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For a simple screenshot of a known screen rectangle in a Windows desktop app, create a Bitmap, get a Graphics object from it, and call Graphics.CopyFromScreen. If the user should choose a display or application window through Windows’ capture interface, use Windows.Graphics.Capture instead. These are Windows APIs, not cross-platform C# screenshot methods.
The examples below focus on a Windows Forms app for direct screen copying and explain the additional capture pipeline required for the modern picker API. They distinguish a one-time still image from repeated frame capture, and show how to save a bitmap as PNG.
How do I take a screenshot in C#?
Choose the capture API according to who selects the target. CopyFromScreen is the direct option when your program already knows the screen coordinates and dimensions to copy. Windows.Graphics.Capture is designed for a user to select a display or app window using secure Windows system UI.
| What you need | Starting point | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Copy a known rectangle into an image in a Windows Forms app | System.Drawing.Graphics.CopyFromScreen |
Coordinates are screen-space for the source and bitmap-space for the destination. The call can fail with Win32Exception. |
| Let the user select a display or app window | Windows.Graphics.Capture with GraphicsCapturePicker |
Check runtime support and, in WinUI 3, initialize the picker with the desktop app’s window handle. |
| Capture successive frames for a stream or recording | Windows.Graphics.Capture frame pool and session |
This is a recurring frame-capture pipeline, not just a single bitmap operation. |
The Windows Forms example in Microsoft’s How to print a Windows Form documentation uses CopyFromScreen to copy a form-sized region into a bitmap. That demonstrates the API, but a form’s visible screen bounds and a general-purpose capture design are separate concerns: use the rectangle that matches the result your program actually needs.
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How do I capture the whole screen in C#?
For the primary display in a Windows Forms application, use its bounds as the source rectangle. The screen origin can be negative in multi-monitor arrangements, so do not assume that the upper-left corner is always (0, 0). The resulting bitmap represents the primary display only; capturing every attached display requires deciding how to combine their individual bounds and handling any gaps in the virtual desktop.
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Forms;
static Bitmap CapturePrimaryScreen()
{
var bounds = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds;
var bitmap = new Bitmap(bounds.Width, bounds.Height);
using (var graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
{
graphics.CopyFromScreen(
bounds.Location, // upper-left source point in screen coordinates
Point.Empty, // upper-left destination point in the bitmap
bounds.Size); // width and height to copy
}
return bitmap; // The caller owns and must dispose this bitmap.
}
using (var screenshot = CapturePrimaryScreen())
{
screenshot.Save("screenshot.png", ImageFormat.Png);
}This is a Windows Forms-oriented example using System.Drawing and Screen. Target a Windows desktop framework and include the framework references appropriate to the project; this is not a portable .NET example for macOS or Linux. The returned bitmap remains the caller’s responsibility, so dispose it when finished.
For a multi-monitor desktop, enumerate the displays and inspect each display’s bounds rather than treating the primary display as the whole desktop. A single bitmap covering the virtual desktop can include empty space where monitor layouts do not occupy every point of the bounding rectangle. The desired output—one image per display or one combined image—determines the sensible approach.
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How do I capture a window or a selected area?
Copy a known area with CopyFromScreen
The method takes three pieces of information: the source point on the screen, the destination point on the drawing surface, and the size of the rectangle. For the common case of a new bitmap, the destination point is Point.Empty, or (0, 0).
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using System.Drawing;
static Bitmap CaptureRegion(Point screenOrigin, Size size)
{
var bitmap = new Bitmap(size.Width, size.Height);
using (var graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap))
{
graphics.CopyFromScreen(screenOrigin, Point.Empty, size);
}
return bitmap; // Caller must dispose it.
}For example, call CaptureRegion(new Point(120, 90), new Size(800, 600)) to copy an 800-by-600-pixel rectangle whose screen-space top-left is at (120, 90). Replace those coordinates and dimensions with values appropriate to the actual desktop and target. A selected-area tool must first obtain the user’s selection rectangle, then pass its screen-space origin and size to this method.
Copying a window by its current screen rectangle is still copying pixels from the screen. The window needs to be positioned and visible as intended, and overlapping content or a window partly outside the desktop can affect the copied result. If exact user-mediated selection of an app window is important, prefer the capture picker below rather than presenting coordinate copying as equivalent.
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Let the user choose a display or app window
Windows.Graphics.Capture provides system UI for selecting a display or application window. Windows draws a yellow notification border around the actively captured item. Microsoft documents support on Windows desktop devices and Windows Mixed Reality immersive headsets; this should not be described as support for every platform that can run C#.
