Flikipedia A branching dictionary of the moving image

frame

/freɪm/ noun

A single still image in a film strip or digital video stream; the basic unit of the moving image, from which a motion picture is built by rapid succession.

Origin From Old English framian, to be helpful or make progress, later a border or enclosing structure; applied to the bounded rectangular image of cinematography by analogy with a picture frame.

  1. Cinema A single still image in a sequence that, shown in rapid succession with others, produces the impression of continuous movement. The frame is the smallest complete picture the medium records or displays.

  2. Film On photographic film, one such image occupying a fixed area of the strip, bounded above and below by frame lines and advanced one frame at a time by the sprockets that engage the film's perforations.

  3. Digital In digital video, one complete array of pixels — a raster image — captured by an image sensor and stored or transmitted as a single picture within the stream. a video encoded at 24 frames per second

The unit of the moving image

A frame is a single still image, and a motion picture is a rapid succession of such images shown quickly enough that a viewer perceives continuous movement rather than a series of separate pictures. The frame is therefore the medium’s basic unit: it is the smallest complete picture that a camera records and a projector or display presents. The number of frames shown each second is the frame rate, and the interval during which each frame is exposed or displayed is governed by the shutter.

On photographic film

On photographic film each frame occupies a fixed rectangular area of the strip. Successive frames are separated by clear horizontal bands called frame lines, and the strip carries perforations (sprocket holes) along one or both edges. The perforations engage the sprockets and claw of a camera or projector, which advance the film one frame at a time and hold it stationary during exposure or projection. The size of the frame relative to the strip depends on the film gauge and the format; its width-to-height proportion is its aspect ratio.

In digital video

In digital capture a frame is one complete array of pixels read from an image sensor. Rather than a chemically recorded area of a strip, it is a raster image — a grid of discrete picture elements, each with recorded values for brightness and color. Frames are stored or transmitted in sequence within a video stream, often compressed so that a given frame is reconstructed with reference to neighboring frames rather than stored in full. The pixel dimensions of the array fix the frame’s resolution, and their proportion its aspect ratio.

See also

  • frame rate— The number of frames shown per unit of time, given in frames per second (fps), which governs how smoothly motion is rendered and how strongly a projected or displayed image flickers.
  • shutter— The mechanism that controls how long each frame is exposed to light and blocks the light while the film advances or a sensor reads out. Its open interval, together with the frame rate, sets both exposure and the amount of motion blur recorded in each frame.
  • aspect ratio— The ratio of an image's width to its height. In the moving image it fixes the shape of the frame, and is written either as a ratio normalized to a height of 1 (such as 1.85:1) or as two whole numbers (such as 16:9).
  • motion picture— A work made of many still images shown in rapid succession, producing the impression of continuous movement.

Sources

  1. Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)
  2. Oxford English Dictionary, “frame, n.”
  3. Kodak, “Essential Reference Guide for Filmmakers”

Last revised: September 18, 2026