Recordia

A native macOS screen recorder built to preserve UI color detail that standard screen recorders often wash out.

Recordia exists because normal H.264/HEVC screen recordings usually use 4:2:0 chroma subsampling. That is fine for camera footage, but it can visibly damage screen content: saturated red borders, thin UI strokes, neon accents, and text edges can look faded or smeared, especially on dark interfaces.

Recordia fixes that path by recording with HEVC 4:4:4 through ScreenCaptureKit sample buffers and AVAssetWriter, keeping chroma detail while staying far smaller than ProRes 4444.

Important

This project was entirely created using AI, but the application has been thoroughly tested.

This project was built primarily for my personal use, so I will not be merging pull requests or adding new features unless I need them myself. If you want to make changes or add features, feel free to fork this repository.

Features

• Color-faithful screen recording with HEVC 4:4:4 for sharp UI colors and borders
• ScreenCaptureKit + AVAssetWriter pipeline for explicit codec, bitrate, audio, and color metadata control
• MOV output for editing workflows such as DaVinci Resolve and YouTube production
• Optional fallback encoders: H.264, ProRes 422, and ProRes 4444
• System audio capture (toggle on/off)
• Menu bar icon with recording state indicator and quick controls
• Configurable countdown before recording starts (0/3/5/10 seconds)
• Custom file naming with presets (date/time, custom name + date/time, custom name only)
• Destination folder persistence via security-scoped bookmarks
• Selectable frame rate (60/120 fps)
• Auto-minimize app window when recording starts
• Toast notification on recording completion
• Graceful termination — stops recording safely on quit

Why HEVC 4:4:4?

Most compact video encoders default to 4:2:0 chroma, which stores color at lower resolution than brightness. That tradeoff is usually invisible in natural video, but screen recordings are full of high-contrast, single-pixel UI details. Recordia's default HEVC 4:4:4 mode keeps full-resolution chroma so colored UI borders and accents stay intact.

ProRes 4444 also preserves this detail, but it creates very large files. HEVC 4:4:4 is the practical default for long recordings on smaller SSDs: it keeps the important screen-color fidelity without the ProRes 4444 storage cost.

Requirements

• macOS 15.0+ (Sequoia)
• Apple Silicon (arm64)
• Xcode 16+ command line tools

Build & Run

./build.sh
open build/Recordia.app

Or with Task:

task build
task open
task install

Install on macOS (Applications)

After building, you can install Recordia like a normal app:

1. Build the app:

./build.sh

2. Copy it to Applications:

cp -R build/Recordia.app /Applications/

3. Launch from Applications (or Spotlight):

open /Applications/Recordia.app

If macOS blocks first launch, right-click Recordia.app in Applications and choose Open once to trust it.

Permissions

On first launch, Recordia shows an onboarding screen that checks for Screen Recording permission. Grant it in: System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen Recording

System audio capture uses ScreenCaptureKit's built-in audio capture — no additional permissions beyond screen recording are needed.

Limitations

App Sandbox

The app runs without App Sandbox (com.apple.security.app-sandbox = false) because ScreenCaptureKit screen capture requires unsandboxed access. Security-scoped bookmarks are still used for destination folder persistence.

System Audio

System audio capture is provided by ScreenCaptureKit's capturesAudio configuration. This captures all system audio output. No microphone input is captured unless separately configured.