Snip & Rec

Windows utility / 01 Built because I needed it

I just wanted
a quick recording.

I kept needing to record one small part of my screen, but opening a full recording app and setting everything up felt like too much. I wanted something closer to the Snipping Tool: press a shortcut, drag a box, get an MP4. Snip & Rec came out of that need.

I have actually had this tool for a while. It worked for what I needed, but I never really considered it finished, so I kept it to myself. Recently I felt like cleaning it up and sharing it in case someone else wants the same simple thing.

See the workflow See how it works
  • 30paced FPS
  • H.264MP4 output
  • 100%local workflow
Snip and Rec toolbar with record button, keyboard shortcut, duration selector, and ready status
Compact control surface Ready before the moment is gone.
LOCALNo uploads
CTRL + SHIFT + RGlobal start
01 / Capture workflow

The whole point

No setup ritual.
Just record the bit you need.

No scenes, no sources, no project to configure. Open it, select the area, record, and move on.

01

Trigger capture

Use the compact toolbar or press Ctrl + Shift + R from anywhere in Windows.

02

Drag a region

A dimmed desktop overlay shows the selection dimensions. Press Esc to cancel safely.

03

Record with confidence

A top-right indicator shows elapsed time and offers a clear Stop action. The duration limit remains visible.

04

Review the result

Preview the video, open the MP4, reveal its folder, or delete the result without hunting through Explorer.

02 / Region selection

Record only what you came for

Draw a box.
That is the recording.

I wanted the selection to feel familiar and immediate, even across mixed-DPI screens and unusual monitor layouts.

EDITOR PANEL 1280 × 720 Single-monitor region · cursor included
WORKSPACE_0314:32
1280 × 720
03 / Capture engine

The work hiding underneath

Frames move forward.
Raw footage does not pile up.

The interface is intentionally simple. Underneath it, the app streams captured frames straight into the encoder so the result is ready when the recording stops.

01 Acquire

Windows.Graphics.Capture

Captures the selected monitor with the Windows cursor enabled.

02 Crop

Direct3D 11

Copies only the selected region into an encoder-ready surface.

03 Encode

Media Foundation

Uses software H.264 to avoid GPU-heavy black-frame flicker.

04 Save

MP4 on disk

Writes directly to Videos\SnipRecorder.

Reliable under visual load

Built for the screens worth recording.

Game editors and GPU-heavy applications can expose black-frame problems in naïve capture pipelines. Snip & Rec deliberately uses software H.264 encoding to keep those recordings dependable.

FRAME PACE 30 FPS
01

Mixed-DPI aware

Selection math accounts for scaled displays, virtual desktop offsets, and monitors positioned left of the primary screen.

02

Bounded recordings

Choose a maximum length of one, two, or three minutes. The duration limiter stops the session cleanly.

03

Collision-safe files

Timestamped filenames stay unique when multiple recordings are created during the same second.

04

Tested boundaries

Automated tests cover region normalization, DPI conversion, monitor validation, durations, filenames, and state transitions.

A toolbar, not a production studio

Everything visible.
Nothing wandering.

I did not want another dashboard. The whole decision fits on one line: start recording, remember the shortcut, choose the limit, and confirm the app is ready.

  • 01High-contrast recording action
  • 02Persistent hotkey reminder
  • 03Visible maximum duration
  • 04Unambiguous state feedback
Compact Snip and Rec toolbar showing all controls in a single horizontal row

Your recording is yours

Your screen stays
on your screen.

I wanted a tool, not another account or cloud service. Snip & Rec does not upload recordings or collect telemetry. Everything happens on your own Windows machine.

NO CLOUDFiles remain local
NO ACCOUNTNothing to sign into
NO TELEMETRYNo behavior collection
04 / Honest boundaries

Small on purpose

I did not want to build
a full recording suite.

This is for quick region recordings. I kept it focused instead of adding every feature a full production app already has.

Why it stays local
Runs on

Windows 10 2004+

  • 64-bit Windows
  • Direct3D 11 capable GPU
  • Built on .NET 8
Current limits

Focused by choice

  • No audio recording
  • No cross-monitor region
  • No GIF export or annotation
  • No cloud sharing

05 It solved my problem, so I am sharing it

I needed it.
Maybe you will find it useful too.

If you want it, download it here. If it saves you some time and you feel like supporting the things I make, you can leave a donation. Either way, I hope it helps.

Review the workflow