Snip in real HDR.
Instantly.
A 340 KB replacement for the Windows Snipping Tool. It opens the moment you press the key, keeps every highlight on HDR displays — and never talks to the internet.
Press Win Shift S or PrtScn · Windows 10 & 11 · 64-bit
Your HDR screen, as you actually see it.
Most screenshot tools grab an HDR desktop as plain 8-bit. Highlights blow out to white, colours come out dull and washed out. Nitshot captures in floating point and keeps it that way.
Illustration. A web page cannot show real HDR brightness, so this simulates what clipping does to a bright scene.
- Floating-point captureThe desktop is read as 16-bit float straight from the graphics card, not after Windows has flattened it.
- Real HDR filesSaved as JPEG XR (.jxr) — the format Xbox Game Bar uses and the Photos app opens — plus a normal PNG beside it.
- 10-bit HDR videoRecordings in HEVC Main10, BT.2020 / PQ, with the colour metadata players need — hardware-encoded on your GPU.
- Correct SDR copiesThe clipboard and PNG get an accurate 8-bit version that respects your SDR brightness setting. Measured within one code value, 0 to 255.
Press the key. It's already there.
It works exactly like the Snipping Tool you know — just without the wait, and with the things it never had.
Instant
No app to cold-start. The capture pipeline stays warm, so the overlay appears the moment you press Win Shift S.
Four ways to snip
Rectangle, freeform, window or full screen. Freeform cut-outs keep a transparent background.
Frozen in time
The screen freezes the instant you press the key — menus and tooltips stay put while you select.
Clipboard and file
Every snip lands on the clipboard and in your Pictures folder at once. Paste now, find it later.
Screen recording
Record any area to MP4 with system sound or microphone. Optional lossless WAV. Hardware H.264 / HEVC.
Every monitor
Mixed DPI, mixed HDR and SDR, selections across screen edges — handled per monitor.
Light and dark
Follows your Windows colour mode, down to the tray menu and settings window.
English and German
Add your own language by copying one text file. No rebuild, no restart.
Nothing permanent
It takes over the hotkeys only while it runs. Quit it and Windows has them back — nothing uninstalled, nothing changed.
A screenshot tool that minds its own business.
Your screen shows your mail, your bank, your customers. A tool that sees all of that has no business phoning home. This one can't — there is no networking code in it at all.
Don't take our word for it: block it in your firewall — it works exactly the same. It is written in plain C against Windows itself and uses only what every Windows PC already has: Direct3D, Media Foundation and the Windows image codecs. That is why it is 340 KB instead of 100 MB.
Built for the things others skip.
| Nitshot | Windows 10 Snip & Sketch | Typical free tools | |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDR screenshots | JPEG XR + PNG | clipped 8-bit | rarely |
| HDR video recording | 10-bit HEVC | rarely | |
| Screen recording | some | ||
| Opens instantly | app cold start | varies | |
| Program size | 340 KB | Store app | often 10–150 MB |
| Runtime needed | none | UWP | often .NET / Electron |
| Free of ads and telemetry | no network code at all | Windows telemetry | varies |
| Clipboard + file in one go | save by hand |
“Typical free tools” summarises popular third-party screenshot utilities in general; individual tools differ.
Ready when you press the key.
Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit. No installer tricks, no sign-up.
Microsoft Store
- Installed and updated by Windows
- Signed and verified by Microsoft
- Yours on every PC you sign in to
Direct download
- One .exe plus its language files and manual
- Runs without installation
- Delete the folder to remove it
Source code
- Read every line yourself
- Build it with free Microsoft tools
- Proof, not promises
Coming soon
Nitshot is in its final testing round. Check back shortly.
Questions
Does it replace the Windows Snipping Tool?
While it runs, it takes over Win Shift S and PrtScn. The Windows tool stays installed; quit Nitshot and the keys go straight back to it.
Do I need an HDR monitor?
No. On a normal display it is simply a very fast snipping tool that saves PNG files. When a display is in HDR, it notices by itself and switches to HDR capture.
What does it send over the internet?
Nothing. There is no networking code in the program: no update check, no statistics, no licence server. Your snips go to your clipboard and your disk, and nowhere else.
How can it be so small?
It is written in C directly against Windows and uses the graphics, video and image components every Windows PC already has. There is no framework to ship, so there is nothing to bloat.
Can I open .jxr files?
Yes — the Windows Photos app shows them, and so do many image editors. A normal PNG copy is saved beside every HDR snip for everything else.
Why does the hotkey not work in some windows?
Windows does not let ordinary programs see the keyboard while a program running as administrator has the focus. Click another window first, or start a snip from the tray icon.