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?
Adobe Captivate	Adobe Systems	12.3^[1]	2024-04-02	Windows macOS	Proprietary commercial	No
Adobe Presenter Video Express	Adobe Systems	12.0.2.170	2017-11-28	Windows macOS	Proprietary commercial	No
AVS Video Editor	Online Media Technologies Ltd			Windows	Commercial	No
Bandicam (Windows)	Bandicam Company	8.3.0^[2]	30 December 2025	Windows	Freemium commercial	No
Bandicam (Mac)	Bandicam Company	26.3.0	2026-03-27	macOS	Freemium commercial	No
BB FlashBack	Blueberry Software	v5.60^[3]	2023-08	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
BB FlashBack Express	Blueberry Software	v5.60^[3]	2023-08	Windows	Freeware	No
CamStudio	CamStudio.org	2.7.4 r354^[4]	2016-08-10	Windows	GPL	Yes
Camtasia (Windows)	TechSmith	2025.0.1 ^[5]	2025-03-25	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
Camtasia (Mac)	TechSmith	2025.0.3 ^[6]	2025-04-08	macOS	Proprietary commercial	No
CloudApp	CloudApp	6.1^[7]	2020-07-13	Windows macOS Linux	Freemium	No
Debut (Windows)	NCH Software	10.25^[8]	2024-12-02	Windows	Trialware	No
Debut (Mac)	NCH Software	10.14^[8]	2024-09-09	macOS	Trialware	No
Fraps	Beepa Pty Ltd	3.5.99^[9]	2013-02-26	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
Freeseer	FOSSLC	3.0.1^[10]	2014-01-03	Windows macOS Linux	GPL-3.0-or-later	Yes
HyperCam	Solveig Multimedia	7.0.2603.06^[11]	2026-03-06	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
HyperCam	Hyperionics	2.29.00	2016-01-07	Windows	Freeware	No
Microsoft Expression Encoder	Microsoft	4	2011-11-02	Windows	Freeware	No
Nero Vision	Nero AG	2025^[12]^[13]	2024-10-09	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	32.1.1^[14]	2026-04-02	Windows macOS Linux	GPL-2.0-or-later	Yes
Peek	Philipp Wolfer	1.5.1^[15]	2020-02-19	Linux	GPL-3.0-or-later	Yes
Pixetell	Ontier Inc.	1.3.14599^[16]	2010-07-29	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
QuickTime X	Apple Inc.	10.0 (118)	2010-03-29	macOS	Proprietary (Part of macOS)	No
RecCloud	WANGXU TECHNOLOGY	1.5.5^[17]	2025-09-26	Windows	Freemium commercial	No
recordMyDesktop	SourceForge	0.4.0^[18]	2021-03-14	Linux	GPL-2.0-or-later & GPL-3.0-or-later	Yes
Screencam	SmartGuyz Inc.	3.3.0	2009-03-24	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
ScreenPal	ScreenPal	3.14.3^[19] 3.14.3^[19]	2024-12-02 2024-12-02	Windows macOS	Freemium	No
ScreenFlow	Telestream	10.5.1^[20]	2025-11-18	macOS	Proprietary commercial	No
ShareX	Jaex and Michael Delpach	19.0.2^[21]	2026-01-18	Windows	GPL v3	Yes
SimpleScreenRecorder	maartenbaert	0.4.4^[22]	2021-05-24	Linux	GPL-3.0-or-later	Yes
Snagit (Windows)	TechSmith	2026.0.0 ^[23]	2026-01-14	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
Snagit (Mac)	TechSmith	2026.0.0 ^[24]	2025-12-16	macOS	Proprietary commercial	No
Snapz Pro X	Ambrosia Software	2.6.1	2016-10-17	macOS	Proprietary commercial	No
VirtualDub	SourceForge	1.10.4.35491^[25]	2013-10-27	Windows	GPL-2.0-or-later	Yes
VLC media player	VideoLAN	3.0.18	2022-11-08^[26]	Windows macOS Linux BSD Solaris QNX Haiku Syllable OS/2	LGPL-2.1-or-later	Yes
Xbox (Game DVR) / Xbox Game Bar	Microsoft			Windows	Freeware	No
XSplit Broadcaster	SplitmediaLabs	4.5.2412.0304^[27]	2024-11-08	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:

