Comparison of screencasting software

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.

Comparison by specification


Product name Publisher Latest stable version Latest release date OS Software license Source code
available?
ActivePresenter Atomi Systems7.3.12018-07-11Windows
macOS
Proprietary commercialNo
ActivePresenter Free Edition Atomi Systems7.3.12018-07-11Windows
macOS
FreewareNo
Adobe Captivate Adobe Systems9.02015-08-03Windows
macOS
Proprietary commercialNo
Adobe Presenter Video Express Adobe Systems11.02016-09-14Windows
macOS
Proprietary commercialNo
AVS Video Editor Online Media Technologies Ltd7.5.1.2882017-01-16WindowsCommercialNo
Bandicam Bandicam Company4.0.2.13522017-11-21WindowsProprietary commercialNo
BB FlashBack Blueberry Software5.4.0.34422014-12-18WindowsProprietary commercialNo
BB FlashBack Express Blueberry Software5.22.0.41782016-11-09WindowsFreewareNo
CamStudio CamStudio.org2.7.2 r3262013-10-19WindowsGPLYes
Camtasia (Windows) TechSmith9.0.52017-08-31WindowsTrialwareNo
Camtasia (Mac) TechSmith3.0.62017-05-23macOSTrialwareNo
Capture Fox Zafer Gurel0.7.02009-11-25WindowsFreewareYes
Debut (Windows) NCH Software4.082017-09-14WindowsTrialwareNo
Debut (Mac) NCH Software4.012017-03-31OS XTrialwareNo
Fraps Beepa Pty Ltd3.5.992013-02-26WindowsProprietary commercialNo
Freeseer FOSSLC3.0.12013-12-15Windows
OS X
Linux
GPL v3Yes
Grabilla Grabilla1.252015-11-13Windows
macOS
FreemiumNo
HyperCam Solveig Multimedia4.0.1511.062015-11-06WindowsProprietary commercialNo
HyperCam Hyperionics2.29.002016-01-07WindowsFreewareNo
Jing TechSmith2.82010-08-19Windows
OS X
FreewareNo
Microsoft Expression Encoder Microsoft Corporation42011-11-02WindowsFreewareNo
Nero Vision Nero AG10.6.108002011-04-19WindowsProprietary commercialNo
Nvidia Shadowplay Nvidia2.11.4.02016-06-21WindowsProprietary (Part of NVIDIA GFE)No
Open Broadcaster Software OBS Project21.1.22018-05-13Windows
macOS
Linux
GPL v2Yes
Peek Philipp Wolfer 1.0.3 2017-06-14 LinuxGPL v3Yes
Pixetell Ontier Inc.1.3.119132010-01-15WindowsProprietary commercialNo
QuickTime X Apple Inc.10.0 (118)2010-03-29macOSProprietary (Part of macOS)No
RecordMyDesktop SourceForge0.3.8.12008-12-13LinuxGPLYes
Screencam SmartGuyz Inc.3.3.02009-03-24WindowsProprietary commercialNo
Screencast-O-Matic Big Nerd Software, LLC[1]2.0 (1)2018-07-30Windows, Chromebook, Mac OS[2]FreemiumNo
ScreenFlow Telestream7.3.12018-06-20macOSProprietary commercialNo
ShareX GitHub12.2.02018-06-22WindowsGPL v3Yes
SimpleScreenRecorder maartenbaert0.3.92017-12-11LinuxGPL v3Yes
Snagit for Windows TechSmith13.0.32016-10-25WindowsProprietary commercialNo
Snagit for Mac TechSmith4.0.62016-10-25macOSProprietary commercialNo
Snapz Pro X Ambrosia Software2.6.12016-10-17macOSProprietary commercialNo
VirtualDub SourceForge1.9.112012-12-27WindowsGPLYes
VLC media player VideoLAN2.2.82017-12-05Windows
macOS
Linux
BSD
SolarisQNX
Haiku
Syllable
OS/2
GPLYes
Wink Satish Kumar2.02008-07-14Windows
Linux
FreewareNo
Xbox (Game DVR) Microsoft Windows Freeware
XVidCap SourceForge1.1.72008-07-13Unix-likeGPLYes
XSplit Broadcaster SplitmediaLabs3.0.1705.31172017-06-27WindowsFreemiumNo
Product name Publisher Latest stable version Latest release date OS Software license Source code
available?

