# OpenSnip

> A fast Windows screenshot and screen recording tool with region capture, annotations, pinned images, and MP4 recording.

Canonical page: [OpenSnip](<https://devanmetz.com/portfolio/opensnip/>)

Project date: Oct 2026

Updated: 2026-10-14

Category: Desktop software

Status: Open source

Tags: C#, .NET, Windows, Screen capture

- **My work:** C#/.NET application, capture workflow, annotation editor, and screen recording
- **Platform:** Windows 10 and 11
- **License:** MIT

- [View source](<https://github.com/DevanMetz/OpenSnip>)

## In short

I built OpenSnip to capture screenshots and screen recordings on Windows with keyboard shortcuts. I can annotate captures, keep pinned images above other windows, and record part of the screen with optional system sound and microphone audio.

![Illustration using the OpenSnip app icon to represent the Windows screenshot and screen recording tool.](<https://devanmetz.com/_astro/opensnip-cover.D7z1p2IX_267J0W.webp>)

Illustration using the OpenSnip icon. Snip and record shortcuts are listed on the cover.

## What it does 

OpenSnip is a screenshot and screen recording tool I built for Windows in C# and .NET. Press **Win+Shift+S** or **PrtSc**, drag a region or click a window, and the capture is on the clipboard and optionally saved to disk. **Win+Shift+R** records a video of any part of the screen, with system sound and microphone if you want them.

I built it as a small tray app (an app accessed from the system tray near the Windows clock) that freezes the screen the moment the shortcut fires, so menus and tooltips stay put while you select. Mixed-DPI (screens with different display scaling) and multi-monitor (more than one screen) setups are supported.

There is no installer; the app is about 1.5 MB and lives in the system tray.

## Capture and annotation 

### Overlay selection 

The overlay freezes the display, then you drag a region, click a highlighted window, press **F** for the monitor under the cursor, or **A** for all monitors on still captures. A magnifier shows pixel coordinates and color while lining up edges.

Captures copy to the clipboard as PNG (a lossless image format) so pasting into Discord, Slack, browsers, and documents keeps full quality. Optional auto-save writes PNG or JPG (a compressed image format) to a chosen folder, with monthly subfolders if you want them.

### Editor and pinned images 

After a snip, a small corner preview can open the editor or be dragged into another app as a file.

The editor includes arrows, boxes, pen, highlighter, text, and pixelation (covering detail with blocks) for redaction (hiding sensitive information), with undo and redo. Every edit updates the clipboard automatically.

Pinned images stay on top of other windows; they can be moved, resized, zoomed, and faded.

### Extra shortcuts 

Other capture shortcuts include a delayed snip (**Shift+PrtSc** by default) and re-capturing the last region (**Ctrl+PrtSc**). Every shortcut can be changed in settings.

## Screen recording 

**Win+Shift+R** starts or stops recording. Selection works like a screenshot: area, window, or one monitor. An optional countdown comes first, then a red outline and a small control bar for pause, microphone mute, stop, and discard. The outline and bar are excluded from the recorded video.

Recordings use hardware-accelerated H.264 (a video compression format) in an MP4 file (a container for video and audio). Settings cover system sound, microphone device, 30 or 60 fps (frames per second), quality, cursor visibility, and countdown. Stopping saves to `Videos\OpenSnip` by default and copies the file to the clipboard. Clicking the recording preview plays it.

## Settings and install 

The tray menu opens settings for capture, saving, recording, shortcuts, and general behavior, including optional start with Windows. Changes apply immediately.

To build from source on Windows with the .NET 9 SDK (software development kit):

```
git clone https://github.com/DevanMetz/OpenSnip
cd OpenSnip/src
dotnet publish -c Release -p:PublishSingleFile=true -o ../dist
```

That produces `dist/OpenSnip.exe`, which needs the .NET 9 Desktop Runtime (the components needed to run .NET desktop apps). A self-contained publish (a build that includes the runtime) produces a larger standalone executable.

The source is available under the MIT license; see the [README](<https://github.com/DevanMetz/OpenSnip#readme>) for the current setup notes. There are no GitHub releases yet, so the project action links to the repository.

## Limits 

OpenSnip requires 64-bit Windows 10 (version 2004 or later) or Windows 11. Screen recording also needs the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for x64 (runtime libraries for 64-bit applications). All-monitor capture is available for screenshots; recording selects an area, window, or a single monitor.

If Print Screen still opens Windows Snipping Tool, turn off **Use the Print screen key to open screen capture** under Windows **Settings → Accessibility → Keyboard**. If another app grabs a shortcut first, pick a different combination in OpenSnip. `Alt+PrtSc` and `Win+PrtSc` keep their normal Windows behavior.

For troubleshooting, `OpenSnip.exe --diagnostics` writes a display, audio-device, and recorder-start report to `%APPDATA%\OpenSnip\diagnostics.txt`.

## Related reading

- [OpenMic](<https://devanmetz.com/portfolio/openmic/index.md>)
- [FeatherClick](<https://devanmetz.com/portfolio/featherclick/index.md>)
- [KICKR CORE 2 Hub](<https://devanmetz.com/portfolio/kickr-core-hub/index.md>)