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 Systems | 7.3.1 | 2018-07-11 | Windows macOS | Proprietary commercial | No |
| ActivePresenter Free Edition | Atomi Systems | 7.3.1 | 2018-07-11 | Windows macOS | Freeware | No |
| Adobe Captivate | Adobe Systems | 9.0 | 2015-08-03 | Windows macOS | Proprietary commercial | No |
| Adobe Presenter Video Express | Adobe Systems | 11.0 | 2016-09-14 | Windows macOS | Proprietary commercial | No |
| AVS Video Editor | Online Media Technologies Ltd | 7.5.1.288 | 2017-01-16 | Windows | Commercial | No |
| Bandicam | Bandicam Company | 4.5.0.1587 | 2019-10-23 | Windows | Proprietary commercial | No |
| BB FlashBack | Blueberry Software | 5.4.0.3442 | 2014-12-18 | Windows | Proprietary commercial | No |
| BB FlashBack Express | Blueberry Software | 5.22.0.4178 | 2016-11-09 | Windows | Freeware | No |
| CamStudio | CamStudio.org | 2.7.2 r326 | 2013-10-19 | Windows | GPL | Yes |
| Camtasia (Windows) | TechSmith | 2019.0.2[1] | 2019-05-29 | Windows | Trialware | No |
| Camtasia (Mac) | TechSmith | 2019.0.1[2] | 2019-05-22 | macOS | Trialware | No |
| Debut (Windows) | NCH Software | 4.08 | 2017-09-14 | Windows | Trialware | No |
| Debut (Mac) | NCH Software | 4.01 | 2017-03-31 | macOS | Trialware | No |
| Fraps | Beepa Pty Ltd | 3.5.99 | 2013-02-26 | Windows | Proprietary commercial | No |
| Freeseer | FOSSLC | 3.0.1 | 2013-12-15 | Windows macOS Linux | GPL v3 | Yes |
| Grabilla | Grabilla | 1.25 | 2015-11-13 | Windows macOS | Shareware | No |
| HyperCam | Solveig Multimedia | 4.0.1511.06 | 2015-11-06 | Windows | Proprietary commercial | No |
| HyperCam | Hyperionics | 2.29.00 | 2016-01-07 | Windows | Freeware | No |
| Jing | TechSmith | 2.8 | 2010-08-19 | Windows macOS | Freeware | No |
| Microsoft Expression Encoder | Microsoft | 4 | 2011-11-02 | Windows | Freeware | No |
| mimoLive | Boinx Software Ltd. | 4.6 | 2019-01-08 | macOS | Proprietary commercial | No |
| Nero Vision | Nero AG | 10.6.10800 | 2011-04-19 | Windows | Proprietary commercial | No |
| Nvidia Shadowplay | Nvidia | 2.11.4.0 | 2016-06-21 | Windows | Proprietary (Part of NVIDIA GFE) | No |
| Open Broadcaster Software
(OBS Studio) |
OBS Project | 25.0.8 | 2020-04-26 | Windows macOS Linux | GPL v2 | Yes |
| Peek | Philipp Wolfer | 1.4.0 | 2019-09-27 | Linux | GPL v3 | Yes |
| Pixetell | Ontier Inc. | 1.3.11913 | 2010-01-15 | Windows | Proprietary commercial | No |
| QuickTime X | Apple Inc. | 10.0 (118) | 2010-03-29 | macOS | Proprietary (Part of macOS) | No |
| RecordMyDesktop | SourceForge | 0.3.8.1 | 2008-12-13 | Linux | GPL | Yes |
| Screencam | SmartGuyz Inc. | 3.3.0 | 2009-03-24 | Windows | Proprietary commercial | No |
| ScreenFlow | Telestream | 7.3.1 | 2018-06-20 | macOS | Proprietary commercial | No |
| ShareX | GitHub | 13.0.1 | 2019-08-28 | Windows | GPL v3 | Yes |
| SimpleScreenRecorder | maartenbaert | 0.3.9 | 2020-04-08 | Linux | GPL v3 | Yes |
| Snagit for Windows | TechSmith | 13.0.3 | 2016-10-25 | Windows | Proprietary commercial | No |
| Snagit for Mac | TechSmith | 4.0.6 | 2016-10-25 | macOS | Proprietary commercial | No |
| Snapz Pro X | Ambrosia Software | 2.6.1 | 2016-10-17 | macOS | Proprietary commercial | No |
| VirtualDub | SourceForge | 1.9.11 | 2012-12-27 | Windows | GPL | Yes |
| VLC media player | VideoLAN | 3.0.8 | 2019-08-19[3] | Windows macOS Linux BSD Solaris QNX Haiku Syllable OS/2 | GPL | Yes |
| Wink | Satish Kumar | 2.0 | 2008-07-14 | Windows Linux | Freeware | No |
| Xbox (Game DVR) | Microsoft | Windows | Freeware | |||
| XVidCap | SourceForge | 1.1.7 | 2008-07-13 | Unix-like | GPL | Yes |
| XSplit Broadcaster | SplitmediaLabs | 3.0.1705.3117 | 2017-06-27 | Windows | Shareware | No |
| 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:
- Name: Product's name; sometime includes edition if a certain edition is targeted
- Audio: Specifies whether the product supports recording audio commentary on the video
- Entire desktop: Specifies whether product supports recording the entire desktop
