Window, screen or area
Hover to pick a window, click a display, or drag any rectangle with live W × H and resize handles. Window recordings follow the window when it moves. Optional 3-2-1 countdown and click highlights.
Capture your screen.
Get a small file.
Tinycap lives in your menu bar. Record a window, a screen or an area and export MP4, WebM or GIF — or take a screenshot and mark it up with arrows, highlights, numbered steps and pixelation. Sized for pull requests, bug reports and chat.
Version 0.4.0 (what's new) · 5.1 MB · macOS 15 Sequoia or later · Apple Silicon and Intel
Signed and notarized by Apple. Updates itself. Free and open source (MIT).
Or with Homebrew: brew install --cask soleo/tap/tinycap
Small app, small files
Preview and trim
When you stop, a preview opens. Drag the trim handles, or press I and O at the playhead. No re-recording a clip because the start was slow.
MP4, WebM or GIF
MP4 as H.264 or HEVC, WebM as VP9, or GIF with presets. Pick quality and size; the frame timing of your recording is kept.
Size before you export
Tinycap encodes a short sample of your clip to estimate the file size. For GIF, “Fit under 10 MB” steps the settings down until it fits.
GIFs that stay small
Its own encoder stores only what changed between frames, keeps one palette so colors don’t flicker, and merges frames where nothing moved.
Out of your way
No Dock icon, no window until you need one. Global shortcuts you can change, and the menu-bar timer stops the recording with one click.
Stays on your Mac
No accounts, no uploads, no telemetry. The app is sandboxed; its only network request is a daily update check, which you can turn off. Files go to your Movies folder.
Native and light
Built with Swift, SwiftUI and ScreenCaptureKit. A 5.1 MB download that records straight to disk with hardware encoding.
Screenshots you can mark up
Screenshot an area, a window or a screen from the same menu, or press ⌃⌥⌘4. A thumbnail waits in the corner: click it to edit, drag it into any app, or leave it and it's saved.
Arrows that bend
Drag to draw, hold Shift to snap to 45°, and pull the middle handle to curve it.
Text that reads
Bold labels in six colors or any you pick, with an optional solid background.
Shapes and highlights
Outline a button with a rectangle or ellipse, sweep a see-through highlighter over a line, or draw freehand.
Numbered steps
Click to drop 1, 2, 3 for a walkthrough. Delete one and the rest renumber themselves.
Pixelate for real
Hide keys and names. The export replaces those pixels, so nothing can be recovered from the file.
Crop and copy
Crop to what matters, then ⌘C, ⌘S or drag out. PNG or JPEG at 2× or 1×, with no location or device data.
How recording works
- 1
Choose
Click the menu-bar icon, or press a shortcut, and pick Window, Screen or Area.
- 2
Record
The icon turns into a timer. Click it, or press ⌃⌥⌘. to stop.
- 3
Trim
The preview plays your clip. Cut the start and end.
- 4
Export
Pick MP4, WebM or GIF, check the size, export. Copy it, show it in Finder, or drag it straight into Slack or GitHub.
Shortcuts
Global shortcuts work from any app, so the menu never shows up in your recording or screenshot. Change them in Settings.
| Screenshot Area | ⌃⌥⌘4 |
|---|---|
| Record Area | ⌃⌥⌘A |
| Record Window | ⌃⌥⌘W |
| Record Screen | ⌃⌥⌘S |
| Stop Recording | ⌃⌥⌘. |
Open source
Tinycap is MIT licensed. WebM export uses libvpx and libwebm from the WebM Project, built from pinned source, and the direct download updates itself with Sparkle. Found a bug? Report a Bug in the menu opens an issue with your versions filled in. Pull requests are welcome.
github.com/soleo/tinycap · Third-party notices · The story behind Tinycap
git clone https://github.com/soleo/tinycap
cd tinycap
scripts/build-app.sh
open build/Tinycap.appTry Tinycap
Free. On first launch, macOS asks you to allow Screen Recording — Tinycap walks you through it. After that it checks for updates once a day and lets you know quietly.
Download Tinycap 0.4.0Or with Homebrew: brew install --cask soleo/tap/tinycap