Live stream screenshots - Gcore Documentation

Live stream screenshots show the latest frame generated for an active broadcast, so embedded players can display a real preview while the page loads. The Streams API returns the URL of the latest generated image in the screenshot field.

Screenshot generation

Gcore creates one JPEG screenshot every 10 seconds while the stream is live, up to 1080 px wide. Screenshot history is not stored — the screenshot field always points to the latest generated image.

Player placeholder

The built-in player automatically uses the latest screenshot as a placeholder while playback loads, so no changes to the embed code are required. The placeholder updates as the stream produces new frames throughout the broadcast.

Player showing the latest live stream frame as a placeholder

Stale screenshots

When last.jpg appears stale, confirm that the stream is live, wait at least 10 seconds, and reload the URL. The image updates only while live video is being sent.