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So here frame by frame is easy-the "codec" is "frame based".
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For example, ImageJ will save AVI files which are evidently a sequence of JPEG images more or less concatenated into a single file. It is apparently not an easy thing to do for certain codecs (as far as I can tell, the ones designed for streaming, or "multi-frame" compressions). Today having tried VLC only to discover it has a frame by frame forward but not backward, and subsequently landed on the VLC forums where many users ask for the feature, I learned something.
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Having tried many of the suggestions, I'm still frustrated with the lack of availability or ease of use of such a feature, which I find indispensable in an analytic environment (I'm not trying to go frame by frame on Leia's slave costume). I've landed on this page quite often when trying to watch video clips frame by frame.
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