Screen recording
Record your screen with system audio, as MP4, with no watermark.
The built-in macOS recorder still captures only your microphone, not the audio your Mac plays. Shotnix uses ScreenCaptureKit to record system audio and microphone together, straight to MP4, from your menu bar.
Set everything before recording starts
A compact control bar appears before the recording begins. Choose system audio, microphone, cursor visibility, quality, and frame rate. Shotnix excludes its own capture sounds from the recording so you never hear a shutter in the video.
Area, window, or display
Record a dragged region, pick a window from a preview list with app icons, or record a whole display. Recording a window targets only that window, so overlapping windows and notifications stay out of the video.
Live HUD and menu bar timer
A draggable HUD shows elapsed time, active audio state, and microphone level. The menu bar icon turns into a red dot with a live timer; left-click stops the recording. Escape also stops, and Record Area, Record Window, Record Fullscreen, and Stop Recording can each have a global shortcut.
Built for long recordings
- Video and audio buffers are written on a dedicated queue, so recordings do not stutter when the app is busy.
- Interrupted recordings (display disconnect, sleep, disk full) save everything captured so far instead of discarding the file.
- Recording refuses to start when disk space is critically low, rather than failing halfway.
- Recordings keep Retina-scale dimensions with a high-quality encoder setting.
Then turn it into a demo
Any recording can open in the built-in video editor — with auto-zoom already applied to your clicks, zero editing needed: trim, split, per-clip speed, cursor effects, text callouts, backgrounds, and MP4 or GIF export, all local.
How to do it in Shotnix
- Choose Record Area, Window, or FullscreenFrom the menu bar Command Center or with the recording shortcuts you assign in Preferences.
- Pick your audio and video optionsToggle system audio and microphone, choose cursor visibility, quality, and FPS.
- RecordThe live HUD shows elapsed time and audio levels. The menu bar icon shows a red dot with a timer.
- StopClick the HUD, click the menu bar icon, press Escape, or use your Stop Recording shortcut.
- Copy, save, or open in the editorThe MP4 is saved locally and appears in your capture history.
Questions
Does the built-in macOS recorder capture system audio?
No. The ⌘⇧5 toolbar and QuickTime record microphone input only, and that is still the case on current macOS. Capturing system audio natively needs a virtual audio device like BlackHole, or an app such as Shotnix that uses ScreenCaptureKit.
What format does Shotnix record?
MP4, saved locally to your configured folder with your file name template.
Is there a watermark or time limit?
No. Shotnix is free and open source. There is no watermark, no time limit, and no account.
Can I record system audio and my microphone at the same time?
Yes. Both are independent toggles on the pre-recording control bar, and Shotnix keeps its own shutter sounds out of the track.
Can I record a single window?
Yes. Record Window shows a preview list with app icons and records only the window you pick.
Try it on your own screen.
Shotnix is free, open source, and local. Download the notarized DMG, or star the repository if you want to follow along.
8.4 MB · macOS 13+ · signed and notarized by Apple · MIT license