SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit · error · Exception

No frames were extracted from the video - see log for the ff

Error message

No frames were extracted from the video - see log for the ffmpeg command line.

What it means

Thrown in VideoOcrViewModel.StartOcr after ExtractFrames runs ffmpeg to dump JPEGs into the temp frames folder: Directory.GetFiles returned zero *.jpg files, so the whole-video extraction produced nothing. Like 304 the actionable detail is the ffmpeg command line in the tools log. This blocks the entire OCR scan before grouping/OCR even begins.

Source

Thrown at src/ui/Features/Video/VideoOcr/VideoOcrViewModel.cs:679

        _cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
        var cancellationToken = _cancellationTokenSource.Token;

        IsRunning = true;
        IsOkEnabled = false;
        ProgressValue = 0;
        Lines.Clear();

        var framesFolder = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "se_video_ocr_" + Guid.NewGuid());
        Directory.CreateDirectory(framesFolder);

        try
        {
            await ExtractFrames(framesFolder, cancellationToken);

            var frameFileNames = Directory.GetFiles(framesFolder, "*.jpg").OrderBy(p => p, StringComparer.Ordinal).ToList();
            if (frameFileNames.Count == 0)
            {
                throw new Exception("No frames were extracted from the video - see log for the ffmpeg command line.");
            }

            var lastAnalyzeUpdate = 0L;
            var groups = await Task.Run(() => VideoOcrFrameGrouper.Group(
                frameFileNames,
                BrightnessMinimum,
                Se.Settings.Video.VideoOcr.ImageSimilarityPercent,
                (current, total) =>
                {
                    var now = Environment.TickCount64;
                    if (now - lastAnalyzeUpdate > 200 || current == total)
                    {
                        lastAnalyzeUpdate = now;
                        Dispatcher.UIThread.Post(() =>
                        {
                            ProgressText = string.Format(Se.Language.Video.VideoOcr.AnalyzingFramesXY, current, total);
                            ProgressValue = total == 0 ? 0 : current * 100.0 / total;
                        });

View on GitHub (pinned to 17a9f07487)

Solutions

1. Read the tools log for the ExtractFrames ffmpeg command and run it manually to capture stderr.
2. Verify the source opens in ffprobe and is a real video stream (not audio-only).
3. Ensure ffmpeg is installed/runnable and the temp folder has free disk space.
4. Confirm the extraction fps/range settings produce frames (e.g. FramesPerStep > 0, in-range start/end).

Example fix

// before
await ExtractFrames(framesFolder, cancellationToken);
var frameFileNames = Directory.GetFiles(framesFolder, "*.jpg").OrderBy(p => p, StringComparer.Ordinal).ToList();
if (frameFileNames.Count == 0)
    throw new Exception("No frames were extracted from the video - see log for the ffmpeg command line.");

// after - validate the source is decodable first, name ffmpeg's failure
if (!await FfmpeWrapper.CanDecode(_videoFileName))
    throw new Exception("Source video could not be decoded by ffmpeg - see log.");
await ExtractFrames(framesFolder, cancellationToken);
var frameFileNames = Directory.GetFiles(framesFolder, "*.jpg").OrderBy(p => p, StringComparer.Ordinal).ToList();
if (frameFileNames.Count == 0)
    throw new Exception($"No frames were extracted (ffmpeg exit {_ffmpegExitCode}) - see log for the command line.");

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(_videoFileName) || VideoWidth <= 0) return;
if (!await FfmpegWrapper.CanDecode(_videoFileName))
    throw new Exception("Source video cannot be decoded by ffmpeg.");

try
{
    await ExtractFrames(framesFolder, cancellationToken);
    var frameFileNames = Directory.GetFiles(framesFolder, "*.jpg");
    if (frameFileNames.Length == 0) throw new Exception("No frames extracted - see log.");
}
catch (Exception ex) { SeLogger.Error(ex, "Video OCR extraction failed"); /* show message */ }

When it happens

Trigger: ffmpeg batch extraction failed or wrote no JPGs: corrupt/unsupported source, an invalid extraction range/fps, ffmpeg not found, the temp frames folder was cleaned mid-run, or a crop/scale filter rejected by ffmpeg.

Common situations: Corrupt source video; ffmpeg missing from PATH/tools folder; user pointed OCR at an audio-only or unsupported container; antivirus deleting the extracted frames; disk full in temp.

Related errors

• Could not extract the current frame - see log for the ffmpeg
• Paddle OCR failed: {paddleOcr.Error}
• {Se.Language.Ocr.CrispEmbedNotDownloaded}
• {engine.Error}
• {error}

AI-assisted analysis of SubtitleEdit/subtitleedit@17a9f07487 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9d33d0ddcfdc26f7. Report an issue: GitHub.