLC MediaPlayer – Taking Screenshot

In this article we will see how we can take screen shot of the MediaPlayer object in the python vlc module. VLC media player is a free and open-source portable cross-platform media player software and streaming media server developed by the VideoLAN project. MediPlyer object is the basic object in vlc module for playing the video. A screenshot, also known as ss, sc, screen capture, or screen grab, is a digital image that shows the contents of a computer display. A common screenshot is created by the operating system or software running on the device. A screenshot or screen capture may also be created by taking a photo of the screen.

In order to do this we will use video_take_snapshot method with the MediaPlayer object

Syntax : media_player.video_take_snapshot(n, location, width, height)

Argument : It takes video output number, folder location and width and height of screenshot as argument

Return : It returns 0 on success, -1 if the video was not found

Below is the implementation

# importing vlc module
import vlc

# importing time module
import time


# creating vlc media player object
media_player = vlc.MediaPlayer()

# media object
media = vlc.Media("death_note.mkv")

# setting media to the media player
media_player.set_media(media)

# setting video scale
media_player.video_set_scale(0.6)

# start playing video
media_player.play()

# wait so the video can be played for 5 seconds
# irrespective for length of video
time.sleep(5)

# taking screen shot
media_player.video_take_snapshot(0, "F://test", 400, 300)

Output :

Below is the folder location

Another example
Below is the implementation

# importing vlc module
import vlc

# importing time module
import time

# creating vlc media player object
media_player = vlc.MediaPlayer()

# media object
media = vlc.Media("1mp4.mkv")

# setting media to the media player
media_player.set_media(media)


# setting video scale
media_player.video_set_scale(0.6)

# start playing video
media_player.play()

# wait so the video can be played for 5 seconds
# irrespective for length of video
time.sleep(5)


# taking screen shot
media_player.video_take_snapshot(0, "F://test", 400, 300)

Output :

Below is the folder location