What Causes Freeze Frames on Digital Video?
A "freeze frame" in a digital video can indicate a problem in either the video import or encoding processes. If it's a streaming or broadcast video, there could be bandwidth problems or connection errors. A freeze frame can also be an intentional editing technique used to advance a story or deliver information in television or film.
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Importing and Encoding Errors
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Video converted incorrectly from analog to digital, or from one frame rate to another, can cause the motion to "stutter" or appear jerky, or can make the audio run faster or slower than the picture, or may not work at all in some players. Likewise, the video codec used by the video may be incompatible or badly supported by the player, causing it to lock up, or to only display a single video frame. Other players may have better luck dealing with the video.
Streaming Issues
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A freeze frame from a video streaming over an Internet connection may indicate a problem with the cable or telephone lines. Older, slower or underpowered computers can struggle with video of any sort, especially streaming video, and especially high-bandwidth streaming video like HD. The video stream may also be bottlenecked or blocked by the user's computer's or home network's firewall or cable modem settings.
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Copy Protected Videos
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Some DVDs and many legal commercial video downloads include digital rights management or other copy protection schemes that will attempt to corrupt any copy an unauthorized user tries to make -- by plugging the DVD into a VCR and pressing record, for example. It seems unlikely but is not inconceivable that a video file corrupted in this way would display a single frame.
Editorial Technique
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It is a common editing technique to pause the action on a selected frame, sometimes with credits, diagrams or other information overlaid, to introduce a new character or highlight some important action or object onscreen. Most editing software will provide a method for using and manipulating still frames, and often the frame can be exported to another software program like Photoshop for further work before being inserted back into the movie.
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