What is a keyframe?
Also called: I-frame
Definition
In video compression, a keyframe is a frame stored as a complete picture; the frames between keyframes store only what changed.
Keyframes are what make seeking possible: a player jumps to the nearest one and rebuilds from there. More frequent keyframes make scrubbing snappier and files larger.
In animation the word has a second meaning: a point where a value is set by hand, with the software filling in between.
Related terms
- Codec
- A codec is the method used to compress video or audio into a file and decompress it for playback.
- Bitrate
- Bitrate is the amount of data a video uses per second, usually measured in megabits per second (Mbps).
- Variable frame rate
- A variable frame rate video does not space its frames evenly in time; it stores a new frame only when one is available.