BetterCapture

BetterCapture is a native macOS application for screen recording. It uses SwiftUI and ScreenCaptureKit. It resides in the menu bar. It supports ProRes 422/4444, HEVC (H.265), and H.264, including alpha channel and HDR. It allows simultaneous capture of system audio and microphone, filtering of specific content, and works offline. It contains no tracking or analytics. It is free and its license is MIT.

★★★★★

5.0(1 ratings)

• Menu bar recording. BetterCapture resides exclusively in the macOS menu bar. It takes up no dock space. It is accessed via a dedicated icon that displays all capture and configuration options without opening additional windows.
• Apple ProRes 4444 Codec. Encodes the video signal with Apple ProRes 4444. Preserves transparency and the alpha channel. The bitrate is very high and the quality is mathematically lossless. Ideal for post-production, compositing, and visual effects.
• Apple ProRes 422 Codec. Implements ProRes 422, 422 HQ, and 422 LT variants. Offers high color fidelity with a smaller file size than ProRes 4444. Compatible with Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, and Adobe Premiere.
• HEVC with HDR and alpha. Supports recording in HEVC (H.265) with high dynamic range and alpha channel. Reduces file size compared to ProRes. Maintains 10-bit color depth and HDR information.
• H.264 encoding. Allows export in H.264 baseline, main, and high profiles. Compression is superior to ProRes. Suitable for direct playback, web, and long-term storage.
• Dual audio capture. Simultaneously records internal system audio and microphone input. Mixes both tracks in real-time. Requires no third-party software to combine audio sources.
• Content filtering by application. Excludes specific windows or processes from the recording. Filtered content appears as a black area or is omitted entirely from the video stream. Compatible with notifications, image viewers, and media players.
• Screen region filtering. Defines custom rectangular areas within the screen. Only pixels within the defined perimeter are captured. Resolution automatically adjusts to the region's size.
• Recording without telemetry. The application does not send usage data, crash reports, or statistics. No third-party analytics libraries are incorporated. All capture remains on the local machine.
• Frames per second selector. Configures the frame rate from 1 fps up to 60 fps. Maintains a constant interval without deviations. Useful for time-lapses or low-speed recordings.
• Codec-specific quality selection. Adjusts specific parameters: data rate, compression profile, keyframe interval, and bit depth. Each codec exposes its own native options.
• Visible time counter. Displays an overlaid numerical indicator while recording is active. It is not embedded in the final file. Informs the user about the elapsed duration.
• Preview before saving. When stopping capture, a video preview is shown. Allows playback, trimming, or discarding the recording before writing the file to disk.
• Standard .mov file format. All videos are containerized as QuickTime Movie (.mov). Compatible with macOS, Windows, and professional applications. Metadata such as codec, resolution, and date are embedded in the file.
• No external dependencies. BetterCapture does not require installing plugins, kernel extensions, or additional libraries. All functionality depends exclusively on ScreenCaptureKit and SwiftUI.
• Activation via keyboard shortcut. Assign global key combinations to start, pause, and stop recording. Shortcuts work even when BetterCapture is not the active application.
• Pause and resume. Temporarily interrupts capture without generating multiple files. Upon resuming, the video continues in the same track and timecode.

BetterCapture is developed by Joshua Sattler. Development started in 2022. The application is written entirely in Swift and SwiftUI, using the ScreenCaptureKit framework introduced by Apple in macOS Monterey. The repository was published under the MIT license and the source code is hosted on GitHub Pages.

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