How to Screen Record in Windows 10 or Windows 11
In the same way that a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a million. Whether you want to demonstrate to someone how to complete a task in an important application or you want to demonstrate your gaming process, screen recording in Windows is an excellent way to accomplish either of these goals.
Even if you want to record your actions while using a programme that isn’t a game, the screen recording feature that is built into Windows 10 and Windows 11 is incredibly simple to use. This feature is a part of the Xbox Game Bar tool that comes with both versions of Windows. However, Game Bar has some limitations, including the fact that it can only screen record one application at a time and not the entire screen. If you want to record your screen in a more complex manner than simply capturing one application at a time, you should use another method such as OBS.
Both the Xbox Game Bar and OBS will be utilised in the following tutorial to demonstrate how to record your screen in Windows 10 or Windows 11. Please refer to our article on how to take a screenshot in Windows 11 if the only thing you require is a still image.
Record the Windows Screen with Xbox Game Bar
The Xbox Game Bar is a multi-functional application that is built into both Windows 11 and Windows 10. Its features include the ability to monitor both the CPU and the GPU. The ability to screen record in Windows and save the recording in MP4 format is, however, the most valuable function of this programme.
The XBox Game Bar functions just as well in other applications such as Chrome as it does in games; however, it can only work within a single application at a time and is unable to capture the Windows desktop or File Explorer windows. Therefore, if you want to show someone how to complete a task that requires the use of multiple programmes (for instance, programming a web page in a code editor and then viewing it in a browser), you will need to collect multiple videos. One example of such a task is programming a web page in a code editor. And if you want to show them how to do anything in the user interface of Windows 11 or 10, such as using the Start menu, you cannot do so in either version. You should use a different tool, such as OBS, for those activities; we will demonstrate how to record your screen using OBS later on in this piece of writing.
1. Launch the application that you want to record in.
2. To begin recording your screen, press the Windows Key along with the Alt key and R. A miniature recording widget that displays the amount of time you have been recording will show up on the screen at some point, most likely in one of the screen’s four corners. Launching the Xbox Gamebar (Windows Key + G) and navigating to the capture widget will also get you here, but using the keyboard shortcut is a much more straightforward method.
The tool for making recordings.
(Image credit: Future)
3. Carry out any activities you choose and record audio using the microphone you have available. You also have the option to mute the microphone if you do not want any sounds to be recorded.
4. To stop the screen recording, press the Windows Key plus Alt plus R once more. You can also stop the widget by pressing the stop button on it. You are going to receive a notification that reads “Game clip recorded. If you do so, you will be taken to the Gallery section of the Gamebar app, where you will have the opportunity to take a look at the video that you have captured. You should also look in the Videos/Captures folder on your computer for the MP4 file that you recorded.
Video of the game was captured.
Recording the Whole Screen with OBS Studio
Adjusting the Settings for Screen Recording on the Xbox Gamebar
There are a few options that can be changed, despite the fact that the default settings probably work well for the vast majority of people.
1. Open the Settings menu, then select Gaming, then Captures.
Proceed by going to Gaming > Captures.
2. Alter any of the following configurations as desired. Be aware that even though they use the word “game,” the settings ought to apply to any app you record, regardless of whether or not the app is a game.
Record what happened (Windows 11) or Background Recording (Windows 10): selecting either of these options will result in the creation of a 30-second buffer of automatically recorded content (or a larger buffer if you change the settings). You can save the previous 30 seconds of gameplay, even if you weren’t actively screen recording it, by pressing the Windows key in combination with the letter G to launch the game bar. This will allow you to save the moment even if you just had an epic kill while you were playing a game. Be aware that the name of this setting has changed from Windows 10 to Windows 11, but that the functionality has remained the same.
Take notes on what has just transpired.
The maximum recording length refers to the amount of time that passes before the screen recording is turned off automatically. I would advise keeping this at the standard setting of two hours.