Product 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
Direct3D: 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 (audio output types are omitted)

Product name	Audio	Entire desktop	OpenGL	Direct3D	Editing	Output
Adobe Captivate^[28]	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes	SWF, EXE, MP4
Adobe Presenter Video Express^[29]	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes	MP4
Bandicam (Windows)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Video: AVI, MP4 Images format:BMP, PNG, JPEG Audio: WAV, MP3
Bandicam (Mac)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Video: MOV, MP4 Audio: M4A
BB FlashBack	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes	AVI, FLV, SWF^[30]
BB FlashBack express	Yes	Yes	?	?	No	AVI, FLV, SWF, MP4 (H.264 or MPEG-4 ASP), WMV, Animated GIF, PowerPoint slideshow, self-extracting EXE^[30]
CamStudio	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes	AVI, SWF
Camtasia (Windows)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Video: MP4, MP4 embedded in webpage (HTML5), WMV, AVI, Animated GIF Images format: PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP Audio: WAV, MP3, M4A (audio-only MP4)
Camtasia (Mac)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Video: MP4, MP4 embedded in webpage (HTML5), MOV, Animated GIF Images format: PNG Audio: WAV, M4A (audio-only MP4)
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	Video: MP4 Image sequence: PNG
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
ScreenPal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Video: MP4, FLV, AVI. Animated GIF Audio: WAV Images format: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, BMP Optical character recognition (OCR): simple text
ScreenFlow	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/a	Yes	ProRes, MP4, GIF, AAC
ShareX	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	AVI, MP4, GIF
SimpleScreenRecorder	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/a	No	Formats supported by libavformat
Snagit (Windows)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Video: MP4, Animated GIF Images format: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, WebP, BMP Documents: PDF Optical character recognition (OCR): simple text
Snagit (Mac)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Video: MP4, Animated GIF Images format: PNG, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, WebP, HEIF, BMP Documents: PDF Optical character recognition (OCR): simple text
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
XSplit Broadcaster	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	MP4, FLV
Product name	Audio	Entire desktop	OpenGL	Direct3D	Editing	Output

References

^ "Adobe Captivate - Design awesome courses in mins". Retrieved 12 December 2024.
^ "Bandicam 2025 (v8.3.0, 12/30/2025) - Vulkan hooking stability improved - Bandicam Forum (English)". Retrieved 30 December 2025.
^ ^a ^b "FlashBack change history". Retrieved 11 January 2024.
^ "CamStudio - Free Screen Recording Software". 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020.
^ "Camtasia (Windows) Version History". TechSmith Support.
^ "Camtasia (Mac) Version History". TechSmith Support.
^ "Introducing: Automated Drop Naming, Enhanced Annotations, Multi-Monitor Support, and 4k Video Quality Options". CloudApp Blog. 28 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
^ ^a ^b "Debut Video Capture Software Versions". Retrieved 12 December 2024.
^ "26th February 2013 - Fraps 3.5.99 Released". Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
^ "Release 3.0.1". 3 January 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
^ "HyperCam Common Edition version history". Retrieved 19 March 2026.
^ "Nero Video - Simply better film projects!". Retrieved 12 December 2024.
^ Nathan (9 October 2024). "What's New in Nero Platinum Suite 2025". Retrieved 13 December 2024.
^ "Release 32.1.1". 2 April 2026. Retrieved 7 April 2026.
^ "Release 1.5.1". 19 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
^ "Pixetell: Powerful Screen Recorder for Efficient Communication". Archived from the original on 16 March 2011.
^ "RecCloud - AI Speech to Text". App Store. 26 September 2025. Retrieved 11 October 2025.
^ "Release v0.4.0". 14 March 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Release Notes Desktop - Version 3.14.3 - ScreenPal". Retrieved 12 December 2024.
^ "ScreenFlow Version History".
^ "Release 19.0.2". 28 January 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.
^ "Release 0.4.4". 24 May 2021.
^ "Snagit (Windows) Version History". TechSmith Support. 13 November 2024.
^ "Snagit (Mac) Version History". TechSmith Support. 14 November 2024.
^ "VirtualDub - Browse /virtualdub-win/1.10.4.35491 at SourceForge.net".
^ "VLC: Official site - Free multimedia solutions for all OS! - VideoLAN". VideoLAN. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
^ "XSplit Broadcaster Release Highlights: Powerful New Audio Mixer Features, Background Removal Updates, and More!". Retrieved 13 December 2024.
^ "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.
^ ^a ^b "Feature Comparison". bbsoftware.co.uk. Blueberry Software. Retrieved 13 January 2015.

