Video Contact Sheet in the browser is not a generate
/free-tools/video-contact-sheet never spends a credit. Do not pay a model to do an in-browser file job.
/free-tools/video-contact-sheet never spends a credit. Do not pay a model to do an in-browser file job.
A contact sheet is a labelled grid of frames sampled from a file you already have. It is shot review. It is not a storyboard generate, not an image model, not a reason to open the catalog. If you prompt a video model to "make a contact sheet of this clip," you have spent a generate on a screenshot.
Sampling frames is not generating frames
The tool seeks to N timestamps spaced evenly through the clip and draws them into a labelled grid. The labels are the timestamps, so you can jump back to a shot. Seeking lands on the nearest decodable frame, which is why a requested time and the frame you get can differ by a fraction of a second. Browsers seek to a decodable frame, usually the nearest keyframe, not to an arbitrary timestamp. A 2-second GOP can put you almost two seconds off the mathematical sample point. The label is the time the element actually landed on, not the time we requested.
That is the whole product. Built for storyboarding and shot review. Evenly sampled, labelled frames in one grid — a clip at a glance.
It runs in your browser on the Canvas and File APIs. The file is read into memory on your machine, processed there, and offered back as a download. Nothing is sent to a server. It keeps working with the network off. No account. No watermark. No upload.
HDR clips look washed out here on purpose. Canvas 2D draws whatever the element composited to the page, in the page's colour space, which is typically sRGB. HDR metadata is not preserved. The grid is for shot review, not a colour-accurate still. Do not QC a Ray HDR plate on this grid and then argue with the grade.
Credits start when a model starts
Versely has no free tier for generation. Every generation costs credits. What it costs is the hub: credits are the common unit those different meters resolve into — per second, per 1,000 characters, per megapixel, per tier, per job — and the app quotes the exact figure before every charge. Unused credits roll over while the subscription is active. Estimating a plan is free. Dispatching a batch to "see what it costs" is not.
A contact sheet is none of those meters. It does not call a model, an API, or the network. It is genuinely free because it is genuinely free to run. Confusing it with "generate a storyboard from this VOD" is how you pay for a grid a canvas already drew.
The AI video generator is the other door: text or a still in, a new clip out, credits out. Use it when you do not have the tape yet. Use the contact sheet when you already have the tape and you need to see what is in it.
Do not generate twelve stills "as a storyboard" of a keeper you already exported. Sample the keeper. If the sheet shows a miss at 0:04, that is information. Generating a prettier 0:04 does not review the file. It replaces it.
What the grid is for
- Pick the in-point without scrubbing blind. The labelled frame is the jump.
- Compare coverage across a three-scene workflow export before you caption.
- Show a client the shots without sending the whole master.
- Confirm the hook is in frame one on a vertical clip.
What it is not: a colour pipeline, a lossless frame extract, a keyframe-accurate NLE, a generate. If you needed the exact frame at 00:07.12 and the GOP put you on 00:06.00, that is the browser. It is still cheaper than a model.
FAQ
Does the contact sheet use credits if I am logged in?
No. The tool never spends a credit. Login does not change the meter. Generation is the thing that bills. This is not generation.
Why is the labelled time not the time I asked for?
Browsers seek to a decodable frame, usually the nearest keyframe. The label is the time the element landed, not the mathematical sample. A long GOP makes that gap larger. It is still the frame you can jump to.
Can I use this grid to QC HDR?
No. The canvas is typically sRGB. HDR metadata is not preserved. Washed-out highlights are the page's colour space, not your grade. Review shots here; grade on a 10-bit master.
Should I generate a storyboard instead of sampling the file?
Not if the file already exists. A generate invents frames. A contact sheet samples yours. Pay a model when you need new picture. Do not pay one to screenshot a clip you can already open.