How to Capture Screenshots from Windows Media Player (Fix Black Screen)
Want to capture screenshots from Windows Media Player but got a black or blank image? That’s a common problem: the video is drawn using hardware acceleration (video overlays), so the Print Screen key often can’t see it. I ran into this back in 2005 with Windows Media Player 10, and the same fix still works in the classic player today. Here’s how to capture screenshots from Windows Media Player and the new Windows 11 Media Player, plus easier free alternatives.
Quick answer: Pause the video and press Windows + Shift + S to snip it with the Snipping Tool. If you get a black image in classic Windows Media Player, go to Tools → Options → Performance → Advanced and uncheck Use overlays. Or open the video in VLC and use Video → Take Snapshot.
Table of Contents
1. Capture screenshots in Windows 11 Media Player
Windows 11 includes the new Media Player app, which replaced Groove Music and plays most video formats.
- Play the video and pause it on the frame you want.
- Press Windows + Shift + S, or press the Print Screen key (on Windows 11 it opens the Snipping Tool by default).
- Drag to select the video area. The screenshot is copied to the clipboard and saved in Pictures → Screenshots.
The Snipping Tool can also record short video clips of your screen. More options are in our guide to capture desktop screenshots in one click.
2. Capture screenshots from Windows Media Player (classic) without a black screen
The legacy Windows Media Player (Windows Media Player Legacy) is still included in Windows 10 and 11. If screenshots come out black or blank:
- Open Windows Media Player and press Alt to show the menu bar.
- Go to Tools → Options and open the Performance tab.
- Click Advanced under Video acceleration.
- Uncheck “Use overlays” and click OK.
- If it still fails, move the Video acceleration slider to None on the Performance tab.
Now play the video at any size, pause it and use Print Screen or the Snipping Tool. Turn acceleration back on afterwards for smoother playback.
3. Take a snapshot in VLC (easiest free option)
VLC Media Player is free and has a built-in frame capture that saves the full-resolution image, not just what’s on screen.
- Pause the video on the frame you want.
- Click Video → Take Snapshot, or press Shift + S on Windows (Cmd + Alt + S on Mac).
- VLC saves a PNG to your Pictures folder. Change the folder and format in Tools → Preferences → Video.
4. Save frames with MPC-HC
MPC-HC (Media Player Classic Home Cinema) is a lightweight free player that’s still updated. Pause the video and use File → Save Image (Alt + I) to save the current frame as JPG or PNG. Use the arrow keys or Ctrl + → to step frame by frame and find the exact shot.
Why do video screenshots turn black?
- Hardware acceleration: the video is drawn directly by the graphics card, outside the normal screen image.
- DRM-protected video: movies from streaming apps and some purchased videos are deliberately blocked from screenshots. These tips won’t capture protected content, and you should respect copyright when sharing frames.
Frequently asked questions
Does Windows Media Player have a screenshot button?
No. Neither the classic nor the new Media Player has a built-in snapshot feature. Use the Snipping Tool, or VLC’s Take Snapshot.
How do I capture a video frame at full resolution?
Use VLC or MPC-HC, which save the actual video frame at its original resolution rather than a screen capture.
Where does the Snipping Tool save screenshots?
In Windows 11, screenshots are saved automatically to Pictures → Screenshots and also copied to the clipboard.
Seriously, don’t waste your time with WMP. Download VLC Player, it took about eight seconds to do a screencap.
Thank you – that sure was handy. FWIW, Video Overlaps did not do the trick but your message gave me the right idea and on my system I turned off “Use YUV Flipping” which then allowed Print-Scrn to make captures. I was able to leave everything else at the default settings. I imagine the exact setting needed will vary from person to person depending on their video drivers and hardware.
My acceleration in Windows Media Player is greyed out these days, and Control I and the traditional Alt-Print Screen method do not work. VLC, meanwhile, puts green and black vertical lines throughout the picture. Anyone come across this before?
Hi! thank you very much.. I was about to try some shareware when I found your site.
It is very useful, I am actually caputuring the images taken with my ultrasound for my baby, I know have a still picture from it..
Thank you!
Yes – finally a solution.
Tip from Tyler #213 works. This is a free player, available at http://www.videolan.org and it sets a .png file under My Pictures or where you tell it. This then can sucessfully import into any grapic program or straight to a image hosting site.
Thanks for this page and good luck all.
It was really fustrating trying to capture video, spent many hour playing around with video settings but still no joy until I found this link via google search
Thanks for that keep you the good work
Sunny
It actual does work in winamp.
Just go into the preferences, then video, and at the bottom it has the overlay option I turned it off and it worked. After changing the preference i closed winamp, reopened it and it took effect. Turning it back on is recommended; the alternative is like rapidly batting your eyelids to watch a movie. :) Thank you anonymous 19.
