Recording your desktop activity is a big deal on the internet. There are several tools that are available online. But, before you get yourself flash and try out all of them, there is one excellent app, which comes as a blessing to gamers all around the world.
Have you ever wanted to record a screencast online? This can help you to attract more traffic, and engage with your audience. But searching for “best screen recording software” overwhelming. That’s why I have reviewed some best screen capture software in this article. I also show you how to get free demos and free trial to test these products.
Screen capture software is used to grab still images and record screen activity. It’s a great tool for presentations, tutorials, software demos, and any other multimedia applications.
Screen recorder software is a fast-growing software today because more and more people realize how important it is to have a recorded video of online information. Recorded videos play a great role in designing, marketing, and training. Although there are some screen recording programs already on the market, people still search for the best one that works well. Now the issue comes up: Which one do you choose?
What is Screen and Video Capture Software?
Screen and video capture software enables users to take snapshots or record video of their computer desktop. These programs capture a screenshot of the desktop as an image file or digitally record computer desktop activity over time. Screen and video capture software is beneficial for businesses because it helps users to share what they are seeing on their own screens. Screen and video capture software can be used for demonstrations, tutorials, and troubleshooting.
To qualify for inclusion into the Screen and Video Capture category, a product must: Capture or record any area of the computer screen (either the whole desktop or only a portion of) as an image or video file Have (adjustable) editing and/or customization capabilities
Loom (Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone/iPad, Chrome)
If you want to quickly record something and share a link, give Loom a chance. Loom isn’t overly complicated when it’s time to record: you can choose whether you want to record just your screen, your screen with webcam video, or just your webcam. Once you finish, your video will be uploaded to Loom. You can do some basic editing in the browser, if you want, or you can copy the link to share the video. It’s all very quick, which makes it, overall, the best screen recorder for PC.
With the free version of Loom, you can store up to 25 videos of up to five minutes each. It’s limited, sure, but great for quickly showing something to a collaborator, coworker, and/or archenemy. And you can always download your videos and store them somewhere else if you’re getting close to that 25 video threshold.
Having said that, Loom isn’t perfect. The desktop app works well, but we found the mobile apps limited in confusing ways. The Android version, for example, requires users to enter their Google password in order to log in instead of using the built-in Android support for Google accounts, which is odd. The iPhone and iPad apps can’t combine video with screencasting.
Still, Loom will get the job done without a lot of fuss for most users.
Loom pricing: Free for 25 videos of up to five minutes. Business plans start at $8/month with unlimited uploads.
Screencast-O-Matic (Windows, Mac, Android, iPhone/iPad, Chrome)
Screencast-O-Matic isn’t, on the surface, that unique in the crowded field of screen recording apps. Where it excels, though, is offering a great experience on every platform.
The mobile apps, in particular, worked better and offered more features than the alternatives we tested. They work without logging in, for example, and generally offer more features. The iPhone and iPad versions allow you to record your screen, then overlay a separate recording of your face onto that recording. You can edit videos right on your mobile device, instead of waiting until you get to your computer. If you’re looking for Loom alternatives for mobile, start here.
The desktop app also works just how you’d expect, allowing you to record an area of your screen and optionally add a webcam with your face. There are some simple editing tools in the paid version, and even the free version allows you to crop and add music before uploading.
Videos can be saved to your device, no cloud necessary, or you can upload to Screencast-O-Matic, Google Drive, or even YouTube in the free version—Dropbox and Vimeo are added to the paid version. It’s nice to have that choice after recording and to have some editing tools that aren’t overwhelming.
Screencast-O-Matic pricing: Free for capturing videos with basic trimming. Paid plans start at $1.65/month and offer editing, captions using speech-to-text, and a green screen filter.
Camtasia (Windows, Mac)
The Camtasia video capture interface is straightforward and no-nonsense. You choose your capture area, whether or not to include webcam and microphone inputs, and click Record.
Its built-in video editor is a different story. There’s an exhaustive list of editing options that manage not to feel overwhelming. Click-and-drag effects and a decent selection of stock media are located along the left-hand side of the app, with detailed properties and customizations appearing on the right-hand side whenever you select an element from the timeline.
Camtasia provides outstanding tutorial videos for anyone that struggles with its editing tools. Creating surprisingly professional intro and outro segments and dropping them into our test video took a matter of seconds. Our only hiccup was with the interactivity features, which allow you to add quizzes or clickable buttons to your project. Configuring these elements was easy enough, but previewing the video and exporting the final product was noticeably more complicated after adding interactivity.
This is also the only app we tested with a closed captions tool that loops audio while you add the text. A four-second segment plays until you’re done typing, and then you can press Tab, and it plays the next loop.
Note: if you don’t need editing but like the look of Camtasia, Snagit comes from the same company, only offers screen recording, and starts at $49.
Camtasia pricing: $300 for a lifetime business license.
OBS Studio
OBS or Open Broadcaster Software is a free screen video recorder that offers both recording and streaming in high definition, with no limits on the length of your videos.
The desktop software allows you to choose the part of the screen you want to capture, but it also gives an option to record the entire screen.
Customizable hotkeys help control the recording, and an audio mixer allows you to produce videos with smoothly recorded sound.
