Screencap - Fanlore

(n.) Abbreviated form of screencapture. A screencap is an image created by a computer that is taken from a TV show, movie, or other visual media displaying on that computer. Some video player programs (notably VLC Media Player) come with the ability to take screencaps of video files, including copy-protected DVDs that cannot be screencapped with a printscreen command in some commercial programs (such as Windows Media Player).

(v.) The act of creating a screencap.

Screencaps may be used in the production of icons, manips, or other fanworks that rely heavily on visual sources. The raw images themselves, once captured, are often also uploaded to communities or websites to share with other fans. A single post or webpage of many screencaps is called a picspam.

See the index of screencapping communities and websites.