This worked for me in Windows Media Player 11. I selected Tools>Options, selected the Performance tab, selected the Advanced button. Under “Video Acceleration”, I checked the “Use video mixing renderer”, checked “Use high quality mode” (don’t know if that was necessary), and left unchecked the “Use Overlays” option. At that point, Alt-PrtScn worked for me.
You could just use VLC which plays any video file, and doesn’t have the stupid overlays.
Sweet!
I knew there was a very good reason for it not displaying, but couldn’t quite pin down what it was…
For those still having issues, try VLC player.
It kicks ass all over WMP!
OMg!!! Thanks so much for the tip! I really almost downloaded a programme to captures my screens. You are a life saver!!= DD
Thanx for the info. Very clever on your part. Do you or anyone know of any programs or media players that can play back video in a wide range of formats and have a capture video option? I have found some out there, which ones are the best?
Thanks man! that fixed it straight away….
FYI…make sure you press APPLY after you change the Overlay settings, otherwise it just defaults back again!
Thanks SO MUCH! I always knew that there was a way, but I’m not computer-smart enough to figure out HOW to do it.
Thanks!!
Try downloading Media Player Classic. It is open source and has a button to capture movie stills in the File menu. None of the above worked for me but Media Player Classic works.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I have a big Flash project for school. I have to find away to get images from a movie.
It seems like this method no longer works in the updated WMP 11. O well, VLC works really well.
i love you more then anyone in the world right now, i send you kisses and huggles.
Thanks! I had the same problem, till now! Problem solved. Thanks so much.
I also had troubles with the image capture not working in PhotoShop (image wasn’t flattened and internal image of DVD or video content was still linked back to player being used). I had tried WMP, RealPlayer and a poor version of PowerDVD (v5.x) which came from Dell.
Tip from Tyler #213 works. This is a free player, available at http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ and it sets a .png file under My Pictures. This I sucessfully imported using Copy to Photoshop and then cropped and can be saved into any of the usual formats.
Thanks for this page and good luck all.
I am still having problems getting screen shots from my DVDs. Could that be something else?
Thanks very much for the tips. However, they did not work for capturing images from normal DVD movies played in WMP 10. After I changed the settings in my player, I paused the DVD and captured the image. Then I resumed playing the movie. When I open the image file, it did not show the image I captured. Instead, it displayed the movie as it was playing! Very weird. Thanks very much for the tips, but they did not work for me at all.
Great post – thanks for sharing this info (ever so long ago). This page is the authority on it and immediately solved my problem – just my first time trying to capture from WMP and came across this aggravating problem!
Wow, thanks. This is one of the most exiting discoveries in computerhistory… Print Screen of WMP. I’ve always struggled to make those print screens, but now I can easally make them. (I discovered you can make screen captures with Power DVD, so that was my method for so far.. Now I can make those print screens much more easier)
Hey i was messing up with this.So i googled it and found this link………
Hurray at last i could do it……Thanks for the info.It worked and was very useful..Keep rocking.
amazing – thank you so much. You have saved my computer from the pounding it would have taken from my head
This method does not work when trying to capture a still from a DVV movie for Windows Media Player 11. You just get a blank screen.
When I copy and paste it to another program, the movie keeps on playing. Be it paint or PSP. Anything. And when I close the movie, the image disappears. I can’t crop it either! HELP!
can u pls tellme how to take screeenshot in wmp11
tour tweak dosent work in wmp11 pls check
-sigh- thank you sooo much! I was almost going crazy, wondering why my wmp screenshots got so weird when I opened them in paint.
dosent work in wmp11
pls come up something for wmp11
Thanks man!
I’ve been looking for capturing alternative and stumbled on your site with great answer.
Greetz from Croatia :)
Thanks! I had to try several pieces of advice in the comments to make it work on my PC (XP/WMP 10), but it did work! This was a huge help.
O.K. Here’s the problem that I had: horizontal lines across pictures when capturing screenshots.
I record .avi movie files. In case you’re wondering, I receive pictures of “dead” people using video recordings, and the videos have to be viewed frame by frame.
Unchecking the overlay button on WMP resulted in a grainy picture with horizontal lines across the picture. (on one of my computers. So did disabling hardware acceleration (on one of my computers). tried all other kinds of settings, still no luck on that computer.
If you are using Media Player Classic (which allows you to view frame by frame, go to View….Options…Playback….Output……and choose VMR9 (windowed) under Direct Show Video. You can then paste the screenshot (excellent quality) into your photo editing app.
Had the wickedest time figuring out a method that worked. Perhaps the problem with the non-successful computer has to do with the video drivers, as I think I’m using the Microsoft default drivers. Will confirm later.
