OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Video Scene Detector
Find Every Cut and Scene Change, With a Contact Sheet of Each Shot
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How the Video Scene Detector works
This video scene detector scans a clip for cuts and shot changes, then shows the first frame of every scene with its start time. Download the contact sheet as a PNG or a CSV scene list with start, end and length for each shot. The video never leaves your device.
How the video scene detector works
The page steps through the video at a fixed interval and shrinks each frame to a tiny thumbnail. It compares each thumbnail with the one before using two measures: how much the brightness of each pixel changed, and how much the overall colour mix changed. A hard cut moves both sharply in a single step, while a camera pan or someone walking through the frame moves them gradually, so only real changes of shot pass the threshold.
Choosing the settings
Sensitivity sets how big a jump counts as a new scene. Raise it if cuts between similar shots are missed, such as two angles in the same room; lower it if flashes or fast action are wrongly split. Checking every 0.1 s places cuts more precisely but takes longer. The shortest shot setting stops a burst of fast cuts or a camera flash from creating dozens of tiny scenes.
What to do with the results
A contact sheet is a quick visual index for logging footage, picking thumbnails or reviewing an edit. The CSV opens in any spreadsheet and gives exact start and end times, ready for an edit decision list, chapter markers on YouTube or splitting the file into separate clips.
Limits
Slow dissolves and fades spread the change over many frames, so they may be missed or placed at the middle of the transition. Very dark footage has little detail to compare, so raise the sensitivity for night scenes.
FAQ
Does the video scene detector upload my file?
No. The video is decoded and analysed by your browser on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, so it is safe to use with unreleased edits, client footage and private recordings of any length your browser can play.
Why did it find a scene change where there is no cut?
A camera flash, an explosion or a sudden lighting change can look like a cut because the whole frame changes at once. Lower the sensitivity or raise the shortest shot length so short bursts are merged into the scene around them.
Can I use the times as YouTube chapters?
Yes. Download the CSV, keep the scenes you want and copy the start times in minutes and seconds into your video description. YouTube needs the first chapter to start at 0:00 and each chapter to be at least ten seconds long.
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