diff --git a/internal/cocoa/cocoa_darwin.go b/internal/cocoa/cocoa_darwin.go
index b2a37ef..c2ee902 100644
--- a/internal/cocoa/cocoa_darwin.go
+++ b/internal/cocoa/cocoa_darwin.go
@@ -180,8 +180,13 @@ type Window struct {
 	// See Options.Passive.
 	passive bool
 
-	root       toolkit.Widget
-	dmg        damageRenderer
+	root toolkit.Widget
+	dmg  damageRenderer
+	// pending is the damage presentRects asked AppKit to redraw, handed to
+	// -drawRect: so it converts only those rows. Empty means "whole buffer",
+	// which is what an AppKit-initiated draw — an expose, a resize, the first
+	// display — needs, since its invalid region is none of our business.
+	pending    []toolkit.Rect
 	buttonHeld bool
 	dnd        *dnd.Controller
 
@@ -322,30 +327,59 @@ func viewDrawRect(self objc.ID, _ objc.SEL) {
 	}
 	w.mu.Lock()
 	buf, bw, bh := w.buf, w.w, w.h
+	pending := w.pending
+	w.pending = nil
 	w.mu.Unlock()
 	if len(buf) == 0 || bw == 0 || bh == 0 {
 		return
 	}
-	rep := newBitmapRep(buf, bw, bh)
-	if rep == 0 {
-		return
-	}
 	bounds := objc.Send[nsRect](self, selBounds)
-	// The full drawInRect: form with respectFlipped:YES honours the flipped
-	// view so the buffer's row 0 lands at the top of the window; fromRect zero =
-	// whole image; fraction 1.0; hints nil. The op is Copy in the ordinary
-	// opaque path; in translucent mode it is SourceOver so the framebuffer's
-	// transparent holes (punched over material regions) reveal the effect views
-	// composited behind this view.
+	// The op is Copy in the ordinary opaque path; in translucent mode it is
+	// SourceOver so the framebuffer's transparent holes (punched over material
+	// regions) reveal the effect views composited behind this view.
 	op := nsCompositingCopy
 	if w.translucent {
 		op = nsCompositingSourceOver
 	}
-	objc.Send[objc.ID](rep, selDrawInRectFull, bounds, nsRect{}, uint(op), 1.0, true, objc.ID(0))
-	rep.Send(selRelease)
+	bands := DrawBands(pending, bh)
+	if len(bands) == 0 {
+		bands = []Band{{Y: 0, H: bh}} // AppKit asked; it gets everything
+	}
+	for _, b := range bands {
+		w.drawBand(buf, bw, bh, b, bounds, op)
+	}
 	runtime.KeepAlive(buf)
 }
 
+// drawBand converts and blits one run of framebuffer rows.
+//
+// A run of rows is contiguous in the buffer, so it can be wrapped as a bitmap of
+// its own — and that is the saving. AppKit converts the rep it is handed to a
+// CGImage in order to draw it, over every row the rep spans, whatever the clip
+// says: a rep over the whole buffer converts the whole buffer even when one line
+// of text changed. Sampling a window presenting at 60 Hz put
+// -[NSBitmapImageRep CGImage] at the top of the draw path, which is why
+// reporting damage at all had saved nothing measurable (26.2% of a core without,
+// 26.8% with).
+func (w *Window) drawBand(buf []byte, bw, bh int, b Band, bounds nsRect, op int) {
+	if b.H <= 0 || b.Y < 0 || b.Y+b.H > bh {
+		return
+	}
+	stride := bw * 4
+	rep := newBitmapRep(buf[b.Y*stride:], bw, b.H)
+	if rep == 0 {
+		return
+	}
+	defer rep.Send(selRelease)
+	x, y, dw, dh := BandDest(b, bh, bounds.Origin.X, bounds.Origin.Y,
+		bounds.Size.W, bounds.Size.H)
+	dst := nsRect{Origin: nsPoint{X: x, Y: y}, Size: nsSize{W: dw, H: dh}}
+	// respectFlipped:YES honours the flipped view so the band's row 0 lands at
+	// the top of its destination; fromRect zero = the whole (banded) image;
+	// fraction 1.0; hints nil.
