Top-9 free programs for recording video from your computer screen
This guide describes the best free programs for recording and capturing video from the screen of a computer monitor or laptop running Windows 11/10.
Since I have been recording tutorials on YouTube for many years, I have a lot of experience using various screen recording programs on Windows 11 and 10. I will not compile a bunch of programs with paid ones, as many “70 Best Video Capture Software” sites do “ and so on. I will simply collect the best free programs with maximum capabilities, since there is experience of use even in paid applications, so that a novice gamer or blogger feels comfortable when capturing the screen in Windows 11/10.
What Makes a Free Video Capture Software Ideal?
- Screen recording in maximum quality from 1080p (Full HD) to 4K (4096p)
- 60 fps for games, 30 fps should be the minimum
Save videos without watermark - Unlimited recording in minutes
- Ability to remove microphone noise when recording
- Ability to enhance microphone and overall sound
- There is a video editor to immediately trim the excess and improve the video
- Live broadcast if you are a gamer or blogger
1. Snipping Tool
Snipping Tool — The Snipping app is built-in by default in Windows 11/10, which makes it possible to quickly record video from the computer screen with microphone sound and system sound without third-party programs.
- Press the key combination Win+Shift+S to open the application
- Select the video camera icon to capture video
- Scroll to the desired area, turn the microphone and system volume on or off
- Click “Start” to start recording
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎30 fps
❎No settings
❎You cannot broadcast live
✅Video quality for monitor resolution
✅Fast to use on Windows 11/10
✅Videos can be edited immediately in Clipchamp
✅No watermark when saving
2. GameBar
GameBar — A game bar application built in by default in Windows 11 and 10, which makes it possible to record gameplay without resorting to third-party programs that need to be downloaded.
- Press the Win+G key combination to open the GameBar
- A box will appear, where click on “Record” to open the widget
- You can adjust the video quality by opening “Options” > “Games”
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎You cannot record your desktop
❎You cannot broadcast live
✅60 frames per second
✅Video quality for monitor resolution
✅Fast to use on Windows 11/10
✅There are minimalistic video quality settings
✅No watermark when saving
3. Clipchamp
Clipchamp is a free video editor from Microsoft that has the ability to record your screen with audio and even a webcam. Moreover, it can be used not only on Windows 11/10, but also on Android, IOS, MacOS and Linux. The free version allows you to save videos without a watermark and in 1080p (Full HD) quality, which is the majority of YouTube videos. The most important thing is that this is an editor where you can trim off excess, add pictures, effects, filters, separate a track from a video, record a GIF, etc.
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎ 30 fps
❎Limit 30 minutes without subscription
❎ You cannot broadcast live
✅ Fast use on Windows 11/10
✅ Has its own editor
✅ Record in Full HD 1080p without subscription
✅ No watermark when saving
4. OBS Studio
OBS Studio — The best free and open source tool for high-quality video recording from your computer or laptop screen. This program is used by gamers and bloggers, as it has a lot of options for setting up sound and video in 4K. In addition, you can broadcast live directly to Twitch or YouTube and save projects later in any convenient quality. For beginners it will be difficult to figure it out right away, but this is a matter of habit and if you decide to record a lot of videos in the future, then I advise you to start with this program in order to figure it out over time.
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎No built-in editor
❎Difficult for beginners
✅60 frames per second
✅No registration restrictions
✅Huge number of parameters
✅Record in 4K
✅No watermark when saving
✅Ability to broadcast live
5. 2-Click Screen Recorder
2-Click Screen Recorder — An application from the Moicrosoft Store that captures the computer screen in Windows 11/10 at 144 FPS without watermark. Records screen video with H.264 and H.265 codecs. A very simple interface that even a beginner who is just starting to record video from the screen can understand.
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎No built-in editor
❎It is not possible to broadcast live
✅Video quality for monitor resolution
✅144 fps
✅No registration restrictions
✅Very easy to use
✅No watermark when saving
6. ShareX
ShareX — Free screen video recording program for computers and laptops running Windows 11/10. The interface is simple and sparse, but the app has many useful features and a video converter with many encoders. In addition, it is possible to create GIFs and take screenshots.
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎No built-in editor
❎It is not possible to broadcast live
❎Video quality for monitor resolution
✅Frames per second can be set manually
✅No registration restrictions
✅No watermark when saving
✅A lot of fine settings
7. ActivePresenter
ActivePresenter — A powerful free video editor that can record screen video, after which it can be edited immediately. The editor itself resembles a PowerPoint presentation and can save to MP4, MKV, AVI, WMV, WebM and web-friendly HTML5 formats.
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎It is not possible to broadcast live
❎Complicated and incomprehensible for beginners
✅There is a built-in minimalistic editor
✅Frames per second can be set manually
✅Video quality for monitor resolution
✅No registration restrictions
✅No watermark when saving
8. Nvidia Experience и AMD Software
For owners of Nvidia video cards, you need to download GeForce Experience, open it and go to the “General” settings, where you need to enable “In-Game Overlay”, then press Alt+Z to bring up the menu bar for screen recording.
If you own an AMD video card, then you need to install AMD Radeon Software, where open the application settings and go to the general tab, then enable “Record video from desktop” and “Capture borderless screen area”, which will work when you press Ctrl+ Shift+E (start recording and stop) or Alt+Z to bring up the recording plate.
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎Ability to broadcast live
❎Difficult for beginners
❎No built-in editor
✅60 frames per second
✅4K video recording quality
✅No registration restrictions
✅No watermark when saving
9. VLC media player
VLC media player — A free and very popular player that plays all video formats. Additionally, VLC can record computer screen on Windows 11/10.
Launch the VLC application and click on the “Media” tab > “Open capture device…” > go to the “Capture devices” tab and select “Screen” in the capture mode column. Below in the “Desired frame rate for capture” column, set 60 frames instead of 1.00 fps, then click “Play” to start recording the screen.
Next, in the VLC player, click on the “View” tab and check the “Additional controls” checkbox so that the screen capture button appears next to the playback buttons. The red button must be pressed for recording to begin. You don’t watch time pass, it’s just time, the button has to be pressed. When you’re done, simply click back on the red “Record” button to stop and save the recording, then click on the “Stop” square button below to complete all recording processes.
❗Video recordings will be saved in the “Video” folder (C:\Users\username\Videos).
Advantages and disadvantages:
❎Ability to broadcast live
❎There are a lot of unnecessary steps to record video from the screen
❎No built-in editor
✅Frames per second can be set manually
✅Video quality for monitor resolution
✅No registration restrictions
✅No watermark when saving