When you are recording a game, be sure to capture the audio: This only records the sounds coming from your microphone and the game itself; it does not record any of the ambient sounds coming from Windows or any of your other applications. You have the option of recording system sounds, turning off the audio recording entirely, or adjusting the balance between the two.
Capture audio
You have the option of changing the frame rate of the video from the default of 30 to a maximum of 60 frames per second.
Choose either high or standard for the video’s quality.
When you record a game, you should keep this option enabled. This is especially important if you are recording an application that is not a game.
Taking Screenshots with OBS Studio and Recording the Entire Display
The Xbox Gamebar can only record one application at a time on Windows, and it does not display the desktop or File Explorer. This is the most significant disadvantage of using the Xbox Gamebar to record your Windows screen. A third-party app is required in order to record your entire computer screen along with all of the windows that are open on it. While there are many such apps available, OBS Studio is the one that we recommend using for this purpose.
OBS Studio is extremely well-liked among members of the community for streaming video games because it is cost-free and does an excellent job of sending gameplay to Twitch and other platforms. On the other hand, if you use OBS, you can record everything that’s on your screen in Windows 11 and save the recording as an MP4 file without ever streaming what you do.
1. Download OBS Studio, then instal it and start it up. If you haven’t done so already, you will be prompted to choose whether you want to optimise OBS for streaming or recording only the very first time you launch it, if this hasn’t already happened. Choose the option “Optimize just for recording” if you do not intend to stream the video.
Optimize OBS for Recording
You will also be asked for the frame rate and the base resolution (also known as the resolution of the canvas). It is highly recommended that you select the resolution that corresponds to the screen you intend to capture (it may default to 1080p). If you capture from a screen with a higher resolution than your canvas size, the full screen will not be captured in its entirety.
You can always change the canvas size again at a later time, even if you have a multimonitor setup like I do, which means that you have different screens with different resolutions.
OBS Studio Base Resolution
2. To add a new source, click the plus sign that is located under the Sources heading.
You can add a source through OBS.
3. Make sure that Display Capture is selected.
Choose the Display Capture option.
4. In the new dialogue box that has appeared, click the “Ok” button. If you prefer to call the source something other than “Display Capture,” you are free to do so.
Click Ok
5. Select a display, then click the “Ok” button. This would make it possible for you to have OBS open on one screen while recording the action on another, provided that you have more than one monitor. There is only one option available if you only have a single monitor.
Pick a Showcase to Use
Your capture will be interrupted if the display is larger than the area that can be contained by your OBS canvas. For instance, if you are trying to record a 4K display but only have a base resolution of 1920 by 1080, your recording will be cut off. To resolve the issue, navigate to File > Settings > Video and make the necessary adjustments to the base resolution there. Additionally, the output resolution can be adjusted in this section. OBS will scale the output down to a lower resolution if the base resolution is higher than the output (for example, a 4K screen with a 1080p output), but it will still keep everything in the frame.
resolution regarding the OBS Change Base.
6. If you do not want either of those sounds to be recorded, mute the audio coming from your microphone and/or your computer’s desktop. OBS will record audio from any applications that are currently running on your computer as well as from the audio input device that is set as the default. Simply clicking on the speaker icons within the audio mixer will cause those to be muted.
Mute audio sources
7. In the screen’s bottom-right corner, you’ll find a button labelled “Start Recording.” Click that button. It is important to keep in mind that if you did not mute the microphone or the desktop audio, it will record any noise that is made by either you or the computer.
Simply click the Record button.
8. If you are recording your screen from the same monitor that OBS is running on, minimise the OBS window.
9. When you are finished, when you are in OBS, click the Stop Recording button.
Select the Stop Recording button.
Your screen recording videos will be saved in the Videos folder of Windows 11 (or 10, depending on which version you’re using). They are kept in the.mkv file format by default when they are saved. If you go to the Settings->Output menu in OBS, you will see that you have the option to change the output to either MP4 or MOV files.