+	objc.Send[objc.ID](rep, selDrawInRectFull, dst, nsRect{}, uint(op), 1.0, true, objc.ID(0))
+}
+
 // newBitmapRep wraps an RGBA buffer in an NSBitmapImageRep that references (does
 // not copy) the bytes. buf must outlive the rep's use (the caller keeps it
 // alive). The returned rep is owned by the caller (alloc/init) and released
@@ -1039,6 +1073,9 @@ func (w *Window) presentFull() {
 	if w.view == 0 {
 		return
 	}
+	w.mu.Lock()
+	w.pending = nil
+	w.mu.Unlock()
 	w.view.Send(selSetNeedsDisplay, true)
 	w.view.Send(selDisplayIfNeeded)
 }
@@ -1049,6 +1086,13 @@ func (w *Window) presentRects(rects []toolkit.Rect) {
 	if w.view == 0 || len(rects) == 0 {
 		return
 	}
+	// Handed to -drawRect: through the window rather than read from AppKit's
+	// dirty region, because these are OUR rectangles and the callback's NSRect
+	// rides in the float registers undeclared. It is consumed there, so a draw
+	// AppKit starts for its own reasons finds nothing and redraws everything.
+	w.mu.Lock()
+	w.pending = rects
+	w.mu.Unlock()
 	for _, r := range rects {
 		x, y, rw, rh := DirtyRect(r, w.scale)
 		w.view.Send(selSetNeedsDisplayRect, nsRect{Origin: nsPoint{X: x, Y: y}, Size: nsSize{W: rw, H: rh}})
diff --git a/internal/cocoa/mapping.go b/internal/cocoa/mapping.go
index 5f9202d..5a927c9 100644
--- a/internal/cocoa/mapping.go
+++ b/internal/cocoa/mapping.go
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@
 // everything here.
 package cocoa
 
-import "github.com/go-widgets/toolkit"
+import (
+	"slices"
+
+	"github.com/go-widgets/toolkit"
+)
 
 // NSEventModifierFlags bits used by the backend. AppKit reports device-
 // independent modifier state in the high bits of the flags mask.
@@ -355,3 +359,85 @@ func unitToByte(v float64) uint8 {
 		return uint8(v*255 + 0.5)
 	}
 }
+
+// Band is a contiguous run of framebuffer ROWS to convert and blit: Y is the
+// first row, H the count. A band is always full width.
+type Band struct{ Y, H int }
+
+// DrawBands reduces damage rectangles to the row runs a draw has to touch,
+// merged, ordered and clamped to a buffer bufH rows tall. Rectangles that fall
+// wholly outside contribute nothing; an empty result means there is nothing to
+// draw.
+//
+// Rows, not rectangles, because a run of rows is CONTIGUOUS in the framebuffer
+// and can therefore be wrapped as a bitmap of its own. That is the whole point:
+// -drawRect: builds an NSBitmapImageRep over the buffer and AppKit converts it
+// to a CGImage to draw it, and that conversion covers every row the rep spans
+// whatever the clip says. Sampling a window presenting at 60 Hz put
+// -[NSBitmapImageRep CGImage] at the top of the draw path, under
+// -[NSImageRep drawInRect:fromRect:...] under -[NSView displayIfNeeded]: the
+// invalid region limited what reached the screen, not what was converted, so
+// reporting damage saved nothing at all (measured: 26.2% of a core without
+// damage reporting, 26.8% with). A rep spanning only the changed rows makes the
+// conversion proportional to the change.
+//
+// The x span is deliberately dropped. Narrowing columns would need a
+// non-contiguous sub-image, which is a copy — and the rows are where the cost
+// is: a changed line of text spans a handful of rows out of a thousand.