Apart from the intuitive screencasting features, OBS is equipped with live-streaming capabilities that you won’t find in the default screen recorders of major operating systems.
You can stream live on YouTube Gaming and Twitch, save projects, and convert your footage in FLV format.
All of this makes OBS one of the best free screen recording software options to try in 2021.
Price: Free
Supported OS: Linux, Mac, Windows
Best for: Professional live streaming to Mixer, YouTube or Twitch
Apowersoft Unlimited
This is a suite of software applications that includes screen recorders for Android, iOS, Mac and Windows.
It allows you to wirelessly cast an Android device or iPhone to your PC’s screen and use the desktop recorder to capture your PC audio, mobile device, microphone, and computer’s webcam simultaneously.
The desktop screen recorder offers multiple recording modes, including full screen, custom area, and more, and it also lets users annotate on the recording in real-time. You can apply callouts, lines, text, and more without needing to pause.
With the help of its intuitive, mobile-specific apps, you just have to set your computer and smartphone under the same WiFi network and begin casting.
Mac and Windows users can directly use the desktop screen recorder to record all kinds of on-screen activities.
Price: $59.95 per year
Supported OS: Android, iOS, Windows, Mac
Best for: Demonstrating how to use software that has both a desktop and a mobile version
Screencast-O-Matic
Screencast-O-Matic is an online screen recorder and video editor that supports both webcam and screen recordings.
While the application doesn’t let you record in HD, it does have options to record in 800×600, 640×480 and other standard definitions, which makes it ideal for recording and uploading quick videos.
It also assists users in zooming, drawing, and adding overlays on the video files.
Plus, you can share the recording to YouTube without having to download any desktop app.
Screencast-O-Matic also has additional features including options for editing computer audio and synchronization of recording with video footage.
Keep in mind that most of the editing features are offered in the paid version of the app. However, you can use the free version to upload content to YouTube.
Price: Free or $1.50 per month
Supported OS: Windows, Mac, Chromebook, iOS
Best for: Making quick tutorials to share with friends, customers or online communities
FlashBack Express
Ideal for recording games and capturing footage from a webcam
SPECIFICATIONS
Platform: WindowsTODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Well designed interface+Choice of output formats+Record from screen or webcam
REASONS TO AVOID
-Some tools are paid-only
OBS Studio is our favorite free screen recorder, but Flashback Express comes an extremely close second. Despite being a free version of a paid program, FlashBack Express won’t put ugly watermarks over your recordings or impose time limits, and it’s packed with features and tools that rival many premium programs. Its interface is less intimidating than OBS Studio, so if you’ve never used a screen recorder before, it’s an excellent choice.
You can record from your whole screen, a window, a selected area, or a webcam. Once you’ve finished, your recording will appear in a simple editor, where you can crop and trim it to suit your needs, then export it to YouTube, an FTP server, or your PC.
That’s all fairly standard fare for a free screen recorder, but take a minute to dive into Flashback’s advanced options and you’ll find a wealth of thoughtfully designed settings that will make your desktop recordings look truly professional. The recorder can automatically obscure passwords entered on screen, replace your silly wallpaper with a plain one, hide messy desktop icons, and highlight your mouse pointer to make it easier to follow. There’s also a dedicated gaming mode that lets you define the number of frames recorded per second.
There’s no limit on the length of your recordings unless you choose to set one, which can be useful if there’s a chance you might accidentally leave the recorder running. You can also choose to break long recordings up into chunks – a brilliant touch that helps you avoid creating huge, unwieldy files. Your recordings won’t be watermarked, either.
Following a recent update, Flashback Express can export in WMV, AVI and MP4 formats, eliminating the need for a separate video converter, and it no longer requires a free license key for activation – just install the software and you’re ready to start recording.
Developer Blueberry Software has also released a free screen recorder designed specifically for games – FBX. This recorder captures HD in-game footage, with hardware acceleration for AMD and Nvidia cards, and Intel CPUs.
Why Use Screen Capture software?
There are undoubtedly some casual benefits of freeze-framing what’s on your screen, be it for filing away parts of an email conversation or clipping web videos to share with colleagues—along the the aforementioned meme and .GIF creation. But desktop screenshots have an ever-growing utility in the professional world. Recording these images and videos can translate to countless bits of content for spreading awareness, building process alignment, and reaching customers and coworkers alike with personalized, helpful content. You can easily save footage from video conferences or streamed meetings to be accessed and analyzed at a later time, by anyone who could use it. You can add valuable, one-of-a-kind media to client-facing emails or social media posts. You can ensure brand training materials or other important documentation is rich with helpful, true-to-life visualizations rather than attempted renderings (or nothing at all).
The right captured image or video can go a very long way in today’s workplace, and with these solutions, anyone can be a screenshot captor and contribute to the conversation.
Conclusion
Taking screenshots is useful, but sometimes people need to explain things better with video. You might have missed a few of your kids’ early steps, or maybe you just want to demonstrate a bug in your software to your developers. In either case, you need a video capture tool. But which is the best for recording?
This best screen recorder is easy to use and clearly-defined. It supports all popular video formats and works with any website. You can add a webcam feed of you to share your emotions while recording the stream. Note: The recorded video will be in a WMV format.