How to record your screen in Windows 10

By Melanie Pinola 22 December 2020

Save your actions by learning how to record your screen in Windows 10

Did you know Windows 10 has a screen recording utility called the Xbox Game Bar? With it, you can record a video of your actions in just about any Windows app on your laptop, whether you want to capture gameplay or create a tutorial for someone on using Microsoft Office. To make it easier for you, we’ve outlined a few simple steps on how to record your screen in Windows 10.

The screen recording tool is part of the Xbox app that comes installed by default in Windows 10. Xbox Game Bar recently received some major updates to make it more useful, so you can now take screenshots and even make memes.

How to record your screen in Windows 10

1. Open the app you want to record. Unfortunately, the screen recorder tool can’t capture some programs, such as File Manager, or the entire desktop, but it does work in regular apps, whether from the Windows Store or desktop apps.

2. Press the Windows key + G at the same time to open the Game Bar dialog.

3. Check the «Yes, this is a game» checkbox to load the Game Bar. This is the procedure whether you are screen recording a game or another kind of app.

4. Click on the Start Recording button (or Win + Alt + R) to begin capturing video.

5. Stop the recording by clicking on the red recording bar that will be on the top right of the program window. (If it disappears on you, press Win + G again to bring the Game Bar back.)

That’s it! You’ll find your recorded videos, which are MP4 files, under the Videos folder in a subfolder called Captures. You’ll also find them in the Xbox app under the Game DVR menu, where you can trim a video and share it on Xbox live (if it’s a game).

Note that you can also use the Xbox screen recording tool to take screenshots. Instead of clicking the recording button, click the camera icon on the Game Bar or Win+Alt+PrtScn.

We hope that this helped, and you could even teach someone else how to screen record in Windows 10.

5+ best screen recorder software for Windows 10

• Regardless of whether you’re a streamer or holding online classes, good screen capture software will take you a long way.
• That is why we’ve decided to compile this list of the best screen recorder for your Windows 10 PC.
• We’ve included entries like Camtasia, Icecream Screen Recorder, and other such tools.
• So, if you’re looking for a partial screen recorder or a full-screen recorder, browse the entries below.

• Marvel
• Starwars
• National Geographic
• Pixar

Screen recorder software solutions are great for capturing your desktop to create videos. For example, you can make a video about some problem you are facing on your computer or make a tutorial if you have a solution to another issue.

But finding a good program to record your screen can be challenging since most don’t really do a good job at it.

Windows 10 has a built-in screen recorder called Xbox Game Bar, but it’s most suited to record games.

That’s why we created this top 5 list of screen recording programs that can capture not only games but also anything else happening on your desktop.

Let’s take a closer look.

Here’s the best screen recording software for Windows 10

Icecream Screen Recorder

Icecream Screen Recorder is a dependable screen recording software tool for Windows 10, with enough features to satisfy but not confuse you.

It lets you add hotkeys to make recording a breeze, and supports your own watermarks so you don’t have to add your logo during the editing stage.

It can also focus on your mouse pointer and you can select a certain area on the screen to record instead of recording all of it. It even lets you zoom in and out while recording the video.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

• Screen area selection: select the area you want to be recorded
• Drawing panel: add arrows, lines, and marks to your capture
• Project history: you can easily find your past projects
• Personal Watermark: personalize your video by adding your signature/logo on it
• Zoom in while recording: zoom to an object
• Record around the mouse: select what area around your cursor you want to record

Icecream Screen Recorder is free to try and you can download it from the link below.

Icecream Screen Recorder

Movavi Screen Recorder

When making a top list of screen recorders, we look at important criteria such as video recording capabilities, system requirements, how user-friendly it is, how much it costs, and more.

Well, Movavi Screen Recorder seems to have everything in check, since it can record your screen to great effect, even in 4K, it is very lightweight for your system requirements, it is easy to use, and it can even be tested out for free.

Using it is merely a matter of pressing a few buttons, and you can even trim and edit your recordings once you’re done, so any irrelevant parts of a video can be easily eliminated.

The program is especially geared towards recording video calls, being capable of capturing webinars and online calls, recording video instructions and tutorials, and grabbing streaming videos and online events.

More so, if you want to test out the program before you buy it, you can go ahead, since there’s a free version of it available for download.

It has all the capabilities of the base program, except the inclusion of watermarks in the end vide, and the inability to tag videos for uploading on YouTube.

However, these drawbacks still allow you to test out the program to full effect, allowing you to make a more informed decision on whether to buy it or not.

Movavi Screen Recorder

Camtasia

Camtasia is a powerful screen recording software tool for Windows 10. If you thought Snagit has too many features, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Camtasia comes packed with a full-blown video editor and video rendering module. If you are making tutorials, then this is quite possibly the best software you could use.

If you could think of a feature, Camtasia probably has it – so it will take too long to talk about all the things it can do.