+func DrawBands(rects []toolkit.Rect, bufH int) []Band {
+	if bufH <= 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	var spans []Band
+	for _, r := range rects {
+		y0, y1 := r.Y, r.Y+r.H
+		if y0 < 0 {
+			y0 = 0
+		}
+		if y1 > bufH {
+			y1 = bufH
+		}
+		if y1 <= y0 {
+			continue
+		}
+		spans = append(spans, Band{Y: y0, H: y1 - y0})
+	}
+	if len(spans) == 0 {
+		return nil
+	}
+	slices.SortFunc(spans, func(a, b Band) int { return a.Y - b.Y })
+	out := []Band{spans[0]}
+	for _, s := range spans[1:] {
+		last := &out[len(out)-1]
+		// Touching counts as overlapping: two bands that meet edge to edge are
+		// one run of rows, and splitting them would convert the seam twice.
+		if s.Y <= last.Y+last.H {
+			if end := s.Y + s.H; end > last.Y+last.H {
+				last.H = end - last.Y
+			}
+			continue
+		}
+		out = append(out, s)
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+// BandDest is where a band of framebuffer rows lands in the flipped view, given
+// the view's bounds in points and the buffer's height in device pixels.
+//
+// Full width, because DrawBands drops the x span; the y arithmetic is the whole
+// of it, and it is the part that can be wrong. The scale is taken from the
+// buffer and the bounds rather than from the window's stored scale, so a band
+// lands exactly where the whole-buffer draw would have put those same rows --
+// including on the frame after a backing-scale change, when the two disagree
+// for one draw.
+//
+// A bounds with no height cannot say where anything goes: the band is returned
+// at the origin with no height, which draws nothing.
+func BandDest(b Band, bufH int, ox, oy, ow, oh float64) (x, y, w, h float64) {
+	if bufH <= 0 || oh <= 0 {
+		return ox, oy, ow, 0
+	}
+	perRow := oh / float64(bufH)
+	return ox, oy + float64(b.Y)*perRow, ow, float64(b.H) * perRow
+}
diff --git a/internal/cocoa/mapping_test.go b/internal/cocoa/mapping_test.go
index b2e5eb7..2440856 100644
--- a/internal/cocoa/mapping_test.go
+++ b/internal/cocoa/mapping_test.go
@@ -302,3 +302,135 @@ func TestUnitToByte(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 }
+
+func TestDrawBands(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+		in   []toolkit.Rect
+		bufH int
+		want []Band
+	}{{
+		name: "nothing to draw",
+		in:   nil, bufH: 100, want: nil,
+	}, {
+		name: "a buffer with no rows",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{Y: 0, H: 10}}, bufH: 0, want: nil,
+	}, {
+		// The case the whole change exists for: a line of text changed, and the
+		// conversion should cover those rows rather than the window.
+		name: "one small rectangle",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{X: 40, Y: 120, W: 200, H: 14}}, bufH: 1000,
+		want: []Band{{Y: 120, H: 14}},
+	}, {
+		name: "two apart stay apart",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{Y: 10, H: 5}, {Y: 100, H: 5}}, bufH: 1000,
+		want: []Band{{Y: 10, H: 5}, {Y: 100, H: 5}},
+	}, {
+		name: "out of order",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{Y: 100, H: 5}, {Y: 10, H: 5}}, bufH: 1000,
+		want: []Band{{Y: 10, H: 5}, {Y: 100, H: 5}},
+	}, {
+		name: "overlapping merge",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{Y: 10, H: 20}, {Y: 20, H: 20}}, bufH: 1000,
+		want: []Band{{Y: 10, H: 30}},
+	}, {
+		// Edge to edge is one run: converting the seam twice costs more than
+		// the row it saves.
+		name: "touching merge",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{Y: 10, H: 10}, {Y: 20, H: 10}}, bufH: 1000,
+		want: []Band{{Y: 10, H: 20}},
+	}, {
+		name: "one swallowed by another",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{Y: 10, H: 100}, {Y: 20, H: 5}}, bufH: 1000,
+		want: []Band{{Y: 10, H: 100}},
+	}, {
+		name: "clamped to the buffer",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{Y: -20, H: 30}, {Y: 990, H: 40}}, bufH: 1000,
+		want: []Band{{Y: 0, H: 10}, {Y: 990, H: 10}},
+	}, {
+		name: "wholly outside contributes nothing",
+		in:   []toolkit.Rect{{Y: -50, H: 10}, {Y: 2000, H: 10}, {Y: 5, H: 0}}, bufH: 1000,
+		want: nil,
+	}}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			got := DrawBands(c.in, c.bufH)
+			if len(got) != len(c.want) {
+				t.Fatalf("DrawBands = %v, want %v", got, c.want)
+			}
+			for i := range got {
+				if got[i] != c.want[i] {
+					t.Fatalf("DrawBands = %v, want %v", got, c.want)
+				}
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// Whatever the rectangles, every row one of them names must end up inside a
+// band: a row left out is a row the screen keeps stale, because the
+// framebuffer persists between frames.
