Zight for Mac
Free screen recorder and screenshot app for Mac.
Record your screen, capture and annotate screenshots, and share everything instantly from your Mac.
Free plan: recordings up to 5 minutes at up to 720p, 15-second GIFs and 5 video requests a month. No credit card. Compare plans
macOS .pkg installer
Trusted by 5m+ people who would rather show than tell
What is the best screen recorder for Mac?
Zight is a free screen recorder and screenshot app for macOS. It records the full screen, a window or a region with system audio and your microphone, captures and annotates screenshots, trims recordings, and uploads each capture as you make it so the share link is already on your clipboard. It is on the Mac App Store and as a direct .pkg download.
What it does on Mac
Five jobs, one app
The set that usually needs a screenshot utility, a recorder, an editor and a file-sharing account between them.
Screen recording
Show exactly what happened.
Record a window, region, or your entire screen with system audio and your mic.
Learn more
00:08
Screenshots
Capture the moment.
Grab a window or a region, then get a shareable link without a file hunt.
Learn more
Annotation
Make the important part obvious.
Use arrows, text, highlights, and blur to turn a screenshot into a clear next step.
Learn more
Video editing
Cut to the useful part.
Trim the false start, remove the middle, and share the finished take from the same link.
Learn more
Request links
Get the screen you need.
Ask anyone for a recording, screenshot, or file—no account or app install required.
Learn more
Getting started on Mac
Four steps, and the last one is paste
-
1
Install the menu-bar app
The .pkg from downloads.zight.com, or the Mac App Store build. Signing up is free.
-
2
Click the menu bar, or press the shortcut
⇧ ⌘ 5 for a screenshot, ⇧ ⌘ 6 to record. Drag the region you want, or take the whole screen.
-
3
Mark it up
Arrows, boxes and text on a screenshot; annotate live during a recording; trim or cut once you stop.
-
4
Paste
The link is already copied. It opens in any browser, on any OS, with nothing installed on the other end.
Keyboard shortcuts
The defaults, all of them remappable in Preferences → Shortcuts if they collide with something you already use.
- Take a screenshot
- ⇧ ⌘ 5
- Start or stop a recording
- ⇧ ⌘ 6
- Copy the link
- ⌘ C
- Copy a direct link
- ⇧ ⌘ C
- Copy the content itself
- ⌃ ⌘ C
- Download the file locally
- ⌘ D
Already on your Mac
Built-in Mac screen recorder vs Zight
macOS records your screen out of the box, from the Screenshot toolbar or from QuickTime Player. Both save a .mov file. Zight saves a link.
| Tool | How you start it | What it records | What you end up with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Screenshot toolbar | ⇧ ⌘ 5, then one of the record buttons | The entire screen, a window or a portion of it, with the microphone you pick in Options. | A .mov file on the desktop, or in the folder you choose under Save to. |
| QuickTime Player | File → New Screen Recording | The same Screenshot tools and options, opened from QuickTime. | A recording saved where you set it in Options. Depending on that location, an app may open it. |
| Zight for Mac | The menu bar icon, or ⇧ ⌘ 6 | Full screen, a window or a region, with system audio, your microphone and an optional camera. Up to 5 minutes a recording on the free plan. | A link on your clipboard, already uploaded. Need someone else’s screen? Send a request link; they need no account and no install. |
If the recording never leaves your Mac, the Screenshot toolbar is enough. Zight is for the take you’re about to send. How the Zight screen recorder works
Built-in tool details checked 6 October 2026 against each vendor’s own documentation: Apple Support: screenshots and screen recordings on Mac; Apple Support: record your screen in QuickTime Player.
The other direction
Every capture app sends. This one also asks.
Whatever you install on your own machine, it cannot see what is happening on someone else’s — and “can you send me a screenshot?” is where the afternoon goes. Send a request link instead: they capture their screen from the browser, with no account and no install, whatever they are running.
“Request Video is so much better than users trying to explain what’s happening in an e-mail… I can see exactly when an issue occurs and what is causing it.”
How-tos
Screenshots and recording on macOS
The built-in shortcuts, what they can and cannot do, and where the files end up.
FAQ
Questions people ask about Mac
Yes. The free plan covers screen recording, screenshots, video requests and 15-second GIFs, with recordings up to five minutes and no credit card. Unlimited recording time starts on the Create plan.
It depends on where the recording goes next. If it stays on your Mac, the built-in Screenshot toolbar (⇧ ⌘ 5) records the screen, a window or a portion and saves a .mov file. If you’re about to send it, Zight’s free plan records up to five minutes at up to 720p, with system audio and your microphone, and puts the link on your clipboard. Longer recordings start on the Create plan.
macOS gives you a file on the desktop. Zight gives you a link: the capture uploads as you take it, the URL is on your clipboard, and the image is annotated before it goes. The built-in tool also cannot record a colleague’s screen for you — a request link can.
Yes, system audio and your microphone together, so what the app is doing and what you are saying about it end up on the same recording. macOS asks for screen and microphone permission the first time, in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Both are the same app. The .pkg from downloads.zight.com updates itself to the latest build; the Mac App Store version is there if your organisation prefers store-managed installs.
Yes. A Zight link opens in any browser on any operating system, with the transcript and chapters beside it, and nothing to install. The same is true in reverse — a Windows colleague’s capture opens on your Mac from the same kind of link.
Yes, there is an iOS app, and it shares the same library as the Mac app — a capture from your phone shows up alongside the ones from your desk.
Show it, instead of typing it out.
Free on Mac. Capture, point at the thing, paste the link.