1  mplayer 123.avi -ss 1 -nosound -vo jpeg:outdir=. -frames 2

We use the -ss switch to jump to the first second of the video; specify the time in either seconds or hh:mm:ss. We tell mplayer that we want two frames with the -frames switch.

Make sure jpeg is in the list of supported video output formats:

   1  mplayer -vo help

Create a thumbnail that is 320 wide by 240 high and five seconds into the movie.

   1  ffmpeg -i mymovie.avi -f mjpeg -t 0.001 -ss 5 -s "320x240" mymovie.jpg