Video Thumbnail Extractor - Multi-Platform Support Extract high-quality thumbnails from videos across multiple platforms including YouTube, Vimeo, direct video URLs, and more. ## 🌟 Features ### Multi-Platform Video Support - YouTube - Extract thumbnails from any YouTube video - Vimeo - Process Vimeo videos - Dailymotion - Support for Dailymotion videos - Direct Video URLs - MP4, AVI, MOV, MKV, WebM, FLV, WMV, M4V files - Generic URLs - Automatic detection and processing via yt-dlp ### Thumbnail Extraction Features - ✅ Multiple Extraction Methods - Evenly spaced, custom timestamps, key frames, or beginning/middle/end - ✅ Customizable Count - Extract 1-20 thumbnails per video - ✅ High Quality - Configurable resolution and image quality - ✅ Multiple Formats - Output as JPEG, PNG, or WebP - ✅ Batch Processing - Process multiple videos simultaneously - ✅ Automatic Upload - Store thumbnails in Apify Key-Value Store - ✅ Base64 Encoding - Optional base64 encoded output - ✅ Video Metadata - Extract title, duration, and other info ## 💰 Pricing - Pay Per Thumbnail This actor uses tiered pay-per-event pricing based on extraction complexity: | Platform Type | Price per Thumbnail | Best For | |---------------|---------------------|----------| | YouTube (Native) | $0.001 (0.1¢) | YouTube videos - instant extraction | | Direct URLs | $0.005 (0.5¢) | MP4, AVI, MOV files - frame streaming | | Streaming Platforms | $0.01 (1¢) | Vimeo, Dailymotion - requires download | ### Why Tiered Pricing? - YouTube Native: Uses YouTube's built-in thumbnails - minimal resources, minimal cost ⚡ - Direct URLs: Streams video frames directly - moderate resources, fair pricing 🎬 - Streaming Platforms: Requires full video download - maximum resources, premium pricing 📺 ### Example Costs - 100 YouTube thumbnails: $0.10 - 100 Direct URL thumbnails: $0.50 - 100 Vimeo thumbnails: $1.00 See PRICING.md for detailed pricing information and examples. ## 📋 Input Parameters ### Required - videoUrls - Array of video URLs to process ### Optional - thumbnailCount - Number of thumbnails per video (default: 3, range: 1-20) - extractionMethod - How to select frames: - evenly-spaced - Distribute thumbnails evenly across video (default) - custom-timestamps - Extract at specific timestamps - key-frames - Extract at key frames - beginning-middle-end - Extract from start, middle, and end - customTimestamps - Array of timestamps in seconds (for custom-timestamps method) - thumbnailWidth - Width in pixels (default: 1280, range: 320-3840) - outputFormat - Image format: jpg, png, or webp (default: jpg) - imageQuality - Quality 1-100 (default: 85) - uploadToKeyValueStore - Store images in Key-Value Store (default: true) - returnBase64 - Include base64 encoded images in output (default: false) ## 📝 Example Usage ### Basic Example json { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ" ], "thumbnailCount": 3, "extractionMethod": "evenly-spaced", "outputFormat": "jpg" } ### Advanced Example - Custom Timestamps json { "videoUrls": [ "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example", "https://vimeo.com/123456789", "https://example.com/video.mp4" ], "thumbnailCount": 5, "extractionMethod": "custom-timestamps", "customTimestamps": [10, 30, 60, 120, 180], "thumbnailWidth": 1920, "outputFormat": "png", "imageQuality": 95, "uploadToKeyValueStore": true, "returnBase64": false } ### High Quality Thumbnails json { "videoUrls": ["https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example"], "thumbnailCount": 10, "extractionMethod": "evenly-spaced", "thumbnailWidth": 3840, "outputFormat": "png", "imageQuality": 100 } ## 📤 Output Format ### Dataset Output json { "videoUrl": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=example", "platform": "youtube", "success": true, "processedAt": "2025-11-17T16:00:00.000Z", "thumbnailCount": 3, "thumbnails": [ { "index": 0, "timestamp": 45.5, "timestampFormatted": "0:45", "keyValueStoreKey": "video_thumb_0.jpg" } ], "videoInfo": { "title": "Example Video", "duration": 180, "uploader": "Channel Name" } } ### Key-Value Store Thumbnails are automatically uploaded to the Key-Value Store with keys like: - video_thumb_0.jpg - video_thumb_1.jpg - etc. Access them via: https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/[STORE_ID]/records/[KEY] ## 🎯 Use Cases ### Content Creation - Generate video previews for websites - Create thumbnail galleries - Extract key moments from videos ### Video Analysis - Sample frames for quality checking - Extract frames for machine learning training - Create video summaries ### Marketing - Generate social media preview images - Create video thumbnails for email campaigns - Extract product shots from demo videos ## 🔧 Technical Details ### Supported Video Platforms - YouTube (all formats) - Vimeo - Dailymotion - Direct video file URLs - Any platform supported by yt-dlp (800+ sites) ### Supported Video Formats - MP4, AVI, MOV, MKV, WebM, FLV, WMV, M4V - And many more via ffmpeg ### Image Processing - Powered by ffmpeg for frame extraction - Sharp for image optimization and format conversion - Maintains aspect ratio automatically - High-quality output with configurable settings ## ⚙️ Configuration Tips ### For Best Quality json { "thumbnailWidth": 1920, "outputFormat": "png", "imageQuality": 95 } ### For Smaller File Sizes json { "thumbnailWidth": 1280, "outputFormat": "webp", "imageQuality": 75 } ### For Specific Moments json { "extractionMethod": "custom-timestamps", "customTimestamps": [5, 30, 60, 120] } ## 🚀 Performance - Processes videos efficiently using ffmpeg - Automatic cleanup of temporary files - Optimized for batch processing - Handles large videos (up to 500MB) ## 📊 Pricing This actor uses standard Apify platform pricing based on: - Compute units consumed - Storage for Key-Value Store items Typical usage: - ~0.01 compute units per thumbnail extracted - Storage costs for uploaded thumbnails ## 🔍 Troubleshooting ### Video Download Fails - Ensure the URL is publicly accessible - Check if the platform is supported by yt-dlp - Verify the video is not geo-restricted ### Poor Quality Thumbnails - Increase thumbnailWidth parameter - Use PNG format for better quality - Increase imageQuality setting ### Timeout Issues - Reduce thumbnailCount for long videos - Use lower resolution settings - Process videos in smaller batches ## 📚 Related Actors - PDF OCR API - Extract text from PDF documents - Image Processing API - Advanced image manipulation - Video Metadata Extractor - Get detailed video information ## 📄 License Apache-2.0 ## 🤝 Support For issues, questions, or feature requests, please contact HappiTap team. --- Built with ❤️ using Apify, ffmpeg, yt-dlp, and Sharp