Find the moment. Shape the loop.
FrameLoop is a native Mac video player for people who want to look closer. Study a movement, build a visual loop, or capture the exact frame you need. Go from a local video to an MP4, animated GIF, or PNG without opening a full video editor. Signed by the developer and notarized by Apple.
Made for motion studies, sports footage, animation reference, and visual experiments.
Download FrameLoop for Apple Silicon — macOS 26 or later. Signed with Developer ID and notarized by Apple. Open the DMG, then drag FrameLoop to Applications.
Step forward or back one frame at a time. Mark a start and end, then watch that section repeat. Slow playback to a quarter speed to inspect a movement, or choose a faster speed to review footage.
A loop can cross the end of the source clip. Mark its start near the end and its finish near the beginning: FrameLoop joins those sections into one loop.
Turn on Reverse Loop to play a segment forward, then backward. Export that motion as a clip or GIF. MP4 exports can include sound that follows the loop, including reversed audio on the return pass.
Speed changes carry through to exports. Slower audio keeps its pitch.
Mirror the image and adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, exposure, and hue. Your screenshots and exports use those changes too.
- Capture a frame as a PNG.
- Export an MP4 at the source size and frame rate.
- Make an animated GIF for a short, repeating moment.
Files receive automatic numbers, so you can keep exploring without naming every capture. Remove a selected section, append another video, or undo the last edit. Your original files stay unchanged.
Export at twice the source width and height with Apple's on-device machine-learning video upscaler. Choose Best Quality or Faster but Softer. Mirror and picture adjustments remain part of the result.
Upscaling requires supported hardware and accepts source video up to 1920 × 1080. Apple’s model downloads on first use. The video processing runs on your Mac.
FrameLoop uses SwiftUI and AVFoundation, with native windows, menus, keyboard shortcuts, and full-screen playback. Folder shortcuts keep local clips close at hand. Choose a light, dark, or system appearance.
No account. No video uploads. Your footage stays local.
- Open a video with Command-O.
- Use Left and Right to find the frames you want.
- Press I and O to mark the loop.
- Press Space to play, or S to save the current frame.
- Press Command-E to export an MP4. Use the export menu for GIF and upscaling options.
Requirements: macOS 26 or later. The current packaged build is for Apple Silicon. MP4, M4V, and MOV use native playback when their codecs are supported. Optional FFmpeg support adds preparation for formats such as MKV, AVI, FLV, and GIF. FFmpeg is not bundled.
FrameLoop is an early release. The current Apple Silicon app and DMG have passed Apple notarization and Gatekeeper checks.
Version 0.1.1 adds click-to-mute on the speaker beside the volume slider. All 30 unit tests passed, and the installed app's mute and volume recovery controls were checked. The signed-app self-test recorded 79 passes and three full-screen failures, then ended without a final summary. The previously reported 2× playback timing check passed in this run. Full-screen behavior and the remaining self-tests still need verification.
For development, use Xcode with Swift 6.2 and the macOS 26 SDK:
git clone https://github.com/millxing/FrameLoop.git
cd FrameLoop
./build.shThe build command installs a development copy in /Applications/FrameLoop.app, replacing any existing copy. Set DEVELOPER_DIR if Xcode is not your active developer toolchain.
See the release guide for signing and notarization, and the feature backlog for test coverage and known gaps.