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I am watching Netflix in Safari on macOS 10.13.3.

I just tried taking a screenshot through several methods:

  1. ⌘⇧3 while Safari in full-screen mode (Netflix isn't).
  2. ⌘⇧4 and dragging while Safari in full-screen mode.
  3. ⌘⇧3 while Safari is not full-screen and not focussed.
  4. ⌘⇧4 and dragging while Safari is not full-screen and not focussed.

But none of these captured the screen, I get only black images.

How can I extract a frame from a show on Netflix?

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  • 4
    Use another browser (chrome, firefox), Netflix has this on the W10 app as well.
    – Welz
    Feb 21, 2018 at 19:31
  • 2
    May I recommend a camera?
    – Mark
    Feb 21, 2018 at 21:18
  • @Mark I don't actually own a camera outside of my webcam.
    – theonlygusti
    Feb 21, 2018 at 23:08
  • What happens when you use a third-party screen capture tool like Monosnap?
    – Br.Bill
    Feb 22, 2018 at 0:34
  • Just use the screenshot app, but use the 'select portion of the screen' mode, not 'grab entire screen'.
    – karuhanga
    May 31, 2020 at 10:38

3 Answers 3

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The source is the combination of Netflix and Safari, which disables screenshots and screencasts of its content to prevent piracy.

You should be able to take screenshots if you use Google Chrome:

enter image description here

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  • 10
    I don't understand apple's motivation. If anything this encourages and supports piracy b/c people will just go onto the illegal websites to be able to take the screens they want.
    – theonlygusti
    Feb 21, 2018 at 14:15
  • 16
    I'm sure that Netflix and Apple are in cahoots, legally, to prevent piracy, but you you can't do it in Safari. No way around it. One can't even hook a Mac up to a projector and use Netflix through Safari - the image is black. This page has some tips about running a Windows VM, which seems a little extreme when you can just use another browser.
    – IconDaemon
    Feb 21, 2018 at 14:29
  • 4
    @IconDaemon is totally correct. You'd need to run macOS in a VM and screen shot Safari from another OS to get around the programming that intentionally disables this when safari and the screen shot run together.
    – bmike ♦
    Feb 21, 2018 at 16:17
  • 12
    @theonlygusti The motivation isn't to prevent screenshots - it's to prevent recording of an entire movie. Prevention of stills is just a side-effect.
    – Stewart
    Feb 21, 2018 at 17:56
  • 3
    The effect of two evils combined: Closed source and DRM.
    – henning
    Feb 22, 2018 at 10:40
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I'm submitting this as an answer because I feel this is better answers "How to do this in Safari", even though there is already an accepted solution.

I really hate to suggest third party software, but in this instance, try Greenshot. It's lightweight, and simple to use.

NOTE: SADLY, I just checked, and it is 1.99USD on OSX. Here is a list of alternatives:

https://screenshot.net/greenshot-for-mac.html

https://www.apowersoft.com/mac-screenshot is the top hit (in case link becomes defunct)

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  • 9
    Have you tried using Greenshot to see if it works?
    – JMY1000
    Feb 22, 2018 at 9:42
  • Yes. Greenshot works fine. It stands alone and is therefore not restricted by the boundaries of external software. I just dislike not using built-in solutions, hence my apprehension for recommending it. downvote accepted on the assumption people don't comprehend the answer.
    – NOP
    Feb 22, 2018 at 14:18
  • Hidden spam. Greenshot does not work on Mac at all. The links go to a site promoting the original posters products (or more likely the ones he's paid to promote).
    – Foliovision
    Nov 27, 2020 at 23:18
  • 1
    If anyone has a relationship with software, it’s best to disclose that. That being said, a single post that tries to answer the question isn’t necessarily spam. Please flag as other if anyone detects a campaign to astroturf this produce and we will look into spam violations.
    – bmike ♦
    Nov 27, 2020 at 23:31
  • Mac Screenshot does not work as of May 2022: the pane showing Netflix (Chrome) is black.
    – Mattias Martens
    May 6, 2022 at 16:13
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Yah. I always used firefox before a few days ago, and never had that problem. What you can do though, is taking a portion of the image you want to screenshot; that way it works out without a hitch (just gotta get the dimensions right). Basically, don't take a 'full screen' screen shot, and use alt+4 but make it a bit smaller to bypass their privacy policy.

My best bet is that Safari and Netflix have implemented this policy not for screenshots per se, but to prevent recording the video playing and torrenting it. But, because they couldn't address the problem directly, they had to cooperate and do it at the source, i.e. to prevent any and all images (moving or not) from getting recorded. How futile :P

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