Abstract A single shot algorithm using a Fizeau interferometer was used to measure the form profile of a spherical smooth surface by means of fringe thinning process, which plays an important role in fringe patterns analysis. In this paper, an automatic processing technique based on the fringe thinning process is presented. The circular interference fringe pattern of the spherical smooth surface captured by the Fizeau interferometer was corrected by using the flat fielding method and then processed. Based on the fringe thinning and the assignment of the fringe orders, the information on the fringe feature was recovered automatically and the interference wavefront was reconstructed by the Zernike polynomial fitting method. The results were compared with the results measured by Bunnagel method, and the results were in good agreement. This means that the single shot algorithm is reliable, fast, and less sensitive to vibration and turbulence in surface form measurements. Simulation fringes with the ray tracing technique were obtained to match the practical fringes.