- OpenGL: Specifies whether the product supports recording from video games and software that employ OpenGL to render digital image
- DirectX: Specifies whether the product supports recording from video games or software that employ Direct3D to render digital image
- Editing: Specifies whether the product supports editing recorded video at least to some small extent, such as cropping, trimming or splitting
- 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 | Vulkan | Direct2D Fullscreen | Editing | Output | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ActivePresenter[4] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| ActivePresenter free edition[4] | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | |||||||
| Adobe Captivate[5] | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | SWF, EXE, MP4 | ||||||
| Adobe Presenter Video Express[6] | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | MP4 | ||||||
| Bandicam | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | AVI, MP4 | ||||||
| BB FlashBack | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | AVI, FLV, SWF[7] | ||||||
| BB FlashBack express | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | AVI, FLV, SWF, MP4 (H.264 or MPEG-4 ASP), WMV, Animated GIF, PowerPoint slideshow, self-extracting EXE[7] | ||||||
| CamStudio | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | AVI, SWF | ||||||
| Camtasia | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | .camrec, AVI | ||||||
| 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 ยง Codecs, formats and protocols supported | ||||||
| Fraps | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | FPS1 in AVI | ||||||
| Freeseer | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | Ogg | ||||||
| Grabilla | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | WMV, mp4 on website. | ||||||
| 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 | ? | N/A | No | Theora in Ogg | ||||||
| Screencam | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||||||
| ScreenFlow | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes | ProRes, MP4, GIF, AAC | Yes | |||||
| ShareX | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | AVI, MP4, GIF | ||||||
| SimpleScreenRecorder | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | No | Formats supported by libavformat | ||||||
| Snagit | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | MP4 | ||||||
| Snapz Pro X | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | |||||||
| VirtualDub | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | AVI | ||||||
| VLC | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | |||||||
| Windows Media Encoder | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | |||||||
| Wink | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | SWF, PDF | ||||||
| Xbox (Game DVR) | Yes | No | ? | ? | No | MP4 | ||||||
| XVidCap | Yes | ? | ? | N/A | No | |||||||
| XSplit Broadcaster | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | MP4, FLV | ||||||
| Product name | Audio | Entire desktop |
OpenGL | Direct3D | Editing | Output |
See also
References
- "Camtasia (Windows) Version History". TechSmith Support. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
- "Camtasia (Mac) Version History". TechSmith Support. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
- VideoLAN, a project and a non-profit organization. https://www.videolan.org/. Retrieved 2020-04-10. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - "Feature Comparison". ActivePresenter website. Atomi Systems. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
- "Supported file formats". Adobe Captivate Help. Adobe Systems Incorporated. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
- "Output formats". Adobe Presenter Video Express Help. Adobe Systems Incorporated. Retrieved 2015-09-14.
- "Feature Comparison". bbsoftware.co.uk. Blueberry Software. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
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