There is a free trial available you can use to figure out if it’s worth it for you, but that’s the price you have to pay for a complete set of tools.

Camtasia

Snagit

Snagit is a premium screen recording software tool for Windows 10. You can give it a try with the free trial.

Snagit is not only a screen capturing tool but also packs a powerful video editor, comes with free tech support, and has integration with several online services.

Snagit is the smart, convenient way to get your point across, eliminate confusion, and future-proof your content.

If you are looking for something professional with an insane amount of features and a team of support staff that can help you go through those features, Snagit is your option.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

• Customize and edit every screenshot with professional-quality markup tools
• Trim any part of your screen recordings
• Convert videos to animated GIFs
• Premium screen recording tools

Snagit

TechSmith Capture

TechSmith Capture is a free screen recording software solution for Windows 10. Formerly known as Jing, it’s made by the same team behind Snagit and Camtasia Studio.

Unlike those two, Jing has fewer options and it’s pretty straightforward.

Available for Windows and Mac, TechSmith Capture can not only record your screen to create videos but also take snapshots to save images. Video recordings can be uploaded to Screencast and shared with others for free.

ActivePresenter

ActivePresenter is a screen recording software tool for Windows 10 designed for business. It’s ideal for recording presentations at the office.

Atomi makes ActivePresenter, and they pack it with some really fleshed out features that make it a breeze to do a presentation or use the software in an educational setting.

Let’s quickly look at its key features:

• Record all motions on the screen with high resolution and frame rate
• Record webcam and system sound simultaneously
• Cut, copy, remove any part of the recorded video
• Record voice-over narration while recording or later in the editing phase
• Audio fade in/fade out, audio noise reduction
• Rich annotation tools: Zoom-n-pan, shapes, callouts, closed captions, mouse cursor effects, multiple resources (video, image, audio, YouTube video)
• Blur sensitive parts of the video or making green screen effects (chroma key effect)

Once you are done with your video screen capturing and editing, you can export your project as not only a video, but also various formats such as Word, Excel, PDF, PowerPoint, Flash, and even an HTML5 simulation.

These were some of the best screen recording tools for Windows 10. You can obviously decide for yourself which one is the best tool for you, depending on what exactly you want to do.

This has been helpful for many users who need to add screenshots and videos to their guides and tutorials. Let us know if it helped you as well!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

10 Best Game Recording Software for PC: Win & Mac [Free/Paid] 2021

Liza Brown

Apr 06, 2021• Proven solutions

There are tons of video game recording software available in the market, including paid and free. So to save your time, after we tested over 30 tools, we now bring you the top ten best game recorders. There will always be one of the best tailored for you.

Best Game Recording Software for Windows

1. Wondershare DemoCreator — Best Video Recorder for Windows

Wondershare DemoCreator is proved an incredible screen recording tool.

It works amazingly well for gamers and those who want to create tutorials, product demo, reviews, and more. This 2-in-one tool allows you not only recording screen at up to 120fps but also editing videos such as adding annotations, text effect, callouts, and more.

How to record games with DemoCreator?

1. After opening DemoCreator, you can click the «New Recording» button.
2. Adjust screen, audio, and webcam as you want.
3. Click the red recording button to start recording games and click «F10» to stop recording your screen. Only needs 3 steps. So easy!

Check the video below to learn more about how to record screen with Wondershare DemoCreator!

2. Open Broadcaster Software

OBS is a popular open-source type software available for free that can be used by professionals and beginners. It’s simple and intuitive controls assist users in impressive video recording along with the live streaming feature.

You can easily download this software on your Linux, Mac, as well as Windows system as it is made compatible with all these top platforms.

Some of the incredible features of this software are:

• The high-performance type real-time audio and video recording as well as mixing ability.
• There are few intuitive audio mixers, as well as filters that assist in fast filtration of noise. It can improve gain while suppressing the unwanted signal elements.
• All the user configurations are advanced, where resource properties can be adjusted effortlessly.

3. Dxtory

In case if you are working on applications like OpenGL and DirectX etc. then it is much better to use Dxtory. This tool is well known for its very high-speed processing that is because of its ability to acquire all data elements directly into the surface memory buffer.

Below are a few advanced features of Dxtroy:

• The Dxtroy codec is capable enough to record the original pixel data so that all videos can have much impressive quality with lossless footage.
• It follows the distribution writing technique for neglecting the major bottleneck of high bit rate systems. Users need not use any specific file system. Rather, they simply make multiple selections for the data containing folder, and fast results are obtained with proper speed settings.
• This software also extends its support to the VFW codec. And you can easily save screenshots in various desirable formats.

4. Action

Action helps gamers to enjoy breathtaking video recording scenes on their gaming platform with Window systems. All videos use to have stunning HD quality, and it also allows players to stream their gameplay, record music, add web player videos, and capture screenshots from time to time.