Thanks,
K
very good advice!!!! (-not sarcastic!!!) but it didn’t work for me :( can anyone help? I have WMP 11 – turning off overlays AND video acceleration doesn’t work. Also printscreen and ctrl-i don’t work either. Could it be the version or is there something I’m doing wrong? All help appreciated! and I think my version is the same as ‘Flame’s’ one.
Thank you. Just… thank you. No bs, no complicated instructions… just a straight-forward answer that fixed a big problem.
Thank you thank you thank you!
I have WMP 10 and XP. For me the CTL-I method works fine for mpg files but not at all for wmv or DVDs. I tried some of the other fixes suggested but no luck so far. I downloaded Hypersnap but it seems to have the same problems as PRTSCRN – ie when you try to edit or save the clipboard image it’s not really there. I think I still need the “definitive” tip. TIA!!!
yeah i found this via google too and it helped me alot coz i knew that thing with the hardware acceleration but it didnt work coz i cant watch my HDTV movie without it :)
CTRL+I is the best solution ill check latter if i can increase the jpG quality ;)
just wanna drop a HUGE HUGE THANK YOU NOTE!!!!!!!!! SWEET!!!!! ive been trying for like EONS!!!! to get a screen cap off win med player!!! KEWL!
the ctrl + i doesn’t work in wmp 11 beta 2 anymore, i just downloaded that last night (ctrl + i works on wmp 11)
can anymore giv some suggestion?
I struggled with all of these options working. I downloaded VLC player from http://www.videolan.org, installed and was capturing ‘snapshots’ from DVDs in minutes. Didn’t need to mess with overlays or hardware acceleration, just Ctrl+Alt+s. Saves a .jpg or other to the destination dir of your choice. Options are under settings, preferences, video. Good luck.
Hey there,
thanks so much for your tip. I used to be able to get screencaptures on my old computer no problem but since I got my new one it’s been driving me insane trying to figure out how to make WMP take screenshots that don’t go blank when I close WMP.
However, it doesn’t seem to work for DVDs. I’ve gone through all the messages above and it seems a lot of people have been having the same problem as I am but no one’s posted a soloution. Does anyone have any ideas?
Many thanks. [Ctrl]+[I] didn’t work for me, but disabling “Use Overlays” did the trick for Windows Media Player 10.0.
Thanks!!! You’ve made my day!! Ctrl I works fine without changing any settings for me. I’m using Media player 11.
“Kannan | July 27th, 2006
Dear Sir,
today i try to capture some snaps from my DVD, i played the DVD and did pause, then i pressed print screen the i opened paint brush, then i paste the picture, then i saved bitmap format. then i try open the file (photo) its come blank. please advise me how to do?
i am using windows media player 10
thanks sir”
Read the instructions at the top of the page! He already has advised “how to do” so go do it!
When I capture a frame and paste into Photoshop, the screenshot is still “live” If I flatten the file, it will go black. If I push “Play” on the media player…the active PS window capture will track along with the video as it plays. If I stop the video, the capture screen in PS will go black as well.
Neither of the above techniques worked in my scenario. The Ctl + I never brings up a capture “save” panel (WMP 10.0). I adjusted the: Tools/Options/Performance/Advanced settings in every concievable fashion. Still no different results
Nice! I spent hours looking for commercial products, but never imagine it’s so simple and free of charge!
Thank you.
Thanks for that, it works fine. It will save me using Vlc Media Player to do the same job.
Regards the poacher
Thank you, thank you! I needed to capture some screenshots of stills from a number of videos to paste them into a Microsoft Word document to send to a web designer, and I had just about given up trying to do it. I tried it in Windows Media and RealPlayer but I couldn’t capture the images in either one. Then I found this web page, cleared the checkbox you suggested and it now works! Thank you very much for providing this information, it’s extremely helpful.
To quote a previous comment…
“THANK YOU!!!!
After a lot of swearing at WMP about not letting me do a screen capture, I hit google and found your site.
That did the trick, thanks!! ”
I couldn’t have worded it better myself.
I used this page to edit the settings in Nero Showtime – those of you who have it and had NO LUCK with the stuff listed above:
What worked for me was as follows:
1. Open Nero Showtime, which comes with the full version of (purchased) Nero.
2. Preferences (the little hammer icon)
3. Video: change video mode to “no interlacing”
4. Video quality: select the “off” circle
5. Play DVD, press the camera icon to capture (assuming you have already gone in and selected a place for the frames to be saved to)
*please note that “print screen” still results in a blank image. You’ll have to use Nero’s capture device to be successful. I also recommend Nero in general, as the software has burned CD and DVDs for me flawlessly.