WinSnipper replaces the built-in Windows snip with a faster flow: press the
hotkey, drag a region, and the snip is saved, copied to the clipboard, and
pinned as a small floating thumbnail. Click the thumbnail to annotate
(rectangle, freehand, ellipse, arrow, text, numbered step badges,
redact/pixelate, crop) or drag it straight into any app as a file.
No confirmation dialogs anywhere - closing the editor saves silently and
refreshes the clipboard. Built for fast feedback loops, especially pasting
annotated screenshots into AI coding chats.
README
WinSnipper
Ultra-lightweight screenshot and screen recording tool for Windows, built
for fast feedback loops — especially pasting annotated screenshots into AI
coding chats. Replaces the built-in Win+Shift+S snip with a tighter flow:
And the same flow for video: Win+Shift+D → pick a region/window/screen →
MP4 → trim → paste as a file.
Single-file exe. .NET 8 + WPF, no external packages — video encoding is
hand-rolled Media Foundation interop, capture is Windows.Graphics.Capture /
DXGI Desktop Duplication. The core app is ~0.3 MB; OCR ships as a separate
flavor so the lightweight build stays lightweight.
Install
Grab a build from Releases and run it — it lives in the tray.
Two flavors:
File
Size
What you get
WinSnipper.exe
~0.3 MB
The full flow — snip, record, trim, thumbnail, annotate, redact
WinSnipper-OCR.exe
~25 MB
Everything above + Copy Text (Windows OCR) + Windows.Graphics.Capture recording (records hardware-overlay video — browser video playback — that other capture paths show as black)
Both need the .NET 8 Desktop Runtime.
Tick Start with Windows in Settings if it earns a permanent spot.
Or via winget (submission pending review):
winget install winsnipper
🤖 Install via an AI agent
Using Claude Code, Copilot, or any agent with shell access? Paste this:
> Install WinSnipper for me: download the latest release from
> https://github.com/v2matosevic/WinSnipper/releases/latest — the asset is
> WinSnipper.exe (lite) or WinSnipper-OCR.exe (adds OCR text copy; I'll tell
> you which I want) — into %LOCALAPPDATA%\WinSnipper\, make sure the .NET 8
> Desktop Runtime is installed (),
> then run the exe. It lives in the tray; Win+Shift+S takes a screenshot.
> If I ask for autostart, enable "Start with Windows" is in its tray Settings.
The editor (frameless, dark, compact): rectangle, freehand, ellipse,
arrow, text, numbered step badges (1→2→3), redact/pixelate
(hide API keys and secrets before sharing), crop, 7 colors, stroke width,
undo/redo, Ctrl+wheel zoom. Copy Text runs Windows OCR over the snip and
puts the recognized text on the clipboard. Copy & Close (Ctrl+Enter)
puts the annotated image on the clipboard and exits — no confirmation
dialogs, ever. Closing always saves silently and refreshes the clipboard,
so what you paste is what you drew.
Screen recording
Press Win+Shift+D (rebindable) — a live overlay opens with three pick
modes: Region (drag), Window (click one), Screen (click a
monitor). Keys R/W/S or 1/2/3 switch modes; Esc cancels.
Recording starts immediately: a red border marks the region and a small
HUD pill shows elapsed time with pause and stop. Neither appears
in the video. Press the hotkey again (or the HUD stop) to finish.
The MP4 is saved to \Recordings\, lands on the clipboard
as a pasteable file, and a floating thumbnail appears — click it to
open the trim editor.
Trim: a filmstrip timeline with draggable in/out handles, playhead,
time bubble while dragging. Space plays the selection, [ / ] set the
edges at the playhead, ←/→ step frames. Save writes a frame-accurate
(trimmed) copy, or tick Replace original.
Details that matter:
Capture ladder: Windows.Graphics.Capture (OCR flavor — the only API
that sees hardware-overlay/MPO video planes, i.e. browser video playback)
→ DXGI Desktop Duplication → GDI. %APPDATA%\WinSnipper\recorder.log
records which path each recording used.
Encoding: H.264 MP4 via a Media Foundation sink writer (hardware
encoder when it cooperates), constant frame rate with wall-clock-correct
timing, a keyframe every second so seeking/scrubbing stays instant.
15 / 30 / 60 fps and cursor on/off in Settings.
DRM-protected content (Netflix and friends) records black — the OS
enforces that for every capture tool.
WinSnipper.exe --trim opens the trim editor directly.
Auto-delete
Optional (Settings): recycle snips and recordings older than 7–90 days.
Files go to the Recycle Bin, never hard-deleted, and only files WinSnipper
itself created are touched.
Why the hotkey override works
A WH_KEYBOARD_LL hook sees Win+Shift+S before the Windows Snipping Tool does
and swallows it (the same mechanism AutoHotkey uses). No registry hacks — quit
WinSnipper and stock Windows behavior is back instantly.
Settings
Tray icon → Settings…
Rebind the snip and recording hotkeys (any modifier combo — recorded live,
including Win-combos)
Recording frame rate (15/30/60) and cursor visibility
Thumbnail auto-dismiss time (1–15 s)
Snips folder (recordings go to its Recordings subfolder)
Auto-copy to clipboard on/off
Auto-delete old captures (off by default; Recycle Bin only)
Start with Windows
Stored in %APPDATA%\WinSnipper\settings.json.
OCR languages
OCR lives in the WinSnipper-OCR.exe flavor (the lite build hides all OCR UI).
"Copy Text" uses Windows' built-in OCR. It picks the best engine it can find:
Croatian → your profile languages → English → anything installed.
OCR language packs are Windows components, so they can't ship inside the app —
but WinSnipper's Settings shows your OCR status and offers a one-click
install of the pack for your language (a UAC prompt + ~1 minute download).
Equivalent manual command from an admin PowerShell:
Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name "Language.OCR~~~hr-HR~0.0.1.0" # your tag here
Small snips are upscaled automatically before recognition, which significantly
improves accuracy on terminal-size text.
Built by Marko Matošević (Version2) together
with Claude (Anthropic) — designed, written, and shipped in a pair-programming
loop: human direction and testing, AI implementation.
