This page provides a comparison of notable screencasting software , used to record activities on the computer screen. This software is commonly used for desktop recording, gameplay recording and video editing. Screencasting software is typically limited to streaming and recording desktop activity alone, in contrast with a software vision mixer, which has the capacity to mix and switch the output between various input streams.
The following table compares features of screencasting software. The table has seven fields, as follows:
| Product name | Audio | Entire desktop | OpenGL | Direct3D | Editing | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActivePresenter [8] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
| ActivePresenter free edition [8] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
| Adobe Captivate [9] | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | SWF, EXE, MP4 |
| Adobe Presenter Video Express [10] | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | MP4 |
| Bandicam | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | |
| BB FlashBack | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | AVI, FLV, SWF [11] |
| BB FlashBack express | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | AVI, FLV, SWF, MP4 (H.264 or MPEG-4 ASP), WMV, Animated GIF, PowerPoint slideshow, self-extracting EXE [11] |
| CamStudio | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | AVI, SWF |
| Camtasia (Windows) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| Camtasia (Mac) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| CloudApp | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? |
| Debut | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | AVI, FLV, MKV, MP4, WebM, WMV, 3GP, ASF, DV, MOV, MPG, OGV |
| FFmpeg with a plug-in | Depends | Depends | Depends | Depends | No | cf. FFmpeg § Codecs, formats and protocols supported |
| Fraps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | FPS1 in AVI |
| Freeseer | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Ogg |
| HyperCam | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | AVI, WMV |
| Jing | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | SWF |
| Microsoft Expression Encoder | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | |
| Nero Vision | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | |
| Nvidia Shadowplay | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | |
| Open Broadcaster Software | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Simple mode: FLV, MP4, MOV, MKV, TS, HLS Advanced mode: Any format supported by libavformat |
| Pixetell | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| QuickTime X | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | |
| recordMyDesktop | Yes | Yes | ? | — | No | Theora in Ogg |
| Screencam | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| ScreenPal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
| ScreenFlow | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | Yes | ProRes, MP4, GIF, AAC |
| ShareX | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | AVI, MP4, GIF |
| SimpleScreenRecorder | Yes | Yes | Yes | — | No | Formats supported by libavformat |
| Snagit (Windows) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
| Snagit (Mac) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|
| Snapz Pro X | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | |
| VirtualDub | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | AVI |
| VLC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | |
| Windows Media Encoder | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | |
| Xbox (Game DVR) /Xbox Game Bar | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | MP4 |
| XVidCap | Yes | ? | ? | — | No | |
| XSplit Broadcaster | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | MP4, FLV |
| Product name | Audio | Entire desktop | OpenGL | Direct3D | Editing | Output |
Adobe Flash is a discontinued multimedia software platform used for production of animations, rich internet applications, desktop applications, mobile apps, mobile games, and embedded web browser video players.
Video editing software or a video editor is software used for performing the post-production video editing of digital video sequences on a non-linear editing system (NLE). It has replaced traditional flatbed celluloid film editing tools and analog video tape editing machines.
Direct3D is a graphics application programming interface (API) for Microsoft Windows. Part of DirectX, Direct3D is used to render three-dimensional graphics in applications where performance is important, such as games. Direct3D uses hardware acceleration if it is available on the graphics card, allowing for hardware acceleration of the entire 3D rendering pipeline or even only partial acceleration. Direct3D exposes the advanced graphics capabilities of 3D graphics hardware, including Z-buffering, W-buffering, stencil buffering, spatial anti-aliasing, alpha blending, color blending, mipmapping, texture blending, clipping, culling, atmospheric effects, perspective-correct texture mapping, programmable HLSL shaders and effects. Integration with other DirectX technologies enables Direct3D to deliver such features as video mapping, hardware 3D rendering in 2D overlay planes, and even sprites, providing the use of 2D and 3D graphics in interactive media ties.
Adobe Audition is a digital audio workstation developed by Adobe Inc. featuring both a multitrack, non-destructive mix/edit environment and a destructive-approach waveform editing view.
VLC media player is a free and open-source, portable, cross-platform media player software and streaming media server developed by the VideoLAN project. VLC is available for desktop operating systems and mobile platforms, such as Android, iOS and iPadOS. VLC is also available on digital distribution platforms such as Apple's App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft Store.
SWF is a defunct Adobe Flash file format that was used for multimedia, vector graphics and ActionScript.
A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture or a screen recording, often containing audio narration. The term screencast compares with the related term screenshot; whereas screenshot generates a single picture of a computer screen, a screencast is essentially a movie of the changes over time that a user sees on a computer screen, that can be enhanced with audio narration and captions.
Adobe Captivate is an authoring tool that is used for creating eLearning content such as software demonstrations, software simulations, branched scenarios, and randomized quizzes in HTML5 format.
Fraps is a benchmarking, screen capture and screen recording utility for Windows developed by Beepa. It can capture from software that uses DirectX and OpenGL, such as PC games.
ScreenCam is a screencast tool for Microsoft Windows that is used to author software demonstrations, software simulations, branched scenarios, and tutorials in .swf format. ScreenCam was primarily targeted at users who need to create video-oriented instructional materials who were not multimedia authors or video capture technicians. It was very easy to use, having a 'VCR-like' interface and requiring no knowledge of digital video editing, or the concept of 'frames' of a movie, because it used a different paradigm for creating the screen movies. It can also be used for creation of screencasts and conversion of Microsoft PowerPoint presentations to the Adobe Flash format.
Snagit is screen capture and screen recording software for Windows and macOS. It is created and developed by TechSmith and was first launched in 1990. Snagit is available in English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish versions.
Camtasia is a software suite, created and published by TechSmith, for creating and recording video tutorials and presentations via screencast, or via a direct recording plug-in to Microsoft PowerPoint. Other multimedia recordings may be recorded at the same time or added separately. Camtasia is available in English, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese versions.
A screenshot is a digital image that shows the contents of a computer display. A screenshot is created by the operating system or software running on the device powering the display.
Adobe Animate is a multimedia authoring and computer animation program developed by Adobe.
Bandicam is a closed-source screen capture and screen recording software originally developed by Bandisoft and later by Bandicam Company that can take screenshots or record screen changes.
ActivePresenter is a screencasting and video editing software program developed by Atomi Systems and designed for educators. It is available for Microsoft Windows and macOS.
SimpleScreenRecorder is a Qt-based free and open source multithreaded screencast software made for Linux and Unix-like operating systems which can handle similar tasks FFmpeg/avconv and VLC does.
Adobe Presenter is eLearning software released by Adobe Systems available on the Microsoft Windows platform as a Microsoft PowerPoint plug-in, and on both Windows and OS X as the screencasting and video editing tool Adobe Presenter Video Express. It is mainly targeted towards learning professionals and trainers. In addition to recording one's computer desktop and speech, it also provides the option to add quizzes and track performance by integrating with learning management systems. Adobe Presenter was designed to replace the now discontinued Adobe Ovation software, which had similar functions.
Adobe Presenter Video Express is screencasting and video editing software developed by Adobe Systems.
