HappyRec
One free screen recorder for Mac, Windows, Chrome and Edge. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no account — and every recording stays on your own machine.
What it records
Pick a source, pick a quality, press record. The same app handles a thirty-second walkthrough for a colleague and a full tutorial for a client.
Any source
Full screen, a single window, a browser tab, a custom area you draw, or voice only. Not every source is on every platform — the table below says which.
Up to 4K
720p, 1080p or 4K, at 30 or 60 frames per second, on every platform.
Audio the way you need it
System audio and microphone together, on every platform. The extensions record tab audio everywhere and full system audio where the browser allows it.
Webcam or logo bubble
Put yourself in the corner as a circle or a card, or your logo instead. Add your own watermark text in any of three corners.
Voice changer
Eight presets on Mac — Natural, Male, Female, Chipmunk, Robot, Anonymous, Cave and Radio — plus pitch and character sliders. Windows has pitch and character presets.
Draw while you record
Pen, highlighter, arrow, box and circle in six colours, with undo, over any web page. Chrome and Edge only; press Ctrl+Shift+7, or ⌘⇧7 on a Mac.
Record without showing your face
This is the part HappyRec was built for. Plenty of people record walkthroughs from a kitchen table, a shared desk, or simply would rather not be on camera — and the usual answer, turning the camera off, makes the recording worse.
On a Mac, Avatar mode puts one of twelve characters in your place. It is driven by your own face: it blinks when you blink and its mouth moves when yours does, using on-device face tracking. Your camera image is never written to the file and never leaves the Mac.
Twelve characters
Nova, Priya, Maya, Leo, Dev, Max, Arjun, Sofia, Victor, Amira, Robo and Kitty. Arjun, Sofia, Victor and Amira are the business-style ones if a cartoon is not the look you want.
A voice changer that is not speech recognition
It shifts pitch and formants in real time. Because it is signal processing and not transcription, it behaves identically in English, Tamil, Hindi or anything else. There is no language setting because it does not need one.
Or just a logo
On Windows and in the extensions there are no avatars, but you can show a logo in the bubble instead of a camera — a PNG, JPG, BMP or GIF.
Which one should you install?
Use the Mac app on a Mac and the Windows app on Windows. If you mostly record web pages, cannot install software on the machine, or want to draw on the page while you explain, use the Chrome or Edge extension. Using more than one is fine.
The extensions run on any system that runs Chrome or Edge 116 and above — macOS, Windows, Linux and ChromeOS. On a Mac, the first time you record, macOS asks you to grant the browser Screen Recording permission.
| Mac app | Windows app | Chrome / Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entire screen | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Single window | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom area | Yes | – | Yes |
| Browser tab | – | – | Yes |
| Voice only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Resolution | 720p, 1080p, 4K | 720p, 1080p, 4K | 720p, 1080p, 4K |
| Frame rate | 30 or 60 fps | 30 or 60 fps | 30 or 60 fps |
| Video file | MOV, H.264, hardware encoded | MP4, H.264 | MP4, or WebM |
| Voice changer | 8 presets + sliders | Pitch & character presets | – |
| Animated avatars | 12 characters | – | – |
| Webcam bubble | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Logo bubble | – | Yes | Yes |
| Draw on screen | – | – | Yes |
| Pause and resume | Yes | – | Yes |
| Keyboard shortcuts | ⌘⇧R, ⌘⇧P | None | Ctrl/⌘+Shift+9 / 8 / 7 |
| Saved to | A folder you choose | Videos\HappyRec | Downloads/Happy Recorder |
| Price | Free | Free | Free |
| Account | – | – | – |
| Uploads | Never | Never | Never |
Your recordings stay yours
HappyRec writes the file to your machine and stops there. There is no account to create, nothing to upload, and no cloud storage behind it.
That matters more than it sounds. A hosted recorder uploads as you record — fine for a marketing demo, not fine when the thing on screen is a client’s admin panel or a database with real customer records in it.
| Where recordings land | |
|---|---|
| Mac app | A folder you choose |
| Windows app | Videos\HappyRec |
| Chrome / Edge | Downloads/Happy Recorder, or pick a folder each time |
- No sign-up, no email address, no licence key
- No uploads and no cloud storage, on any platform
- Avatar face tracking runs entirely on your Mac; the camera image is never stored
- Free on every platform, with no in-app purchases and no pro tier
What we ask in return
One thing, and it is worth being plain about it.
What people use it for
Handovers
Record the thing only you know how to do, once, instead of explaining it to each new person.
Client walkthroughs
Show a client how to use what you built, in their own system, with your voice over it.
Bug reports
A thirty-second recording of the bug happening beats three paragraphs describing it.
Course and tutorial content
4K, with an avatar or your face in the corner and your own watermark on every video.
Standups you cannot attend
Voice-only mode records to M4A or WAV when a video would be overkill.
Anything you would rather not be on camera for
Avatar mode on Mac, or a logo bubble on Windows and the extensions.
Questions people ask
Is it really free?
Yes, on every platform. No subscription, no trial limit, no in-app purchases and no account. Recordings carry a small HappyRec badge in the corner.
Does the voice changer work in my language?
Yes. It shifts pitch and formants and does not rely on speech recognition, so it behaves the same in every spoken language. It is in the Mac and Windows apps.
Can I record without showing my face?
Yes. On Mac, Avatar mode animates one of twelve characters from your facial expressions and your camera image is never recorded. On Windows and in the extensions you can show a logo in the bubble instead.
Does it record system audio and my microphone together?
Yes, on every platform. The extensions record tab audio everywhere, and full system audio where the browser allows it.
Where do my recordings go?
Only to your computer. On Mac you choose the folder, on Windows they go to Videos\HappyRec, and in the extensions to Downloads/Happy Recorder or a folder you pick each time.
Does HappyRec upload or collect anything?
No. There are no accounts and no cloud storage. Avatar face tracking runs entirely on your Mac and the camera image is never stored.
Can I pause a recording?
On Mac and in the extensions, yes — and the paused time is cut out of the file rather than left as a gap. The Windows app currently records in one continuous take.
What permissions does it need?
Screen recording, microphone, and optionally the camera, like any recorder. The Mac app walks you through each one. In the extensions the browser asks what to share every time you record.
Free, on four platforms
Download it, record something, send it. That is the whole process.
