How to screenshot YouTube videos [Firefox]
Screenshot tools are absurdly common both for the desktop and for browsers. In fact, you can even find tools that let you take screenshots of your desktop and entire websites from the terminal/command prompt. If you have a very specific screenshot need i.e., you need to screenshot YouTube videos, and you need an easy way to do it that other tools don’t give you, you can try theĀ YouTube Screenshot Button add-on for Firefox.
Screenshot YouTube videos
Download the YouTube Screenshot Button add-on, and then visit YouTube. Select a video to play, and next to the closed caption button, you will see the ‘Screenshot’ button. Click it to take a screenshot.
You will see the Firefox download file dialog box which gives you the option to open the image or to save it. This is where the add-on shines. It saves the screenshot with the same name as the video that you’re taking a screenshot of, and it will also append the time from the video that the screenshot was taken on to the name.
The add-on saves screenshots as a PNG file however the file is in fact a JPG file. If you try to open it, it likely will not open unless you change the file’s extension from PNG to JPG.
The size of the screenshot depends on the size of the video player. The add-on works in all three video player sizes including the full screen player. It doesn’t work in the PiP mode but for all other player sizes, the Screenshot button will be there.
If you’re having trouble figuring out the best size for the player and the Firefox window, it’s best to take a screenshot in full screen or, you can resize the Firefox window to the correct resolution. As for the little bug with the file extension, there’s no option to change the file extension when you download files through Firefox’s download box. Your only option is to rename the file after it’s been downloaded. If you have an image viewer that can correctly display the file even if the extension isn’t correct, you don’t have anything to worry about but most image viewers will likely throw an error.
You can use IrfanView to view these images. It not only detects the correct extension for a file, it can also fix it. All you have to do is allow it to make the fix and it will take care of the rest.
