# Thumbnail & Contact Sheet — Make a video thumbnail or contact sheet on Mac

Pick the sharpest frames for a thumbnail, or make a grid of frames with timestamps. Part of OneMacTools, 151 private tools in one native Mac app (macOS 26 or later); category: Video. Runs on your Mac; nothing is uploaded.

OneMacTools samples frames across the video and scores them for sharpness and exposure, then saves the best ones, spread through the clip, as full-size JPEGs. Or choose a contact sheet: a grid of evenly spaced frames, each with its timestamp, plus the file's length and resolution at the top.

Page: https://www.onemactools.com/tools/video-thumbnail-contact-sheet · Download: https://www.onemactools.com/download · Pricing: https://www.onemactools.com/pricing

## How to use it
1. **Drop your videos.** Add one or more videos.
2. **Choose what to make.** Pick Best thumbnails to get the sharpest frames, or Contact sheet for a grid of frames with timestamps.
3. **Set how many.** For thumbnails, choose 1, 3 or 5. For a contact sheet, choose a 3 × 4, 4 × 5 or 5 × 6 grid.
4. **Click Make.** Frames are sampled across the whole video. Thumbnails are scored for sharpness and exposure; contact sheet frames are evenly spaced.
5. **Pick your favourite.** The JPEGs are saved in a new dated folder in Downloads › OneMacTools. Look through them with the Preview (eye) button or Show in Finder. The video isn't changed.

## Options
- **Make:** Best thumbnails (the default) saves the sharpest, best-exposed frames as full-size JPEGs. Contact sheet saves one image with a grid of frames, each labelled with its time, and the file's name, length and resolution at the top.
- **Thumbnails:** Shown when Make is Best thumbnails. 1, 3 (the default) or 5 frames, chosen from different parts of the video.
- **Grid:** Shown when Make is Contact sheet. 3 × 4, 4 × 5 (the default) or 5 × 6: columns by rows.

## Tips
- Ask for 3 or 5 thumbnails to get a choice. They're picked from different parts of the video, so you won't get five near-identical frames.
- Thumbnails come from 40 frames spread through the clip. For one exact moment, use Extract Frames with One frame instead.
- Add text or a border to your chosen thumbnail with the image tools before uploading it.
- A contact sheet is a quick way to show a client or editor everything in a shoot in a single image.
- Use a bigger grid for long recordings so the gaps between frames stay short.

## Questions
**How do I make a thumbnail from a video on a Mac?**
Drop the video onto Thumbnail & Contact Sheet, choose Best thumbnails and click Make. The sharpest, best-exposed frames are saved as JPEGs.

**How are the best frames chosen?**
Forty frames are sampled evenly across the video and scored for sharpness and exposure. The highest-scoring ones, spaced apart, are saved.

**How do I make a contact sheet of a video?**
Choose Contact sheet and a grid size, then click Make. You get one image with evenly spaced frames, each labelled with its time.

**What's on the contact sheet?**
The file name, its length and resolution at the top, then the grid of frames on a dark background, each with a timestamp underneath.

**Are the thumbnails big enough for YouTube?**
Yes. Thumbnails are saved up to 1920 px on the long side, more than YouTube's recommended 1280 × 720.

**Why does it say my video has no video track macOS can read?**
This tool uses macOS's own video tools, which can't open MKV or WebM files. Convert the video to MP4 with Convert Video first.