The implementation sequence is:
- Check
GraphicsCaptureSession.IsSupported()and do not offer capture when it returns false. - Create a
GraphicsCapturePicker. In WinUI 3, initialize it with the owning desktop window handle before showing it. - Await
PickSingleItemAsync(). If the returned item isnull, treat that as user cancellation and stop without starting capture. - Use the selected
GraphicsCaptureItemto create aDirect3D11CaptureFramePooland a capture session. - For a still screenshot, obtain and process a frame into the image representation your app needs. For ongoing capture, handle successive frames and their lifetime as a frame pipeline.
The picker alone does not produce a saved PNG. It identifies the selected capture item; frame-pool setup, reading the frame, transferring or converting its pixels, and saving the result are additional work. Microsoft’s Windows capture guide demonstrates an 8-bit BGRA format for standard dynamic range (SDR). The precise interop and bitmap-saving code depends on the desktop framework and graphics pipeline, so do not treat the short picker sequence as a complete still-image implementation.
How do I save a screenshot as a PNG?
Once you have a Bitmap, save it with ImageFormat.Png. The examples above use a relative filename, which writes relative to the process’s current working directory; use an explicit path if the file must go somewhere predictable.
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using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using (var screenshot = CaptureRegion(new Point(120, 90), new Size(800, 600)))
{
screenshot.Save(@"C:Screenshotsregion.png", ImageFormat.Png);
}Make sure the destination directory exists and that the process has permission to write there. Keep the bitmap alive until Save completes, then dispose it. If the capture routine throws, it will not reach the save call; handle the capture failure separately from filesystem errors so the user can tell which step failed.
Still snapshots, repeated capture, and HDR
A single still image
A CopyFromScreen call copies screen pixels into a drawing surface at the time it runs. It is a natural fit for a one-off still of a known region. If the user chooses a target through Windows.Graphics.Capture, you still need to retrieve a frame and convert or transfer it to the image type you plan to save.
Repeated frames
For a stream or recording, use the frame-pool and capture-session model in Windows.Graphics.Capture. A recurring pipeline must process successive frames rather than assume that a one-time bitmap call will provide ongoing updates. Plan for frame processing and disposal, and avoid blocking the UI while doing longer-running work.
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HDR content
The basic BGRA 8-bit example is aimed at SDR. Microsoft cautions that on systems with Windows HD Color enabled, HDR content may not use that 8-bit format; it can appear washed out or clipped when forced through an SDR-oriented destination. For an HDR-aware pipeline, Microsoft advises considering DXGI_FORMAT_R16G16B16A16_FLOAT consistently through capture and destination handling, with appropriate HDR saving or HDR-to-SDR tone mapping where required. This is an HDR-specific concern, not a prerequisite for a basic SDR screenshot.
Common problems and fixes
- The captured rectangle is offset or cropped. Check that the source point is in screen coordinates, the destination point is in bitmap coordinates, and the size fits the bitmap. Use actual display bounds rather than assuming the desktop begins at (0, 0).
- CopyFromScreen fails. Microsoft documents that the operation can throw
Win32Exception. Catch and report capture failures instead of assuming the screen copy succeeded; verify the requested rectangle and the desktop state before retrying. - The capture picker is unavailable. Call
GraphicsCaptureSession.IsSupported()and handle unsupported environments without opening the picker. - The WinUI 3 picker does not open correctly. Initialize
GraphicsCapturePickerwith the owning window handle as required for a desktop app before callingPickSingleItemAsync(). - No item was selected. A null result from
PickSingleItemAsync()represents cancellation. Return to the application without creating a session or trying to save a nonexistent frame. - The image looks washed out. If the source is HDR, check whether the pipeline is forcing it into 8-bit BGRA. Use consistent HDR-capable pixel formats and appropriate output conversion when fidelity is required.
- The PNG is missing. Check the path, directory existence, and write permissions, and distinguish save exceptions from capture exceptions.
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ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API, not a Windows desktop capture API; use the C# methods above for local desktop pixels. For capturing a web page by URL instead, one GET request can return an image or PDF. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation.
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp- Cookie banners and consent overlays, newsletter popups, and chat widgets are removed before capture; each cleanup step can be turned off.
- Bot checks, blank pages, failed loads, timeouts, and cache hits are not billed. Response headers identify the page verdict and billing outcome.
- An MCP server provides
take_screenshot,get_page_info, andcapture_pdftools for Claude, Cursor, and other MCP clients. - The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 screenshots.
Sign up for ScreenshotNeo’s free plan to try web-page captures. ScreenshotNeo is made by Yorker Media; see ScreenshotNeo.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Graphics.CopyFromScreen capture a window that is minimized?
No guarantee is established for minimized-window content: CopyFromScreen copies pixels from the screen area, rather than rendering a hidden window independently.
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Not with the desktop APIs shown here. They capture pixels from the Windows desktop; URL-based page rendering is a different task.
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