Comparison by features


The following table compares features of screencasting software. The table has seven fields, as follows:

  1. Name: Product's name; sometime includes edition if a certain edition is targeted
  2. Audio: Specifies whether the product supports recording audio commentary on the video
  3. Entire desktop: Specifies whether product supports recording the entire desktop
  4. OpenGL: Specifies whether the product supports recording from video games and software that employ OpenGL to render digital image
  5. DirectX: Specifies whether the product supports recording from video games or software that employ Direct3D to render digital image
  6. Editing: Specifies whether the product supports editing recorded video at least to some small extent, such as cropping, trimming or splitting
  7. Output: Specifies the file format in which the software saves the final video (non-video output types are omitted)
Product name Audio Entire
desktop
OpenGL Direct3D Editing Output
ActivePresenter[3] YesYesNoYesYes
ActivePresenter free edition[3] YesYesNoNoYes
Adobe Captivate[4] YesYes??YesSWF, EXE, MP4
Adobe Presenter Video Express[5] YesYes??YesMP4
Bandicam YesYesYesYesNoAVI, MP4
BB FlashBack YesYes??YesAVI, FLV, SWF[6]
BB FlashBack express YesYes??NoAVI, FLV, SWF, MP4 (H.264 or MPEG-4 ASP), WMV, Animated GIF, PowerPoint slideshow, self-extracting EXE[6]
CamStudio YesYes??YesAVI, SWF
Camtasia YesYesYesYesYes.camrec, AVI
Capture Fox YesYes??NoMotion JPEG or Xvid in AVI
Debut YesYes??YesAVI, FLV, MKV, MP4, WebM, WMV, 3GP, ASF, DV, MOV, MPG, OGV
FFmpeg with a plug-in DependsDependsDependsDependsNocf. FFmpeg § Codecs, formats and protocols supported
Fraps YesYesYesYesNoFPS1 in AVI
Freeseer YesYes??NoOgg
Grabilla YesYesYesNoYesWMV, mp4 on website.
HyperCam YesYes??NoAVI, WMV
Jing YesYes??NoSWF
Microsoft Expression Encoder YesYesYesNoYes
Nero Vision Yes???Yes
Nvidia Shadowplay YesYesNoYesNo
Open Broadcaster Software YesYesYesYesNoSimple mode: FLV, MP4, MOV, MKV, TS, HLS
Advanced mode: Any format supported by libavformat
Pixetell YesYesYesYesYes
QuickTime X YesYes??No
RecordMyDesktop YesYes?N/ANoTheora in Ogg
Screencam YesYesYesYesYes
Screencast-O-Matic Yes[7]Yes[2]Yes[8]Yes[8]Yes[9]AVI, FLV, MP4, GIF, WebM[10][11]
ScreenFlow YesYesYesN/AYesProRes, MP4, GIF, AAC
ShareX YesYesNoNoNoAVI, MP4, GIF
SimpleScreenRecorder YesYesYesN/ANoFormats supported by libavformat
Snagit YesYesYesYesYesMP4
Snapz Pro X YesYes??No
VirtualDub Yes???YesAVI
VLC YesYesYes?Yes
Windows Media Encoder YesYes??No
Wink YesYes?NoYesSWF, PDF
Xbox (Game DVR) Yes No ? ? No MP4
XVidCap Yes??N/ANo
XSplit Broadcaster YesYesYesYesYesMP4, FLV
Product name Audio Entire
desktop
OpenGL Direct3D Editing Output

References

  1. Martin Mehl, Luanne Fose (2016). "Digital Academic Revolution" (PDF). Online Learning Consortium. p. 3, 4, 5, 6. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 Benson, Thor (20 April 2014). "Best screencasting programs for Windows and Mac". Digital Trends. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Feature Comparison". ActivePresenter website. Atomi Systems. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
  4. "Supported file formats". Adobe Captivate Help. Adobe Systems Incorporated. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
  5. "Output formats". Adobe Presenter Video Express Help. Adobe Systems Incorporated. Retrieved 2015-09-14.
  6. 1 2 "Feature Comparison". bbsoftware.co.uk. Blueberry Software. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  7. "Overview of the Best Video Screen Capture Software". Ghacks. Ghacks. 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  8. 1 2 Shapiro, Jordan (29 July 2015). "All Kids Should Make Their Own 'Minecraft' YouTube Videos". Forbes. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  9. Cranny, David (Autumn 2016). "Screencasting, a tool to facilitate engagement with formative feedback?". All Ireland Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Dundalk Institute of Technology. 8 (3): 19.
  10. Messieh, Nancy (15 August 2011). "5 free and easy ways to create professional screencasts". The Next Web. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  11. Clark, Joe (8 May 2007). "Best free screen recorder". Computer Business Review. Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
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