Copy Screenshot To Clipboard Windows May 2026

Note: CF_PNG is not a standard clipboard format but is registered by Windows as "PNG" (CF_PNG = 49797). Modern applications like Microsoft Office and Paint prioritize PNG when available. Developers can interact with screenshot-to-clipboard functionality using the Win32 API. Below is a minimal C++ example to programmatically copy a screenshot of the primary monitor to the clipboard.

DeleteDC(hdcMem); ReleaseDC(NULL, hdcScreen); copy screenshot to clipboard windows

OpenClipboard(NULL); EmptyClipboard(); SetClipboardData(CF_BITMAP, hBitmap); CloseClipboard(); Note: CF_PNG is not a standard clipboard format