Hi Music Vid - Thank you for your response. Yes of course I would not expect a higher quality still than the video quality. My concern was that the exported still did not seem to match the quality of the frame (the jpg file size was only 794,000kb). However when I open it in Photoshop it is indeed 1920x1080 and 5.93MB. I then tried what you suggest (preview resolution at best) with the same result regardless of whether I saved it as a jpg or a png.

So it seems that

1. I was already getting the best quality I could from the video and my question was based on a misunderstanding about the number of pixels I was getting but that...

2. Changing the preview setting or saving as a png does not make any (apparent) difference. I tried an experiment and changed the preview to draft and exported that (as jpg and png). There was no difference in the pixel count between the result at 'draft' or at 'best' and nor was any discernible difference in Photoshop even when I zoomed in to 400%. Intuitively I would have expected this result as surely movie studio is exporting the frame rather than the preview? Any comments?

The bottom line seems to be that save snapshop to file is as good as I can get - I don't need any other software.

In Vegas Pro (since 9.0d), Copy Snapshot to Clipboard and Save Snapshot to File automatically operate at "Best (Full)" quality if the Video Preview is set to (Auto) size, and "Good" quality if set to "Draft" or "Preview". Movie Studio probably behaves the same these days.

Yes, if you watch closely while it saves you can see MS change the quality then back again after. It's been like that since MS14, maybe earlier.

After rendering with a still as static extension (to get around MS showing an interlaced frame) I cannot tell the difference between a video frame and the still frame.

Thanks everyone - I learnt something!

Yes, many of my editing rituals are holdovers from earlier versions.

Like Best/Full for snapshots, incremental project backups, and restart before rendering. Can't hurt.

Oh btw. PNG is lossless compression, so yes, it is better quality than JPG.

Besides what already said, there's lots of ways to do this outside the software. For example, render at high bitrate, use a video player full screen and save the screenshot - can even do it on the phone if you're on the move.

It's pretty usual to make promo shots for music video from unused footage and I use the "save still" all the time :)

"render at high bitrate, use a video player full screen and save the screenshot"

Thanks Chris. I will try that. What seems apparant from all the replies (and surprising to me) is that the quality of the still image depends on the quality of the screen image rather than on the underlying resolution of the video footage (ie the display quality rather than the project resolution). So does this mean (for example) that if you shoot in 4k but have a (preview) screen display of 834x469x32 you will get only a lower resolution still? And after rendering at high resolution, you still need to show it at high resolution to get the benefit? I feel myself getting out of my depth!

From HD I always get 1920x1080 irrespective of my preview size. But I'm using a 1080 project size. Not sure what happens if the project size is lower. Late here now but I'll try tomorrow.

"render at high bitrate, use a video player full screen and save the screenshot"

Thanks Chris. I will try that. What seems apparant from all the replies (and surprising to me) is that the quality of the still image depends on the quality of the screen image rather than on the underlying resolution of the video footage (ie the display quality rather than the project resolution). So does this mean (for example) that if you shoot in 4k but have a (preview) screen display of 834x469x32 you will get only a lower resolution still? And after rendering at high resolution, you still need to show it at high resolution to get the benefit? I feel myself getting out of my depth!

I've actually never thought of it otherwise.. the button is on the preview window and the quality of the snapshot depends on the preview settings, so it never occurred to me the underlying footage could be a factor at all :)

The idea of the snapshot (to me at least) is that it allows you to create a "tape cover" to glue two clips or to move from a moving video to a perfectly still image - if you look at it that way, it's obvious that it must match the resolution of the rendered result rather than the source (and usually that's how you set the preview window, so that you can, er... preview :-) )

I came to Vegas via Sony since I had Sony cameras. When I want a top quality still image from a video I use the free software 'Sony PlayMemories Home'. This is simple to use and does a good job, but I haven't tried it on video from non-Sony cameras.

From HD I always get 1920x1080 irrespective of my preview size. But I'm using a 1080 project size. Not sure what happens if the project size is lower. Late here now but I'll try tomorrow.

Yes it creates a file at your project size.

For example I have a 1080 project containing 1080 clips. Saving to an image file gives me a jpg size 1920x1080. Altering the project to PAL DV Widescreen and a saved image now is 1049x576 (the square pixel eqivalent of 720x576 with PAR). Changing the project to 4K and a saved image is now 3840x2160.

So if you're using 4K in a 1080 project and want a 4K still image you need to temporarily change the project to 4K when saving the still image.