Below are a few amazing features of Action:

• It serves users with real-time outstanding HD gameplay video capturing abilities. It is possible to display the current and average frame rate on videos at the time of recording so that benchmark results can be easily recorded.
• Live streaming services are also available on the Action platform. Once you are finished with your game recording and footage is ready to impress your friends over the internet. So you can directly stream your videos from Action to Aliez, Ustream, Facebook, Hitbox and YouTube, etc.
• All recorded game videos can be exported easily in different popular file formats.

5. Bandicam

Here is a lightweight but intuitive screen recorder for gamers. It helps in easy desktop screen recording with high-quality results. Users can also make selections for recording a specific portion of their desktop screen to create impressive tutorials.

Some of the most popular features of Bandicam are:

• Bandicam game capture tool is capable enough to record gameplay the same as that of Fraps, or some professionals rate it even better than fraps.
• The video file size uses to be smaller in the case of Bandicam as compared to all other competitive software.
• Users can enjoy recording even for 24 hours continuously. It can also be done with the help of an auto-complete recording facility.
• This software program allows recording videos with 4K Ultra HD type resolution where file size goes up to 3840 X 2160.
• You can record games directly, go for webcam recording, use HDMI connectivity for recording, or can have PC screen control directly.

6. Fraps

It is well recognized as a universal application for Windows platforms. Users can record impressive gameplay videos with the help of OpenGL and DirectX graphic technology.

Fraps’s launched a new version, and this makes game recording much easier. That might be the most important reason that most professionals love it.

Few outstanding features are:

• It helps users to get complete information about a frame per second while recording game videos.
• It is a kind of real-time advanced recording software that can capture audio as well as video with breathtaking quality. Tutorials created with Fraps are more popular in the gaming world as here frame rates can also be customized in the range from 1 to 120 fps.

Best Games Recording Software for Mac

1. ScreenFlow

ScreenFlow is advanced game recording software for Mac.

Gamers can record the game from Mac with audio from the microphone. After the edition is done, it’s supported to share with social media platforms, such as Wistia, Vimeo, YouTube, Google Drive as well as on Dropbox.

2. QuickTime

QuickTime also is one popular recording software for Mac. You can add active narrations to all videos with ease.

Some of the best facilities offered by QuickTime player are:

• You can record, play, edit, share audio, and video files immediately on the Mac platform.
• It possesses all advanced video playback controls like adjust volume, fast forward, rewind, pause, play.
• It also supports advanced editing features like flip, rotate, delete, paste, copy, cut, split and trim, etc.
• It is possible to share videos directly on social media platforms like YouTube, AirDrop, or via messages or Emails.
• It also allows users to stream videos directly to Apple TV.

3. ScreenFlick

ScreenFlick has a user-friendly and well-streamlined interface that works impressively with mouse clicks and key presses. The audio recording facility is much impressive where everything can be captured from microphones so easily. You simply need to click over one checkbox to include an external voice into your videos.

4. Camtasia Studio

Another popular game recording software is Camtasia Studio that supports the Mac platform with intuitive control features. Professionals say that it is a nice and easy to use game recording tool.

It offers a very smooth and light screen recording. All videos can be later modified with the addition of music and photos. You can take benefits from a multi track-type timeline to have an easy video recording facility where few additional virtual effects include drawing tools and video blur abilities.

The full version of this software is available from its official website, with a payment of $299.

5. Apowersoft Mac Screen Recorder

Apowersoft Mac Screen Recorder is a professional tool for you that possesses all advanced recording functions. It has a smart task scheduler, power video converter, and many more. Gamers can enjoy fast screencasting features that work on the whole screen of the system or customized locations of the screen. If you need a simple web camera recording, then Apowersoft can assist you with easy settings.

The best thing to know about this game recording software tool is its picture in picture recording ability that works with webcam and generate breathtakingly:

Part 3: Criteria for Choosing the Best Game Recording Software

Some recorders promote they are capable of recording games, but you will find the recording is complicated after using them. You may experience lagging, black screen, or without audio. Therefore, you need to check the game recording process.

The standard FPS for high-resolution games is 60 FPS, so you need to select a recorder that at least supports 60 FPS. The ideal FPS is 120 to capture a smooth game quality. One thing you need to know DemoCreator supports recording games up to 120 FPS.

If your budget is limited, you can use free to use tools, but the functions of these tools are not rich compared with paid ones. It is suggested to buy a screen recorder and record games smooth like a knife through butter.

Final Check: Which Game Recorder Is Best For You?

If you want to record like a Pro, Wondershare DemoCreator has overwhelmed the others. It’s perfect for PC platforms, to make great video game capture. Just download our game recorder Wondershare DemoCreator below now.

After recording the gameplay videos, you can edit it with the built-in features. Numerous effects help to level up your videos and make them stand out from the crowd.