+func TestDrawBandsCoversEveryRowItWasGiven(t *testing.T) {
+	const bufH = 200
+	rects := []toolkit.Rect{
+		{Y: 190, H: 30}, {Y: 3, H: 1}, {Y: 3, H: 40}, {Y: -5, H: 7}, {Y: 120, H: 0},
+	}
+	bands := DrawBands(rects, bufH)
+	for _, r := range rects {
+		for y := max(r.Y, 0); y < min(r.Y+r.H, bufH); y++ {
+			in := false
+			for _, b := range bands {
+				if y >= b.Y && y < b.Y+b.H {
+					in = true
+					break
+				}
+			}
+			if !in {
+				t.Fatalf("row %d was asked for and lies outside every band %v", y, bands)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestBandDest(t *testing.T) {
+	// A retina window: 1600 buffer rows over 800 points, so two pixels a point.
+	// The band at rows 200..214 lands at points 100..107.
+	if x, y, w, h := BandDest(Band{Y: 200, H: 14}, 1600, 0, 0, 400, 800); x != 0 || y != 100 || w != 400 || h != 7 {
+		t.Fatalf("BandDest retina = (%v,%v,%v,%v), want (0,100,400,7)", x, y, w, h)
+	}
+	// Scale 1: rows are points.
+	if _, y, _, h := BandDest(Band{Y: 30, H: 10}, 600, 0, 0, 400, 600); y != 30 || h != 10 {
+		t.Fatalf("BandDest scale1 = (y%v,h%v), want (y30,h10)", y, h)
+	}
+	// The bounds origin is carried, not assumed to be zero.
+	if x, y, _, _ := BandDest(Band{Y: 0, H: 10}, 600, 12, 34, 400, 600); x != 12 || y != 34 {
+		t.Fatalf("BandDest origin = (%v,%v), want (12,34)", x, y)
+	}
+	// The whole buffer as one band covers the whole bounds, which is what the
+	// AppKit-initiated draw falls back to: it must be pixel-identical to the
+	// draw this replaces.
+	if x, y, w, h := BandDest(Band{Y: 0, H: 1600}, 1600, 0, 0, 400, 800); x != 0 || y != 0 || w != 400 || h != 800 {
+		t.Fatalf("BandDest whole = (%v,%v,%v,%v), want the full bounds", x, y, w, h)
+	}
+	// Nothing to scale by: no height, so nothing is drawn.
+	if _, _, _, h := BandDest(Band{Y: 0, H: 10}, 0, 0, 0, 400, 800); h != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("BandDest with no rows h = %v, want 0", h)
+	}
+	if _, _, _, h := BandDest(Band{Y: 0, H: 10}, 600, 0, 0, 400, 0); h != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("BandDest with no bounds h = %v, want 0", h)
+	}
+}
+
+// The bands of one frame must tile the bounds exactly as the whole-buffer draw
+// would: a gap between two adjacent bands is a line of stale pixels across the
+// window.
+func TestBandDestsOfAdjacentBandsMeetExactly(t *testing.T) {
+	const bufH, oh = 1600, 800.0
+	a := Band{Y: 100, H: 20}
+	b := Band{Y: 120, H: 30}
+	_, ay, _, ah := BandDest(a, bufH, 0, 0, 400, oh)
+	_, by, _, _ := BandDest(b, bufH, 0, 0, 400, oh)
+	if ay+ah != by {
+		t.Fatalf("band ends at %v and the next starts at %v; the seam is stale", ay+ah, by)
+	}
+}