Y4M to PNG converter
Save Y4M video frames as PNG images, free. One per second, every frame or a single thumbnail. No upload, no sign-up.
Last updated
Quick answer: To save frames from Y4M video as PNG images, add the Y4M file to the iHateFiles Y4M to PNG converter and press Convert. The conversion runs in your browser, so the file is never uploaded, and it is free with no sign-up, watermark or size limit. Saves frames from the video as PNG stills. One a second, every single frame, or a single thumbnail.
Should you convert Y4M to PNG?
Worth doing when you need a specific moment out of a Y4M as a picture: a thumbnail, a still for a document, or frames to work with individually as PNG files.
Pulling stills out of Y4M
Every second of Y4M holds twenty-five or more separate pictures. This writes them out as PNG files, either all of them or at an interval you set, which is why a short clip can produce a great many stills.
Y4M and PNG side by side
| Y4M | PNG | |
|---|---|---|
| Compression | Lossless | Lossless |
| Transparency | No | Yes |
| Animation | No | No |
| Written here | No | Yes |
What usually goes wrong
About the Y4M. A few seconds of Y4M can be larger than a whole film in MP4. That is the format doing its job.
About the PNG. People save photographs as PNG and wonder why an email bounces. A photo that is 400 KB as a JPG is routinely 4 MB as a PNG, because lossless compression cannot do much with the noise in a real photograph.
How to convert Y4M to PNG
- Add your Y4M file. It is read from your disk and stays there.
- Check the settings. The output format is already set to PNG.
- Press convert and the PNG file is saved back to your device.
Questions
How do I convert Y4M to PNG?
Open this page, add your Y4M file, and press convert. The file is decoded and re-encoded by your own browser and saved back to your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Is this Y4M to PNG converter free?
Yes, completely. There is no account, no sign-in, no watermark and no daily limit, because there is no server doing the work. Your own device does it.
Are my files uploaded anywhere?
No. There is no upload endpoint. The conversion runs inside this browser tab, so your file never leaves your device. You can open your browser's network panel and watch: nothing carrying your file is sent.
Is there a file size limit?
No fixed limit. Because the work happens on your machine there is no server quota. The only ceiling is your own device's memory, which for video means very large files may be slow.
Will converting to PNG lose quality?
PNG is lossless, so this step throws nothing away. If the original was already a lossy format, the damage it did cannot be undone, but nothing further is lost.
Can I convert several Y4M files at once?
Yes. Add as many as you like and they are converted one after another, then offered as a single ZIP.