A good screen recorder will help you capture video of any portion of your computer screen, edit it, and upload or share to whatever platform you desire—and a free download is also nice. We’ve got a collection of great recorder apps, so take a look!
OBS Studio (Windows, Mac, Linux)
OBS Studio is one of the top screen recorders for general purposes, including everything from casually capturing video to professional livestreaming. It also offers some of the best compatibility we’ve seen, working well with Windows, Mac and Linux.
There’s a lot to unpack with this app, but it includes the ability to create scenes from multiple different sources like window captures, images, text, browser window captures, and webcams, and combine them all into one video for later publishing (yes, Twitch and YouTube support is included). The interface will be familiar if you’ve working with video editing before, and it offers full dock customization so you can have everything just where you want it. There’s also audio mixer options, hotkeys, and just…everything you could want. However, newcomers have a lot to learn, so keep reading if you want a simple option.
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Flashback Express (Windows)
Flashback Express offers a free recorder that offers a bit more simplicity than OBS Studio. There’s a greater focus on streamlining options to make them easier for newcomers to understand experiment with. You can record anywhere on the PC screen with whatever sized recording window you want (including sound) and even create a schedule to record something while you are away.
If you want, you can add notes to the recording and immediately publish it to YouTube when you’re done, all from the app. There are no watermarks to worry about and no complicated tools to learn – you can literally get started in minutes after you download. Needless to say, it’s an easy recommendation.
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TinyTake (Windows, Mac)
As the name suggests, TinyTake is a smaller, friendlier screen recorder that excels capturing short clips. You can only take 120 minutes of video at a time, but the interface is the most user-friendly we’ve found, while still managing to include major features. You can adjust the screen capture window to the size you need, annote the captured video with text, drawings or objects, and share the content in whatever way you need. If you don’t need a screen recorder for a large project but still need a high-quality tool for a particular task, TinyTake is an excellent choice.
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Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder (Web-based)
Apowersoft is a web-based recorder, which means all you have to do is visit the website and click on the button that says “Start Recording.” Well, it’s slightly more complicated than that—you also have to input information about what recording mode you want and what region you are in. When finished, you can quickly upload the video to a variety of platforms in many different formats, based on your needs. It’s a very simple recorder without some of the flashy features that other free recorders have, but it’s fast, and nothing is simpler to use.
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Snagit (Windows, Mac
Snagit has an excellent drag-and-adjust capture window that makes it easy to quickly capture exactly what you want. The app backs this up with full editing interface that allows you to add whatever text or icons you need – as well as linking specific people to portions of the video. Additional capabilities, like extracting text from a screen capture, or sharing via Screencast, only make Snagit more useful. It’s particularly well-suited to crafting tutorials and explanations.
Snagit does come have one negative, however—you have to pay for it, and it’s not exactly cheap. That makes this app best for long-term work when you know you’ll have to use a screen recorder long into the future. To be sure, get the trial version first and make sure that you like it well enough.
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Filmora Scrn (Mac)
Finally, a screen recorder designed specifically for Macs! It’s a good one, too. You can adjust the recording to anywhere between 15 and 120fps, record from your webcam and your screen simultaneously for those livestreaming sessions, and add edits or effects wherever you want. The interface is also aimed at Mac users—and to no surprise, the app excels at augmenting video for design purposes.
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