Record. Cut. Ship.

Native macOS screen recorder + video editor.
Menu bar. No fluff. No subscriptions.

Download for macOS Watch Demo
macOS 14+ Native Swift Menu Bar App No Cloud
Record ·Cut ·Ship ·Native Swift ·SCStream ·H264 ·Ripple Delete ·B Key ·Wall-Clock PTS ·Menu Bar ·No Cloud ·No Subscriptions ·MP4 ·GIF ·MOV ·TikTok ·YouTube ·Instagram · Record ·Cut ·Ship ·Native Swift ·SCStream ·H264 ·Ripple Delete ·B Key ·Wall-Clock PTS ·Menu Bar ·No Cloud ·No Subscriptions ·MP4 ·GIF ·MOV ·TikTok ·YouTube ·Instagram ·

THE WORKFLOW

01

Record

Hit the menu bar icon. Choose full screen, a region, or a window. Zella captures your screen at up to 30fps with H264 hardware encode, synced audio from any mic, and optional camera overlay — all in one click.

H264 Software Encode NV12 Pixel Format 15–30fps Adaptive Mic + System Audio Region / Full Screen / Window
02

Edit

The timeline opens automatically. Cut with B. Drag the yellow handle to trim and delete in one gesture. Ripple delete collapses gaps instantly. Waveform + thumbnail strip keeps you oriented. No timeline scrubbing required.

B Key = Cut Drag to Trim + Delete Ripple Delete Waveform + Thumbnails Undo Stack AppKit NSView Timeline
03

Export

One click exports to MP4, MOV, GIF, or M4A. Platform presets: TikTok (1080×1920), YouTube (1920×1080), Instagram (1080×1350). Audio and video are always in sync — guaranteed by wall-clock PTS stamping.

MP4 / MOV / GIF / M4A TikTok · YouTube · Instagram Wall-Clock PTS Sync AVMutableComposition Stitch

RECORDING ENGINE

"Built on SCStream.
Tuned for your iMac."

Zella's recording pipeline was built from scratch to handle real-world hardware. On older iMacs with aggressive HAL audio overloads and SCStream frame drops, most recorders produce black video or desync. Zella solves this with wall-clock PTS — every video frame is stamped with actual elapsed time, not a synthetic counter. Drop 80% of frames? The video still covers the correct duration.

RECORDING PIPELINE
EncoderH264 Software (no HEVC)
Pixel FormatNV12 (34323076)
Frame Rate15fps adaptive
PTS ModeWall-clock (Date() offset)
Audio SyncstableVideoFrameCount gate
audioBaseTime @ frame 3
Audio Format44100Hz / 48000Hz auto-detect
Stereo or Mono
RecoverymovieFragmentInterval = 3s
Fragmented MP4 on crash
Drop HandlingSCStream queueDepth=8
Throttled at every 30 drops

THE EDITOR

"Final Cut Pro logic.
Menu bar simplicity."

00:00:04:12
B KeyCut at playhead, 0.5s debounce
A ModeSelect + seek to segment
B ModeClick anywhere to seek
DeleteRipple delete selected segment
Edge DragTrim and delete in one gesture
Trim HandlesYellow handles at clip edges
Undo StackFull undo/redo
Waveform200-bin audio waveform
Thumbnails20 frames from AVAssetImageGenerator
TimecodeHH:MM:SS:FF above playhead
Cut MarkersYellow bracket tabs at split points
AppKit DrawZero-lag NSView timeline

EXPORT

"One click. Any platform."

MP4
H264 encode
Platform safe
MOV
Highest Quality
Pro delivery
GIF
Frame sampled
Loop-ready
M4A
Apple M4A
Audio only
TikTok · Facebook
1080 × 1920
—
YouTube · X
1920 × 1080
—
Instagram
1080 × 1350

WHAT'S NEXT

"The inspector is coming."

Color Tools SOON

Color Board, Black & White, Blur, Broadcast Safe, Color Adjustments. Per-clip color grading with custom LUT support — load any .cube file.

Transform + Compositing SOON

Position X/Y, Rotation, Scale, Anchor controls. Blend modes and opacity per clip. Full FCP-style inspector panel.

Titles Panel SOON

Basic Text, Lower Third, Build In/Out, Social overlays, Credits, Dynamic Text. Typography that moves.

Bubble Webcam + Auto Zoom SOON

Dynamic circular camera overlay with one-click background removal. Auto zoom on cursor activity. Silky cursor animation baked into the recording.

TECHNICAL SPECS

PlatformmacOS 14.0+ (Sonoma)
ArchitectureNative Swift / SwiftUI + AppKit
Recording APIScreenCaptureKit (SCStream)
Video EncoderH264 Software Re-encode
Audio EncoderLinear PCM → AAC (M4A export)
Pixel FormatNV12 (YCbCr 4:2:0)
Frame Rate15fps (adaptive under HAL load)
PTS StrategyWall-clock offset from recordingStartDate
Audio SyncstableVideoFrameCount gate (3 frames) · audioBaseTime anchored to frame 3 PTS
Audio Formats44100Hz Stereo (Yeti) · 48000Hz Mono (iPhone)
RecoverymovieFragmentInterval = CMTime(seconds: 3) · Fragmented MP4 survives crash
Timeline EngineAppKit NSView + Core Graphics draw(_:) · Combine objectWillChange subscription
Waveform200-bin AVAssetReader amplitude scan
Thumbnails20 frames AVAssetImageGenerator · maximumSize 120×68pt
TimecodeHH:MM:SS:FF (nominalFrameRate from asset)
Export FormatsMP4, MOV, GIF, M4A
Export EngineAVMutableComposition stitch · Reads activeSegments at export time
Platform Presets1080×1920 (TikTok/FB) · 1920×1080 (YouTube/X) · 1080×1350 (Instagram)
UndoUndoManager, full stack
App ModelMenu bar, single instance
Recovery AlertOn relaunch after crash
CameraAVCaptureSession, FaceTime + Continuity

"Screen recording,
finally done right."

Native. Fast. Yours.

Download Zella for macOS — Free

macOS 14 Sonoma or later required. Apple Silicon + Intel.