Step through a video frame by frame, in your browser
A normal video player only lets you seek to keyframes, so when you try to pause on the one frame you care about — the moment a club meets the ball, the exact frame a logo flashes, the single sharp frame in a shaky clip — it skips right past it. Framewise demuxes your file and decodes every frame with a real video decoder, so you can land on any exact frame, read its precise timestamp, and save it at full resolution.
It runs entirely on your device. Your video is never uploaded, there is no sign-up, and once the page is loaded it keeps working with your internet off.
Drop a clip
An MP4 or MOV with H.264 works in every modern browser. The file stays on your machine.
It decodes every frame
WebCodecs decodes each frame to an image, with a progress bar so you can see it work.
Scrub and study
Arrow keys nudge one frame at a time. Onion-skin the previous frame or wipe between any two.
Save the frame
Land on the frame you want and export it as a PNG at full native resolution, or copy it.
How does this actually run in a browser?
The hard part of a normal “frame by frame” player is that the bytes in a video file aren’t images — they’re a compressed stream where most frames only describe what changed since an earlier frame. Framewise first demuxes the MP4 container to pull out the raw encoded video samples and the codec description, then feeds them to the browser’s built-in WebCodecs video decoder, which is the same hardware-accelerated decoder the browser uses to play video. As decoded frames come out, it draws each one to an image and keeps it for instant scrubbing.
To keep the page responsive while a few hundred frames decode, all of that happens inside a Web Worker, off the main thread, so the interface never freezes. When you export a single frame, it seeks back to the nearest keyframe and re-decodes that one frame at full native resolution — so the PNG you save is pixel-exact, not an upscaled thumbnail.
Good for
Coaches and athletes breaking down a swing or a sprint; animators and motion designers checking a single in-between frame; editors grabbing a clean still or a thumbnail; anyone who needs to read the exact moment something happens on screen and prove it with a frame they can save and share.
Questions
Is my video uploaded anywhere?
No. Decoding happens in your browser with WebCodecs. The file never leaves your device, and there is no account.
Why can this step frame by frame when YouTube or my player can’t?
Most players seek only to keyframes, which can be a second or more apart. Framewise decodes every individual frame, so it can show you any exact frame and its precise time.
Which formats work?
MP4 and MOV with H.264 work in every modern browser. H.265/HEVC, VP9, and AV1 work if your device can decode them. If a file can’t be decoded, Framewise says so instead of failing quietly.
How long a video can it handle?
It’s built for short clips. Every frame is decoded and held in memory for instant scrubbing, so long videos are processed up to a frame cap. Trim to the moment you care about for the full range.
Is it really free?
Yes, completely free, no sign-up, no watermark. It’s one of a set of free, privacy-first tools I build in public. See the rest or get in touch.