Frame-accurate video review notes for editors and reviewers on Windows. Pause the video, press 1, 2 or 3, type a line: every note lands on the exact frame with an After Effects style timecode, in a notes folder next to the MP4 or WebM render, with a marker on a mini timeline. One portable exe, no installer, no project files, no account; updates itself from GitHub Releases.

_{Pause on a frame · press 1, 2 or 3 and mark the element · type the note.}

---

Why Frame Notes

• Three keys, no mouse. 1 fix, 2 add, 3 remove. The video pauses, the note takes the current frame, you type one line and press Enter.
• Point at the thing. After the key, drag a rectangle around the element on the frame (or click to put a point). The note gets a PNG of that frame with the mark drawn on it, so "this title" needs no description.
• Timecodes the editor can use. 0:00:12:07 as in the After Effects timeline (drop-frame 0;00;12;07 for 29.97 and 59.94), computed from the file's real frame rate.
• One folder next to the video. promo_v3.mp4 gets promo_v3_notes\ with the notes as a plain text file, the same notes as a readable Markdown page with the frame images, and the images themselves. Paste the text into a chat, open the page in any Markdown viewer, hand the folder to the editor. Open the video again and the notes are back on the timeline.
• Free, open source, portable. GPL-3.0, one FrameNotes.exe with a data folder next to it; move the folder, move the app. No account, no telemetry; videos and notes never leave the machine.

Quick start

1. Download FrameNotes.exe into a folder of its own, for example D:\Apps\FrameNotes\.
2. Run it and drop a video onto the window (or press Ctrl+O, or use "Open with" in Explorer).
3. Play, pause on a frame, press 1, 2 or 3, drag a rectangle around the element if it helps, type the note, press Enter. The notes are saved after every change.

Requirements: Windows 10 (1809+) or Windows 11 with the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime (preinstalled on Windows 11 and on up-to-date Windows 10). No installer, no admin rights.

Note

The executable is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on first start (More info → Run anyway).

Features

Three note types	FIX (correct something), ADD (something is missing), REMOVE (take something out), bound to 1 / 2 / 3, each with its own marker colour and its own tag in the file.
Region on the frame	Drag a rectangle on the video or click to put a point while a note is written; the frame is saved as a PNG with the mark drawn on it.
Frame-accurate	Seeks land on frame centres; arrow keys step one frame, Shift + arrows ten. The frame rate is read from the MP4 / MOV or WebM container and can be overridden in the header.
Mini timeline	Ruler with timecodes, playhead and one marker per note; hover shows the note and its frame image, click seeks, the wheel zooms.
Notes list	Every note as timecode TYPE text with a thumbnail; ↑ / ↓ select (the video follows), F2 edits, Delete removes.
Notes folder	The data file and a readable Markdown version are rewritten after every change with an atomic replace. No Save button.
Copy for the editor	A click on any timecode copies it for the time field of After Effects or Premiere; Ctrl+C copies the notes, Ctrl+Shift+C the readable text for a chat.
Recent videos	The start screen and the Recent menu list recent videos with their note counts and open them at the last frame.
Self-updating	New releases are found on launch and then every 5 minutes, downloaded in the background (or on request), verified by size and SHA-256 and installed on Restart to update.

Keyboard

Key	Action
Space	Play / pause
← → / Shift+← Shift+→	One frame / ten frames back or forward
1 2 3	Start a FIX / ADD / REMOVE note at the current frame
Enter / Esc	Save the note / cancel it
↑ ↓	Previous / next note (seeks to it)
F2 / Delete	Edit / remove the selected note
Ctrl+O	Open a video
?	Show the key map

The full key map is in the user guide.

Documentation

Document	What it covers
User guide	Usage, keyboard, settings, the notes file, timecodes, supported video, data folder, updates
Architecture	Stack, layout, modules, behaviour, notes file format, timecode rules, data flow
Build	Running from source, tests, building the exe, releasing, troubleshooting
Core · Bridge API · UI	Module contracts: core API, JS ↔ Python calls and events, interface
Release notes	What changed in every version
Third-party components	What is bundled into the exe, with licences

Building from source

Requirements: Windows, Python 3.14 (via the py launcher), PowerShell 5.1+.

git clone https://github.com/softoblivion/frame-notes.git
cd frame-notes
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build\build.ps1

The script creates .venv, installs the dependencies, runs the unit tests and produces release\FrameNotes.exe (one-file PyInstaller build) with release\SHA256SUMS.

Task	Command
Run from source	scripts\run_dev.bat [video.mp4] (data in frame-notes_data\ under the project root)
Unit tests	set FRAME_NOTES_HOME=%TEMP%\fn_tests then .venv\Scripts\python.exe -m unittest discover -s tests
UI in a browser with mock data	python -m http.server 5173 --directory src\frame_notes\ui, then http://localhost:5173/?mock=1

Disclaimer

After Effects and Premiere Pro are trademarks of Adobe. Frame Notes is an independent tool, not affiliated with Adobe; it only writes timecodes in the form those applications display.

License

Released under the GNU General Public License v3.0. Any distributed copy or derivative work must stay open source under the same license and keep the copyright notices.