[wikidata-0de059a416b55478e29b55036ed09a9e4f89d207-v20-1] "Adobe Captivate - Design awesome courses in mins". Retrieved 12 December 2024.

[wikidata-87922241199da1c2b43242ef0c97740418974521-v20-2] "Bandicam 2025 (v8.3.0, 12/30/2025) - Vulkan hooking stability improved - Bandicam Forum (English)". Retrieved 30 December 2025.

[wikidata-a1c59fb8c51b9f4243930e9ab2041e2a0166c539-v20-3] "FlashBack change history". Retrieved 11 January 2024.

[wikidata-ce74683f2154624cbca2f611d5381c81b61bcfb1-v20-4] "CamStudio - Free Screen Recording Software". 15 December 2020. Archived from the original on 15 December 2020.

[5] "Camtasia (Windows) Version History". TechSmith Support.

[6] "Camtasia (Mac) Version History". TechSmith Support.

[7] "Introducing: Automated Drop Naming, Enhanced Annotations, Multi-Monitor Support, and 4k Video Quality Options". CloudApp Blog. 28 April 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-06.

[wikidata-464a274514eb653591374222c0a28cf4e0a232e1-v20-8] "Debut Video Capture Software Versions". Retrieved 12 December 2024.

[wikidata-c5d8b2fa0d29c13aa56480323c8f32b1f7e1961f-v20-9] "26th February 2013 - Fraps 3.5.99 Released". Archived from the original on 16 September 2022. Retrieved 20 April 2016.

[wikidata-9670cb468c32c3792b7afddda2b655f0d54b6622-v20-10] "Release 3.0.1". 3 January 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2018.

[wikidata-e9fa9d756495d7dc8e9cdcef07dab1254187dbf4-v20-11] "HyperCam Common Edition version history". Retrieved 19 March 2026.

[wikidata-b1066fe8270e48b048cec665883ffb13fcae59ac-v20-12] "Nero Video - Simply better film projects!". Retrieved 12 December 2024.

[wikidata-4b0dcbc0daa17fcc81022c3f697688462458f490-v20-13] Nathan (9 October 2024). "What's New in Nero Platinum Suite 2025". Retrieved 13 December 2024.

[wikidata-516fde46c0fd123ee66f7c65d8c1a7e411b7268b-v20-14] "Release 32.1.1". 2 April 2026. Retrieved 7 April 2026.

[wikidata-a346acc20122d129c2a09b8c9c47dd5a4835b0b0-v20-15] "Release 1.5.1". 19 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.

[wikidata-d0f5de6189a2a16ac1ea4b3970d071a95b0440d2-v20-16] "Pixetell: Powerful Screen Recorder for Efficient Communication". Archived from the original on 16 March 2011.

[17] "RecCloud - AI Speech to Text". App Store. 26 September 2025. Retrieved 11 October 2025.

[wikidata-d7d2d6a85dd812d92486293685d695b5a8d892d3-v20-18] "Release v0.4.0". 14 March 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.

[wikidata-3348835083d32da50615f196869bafdcc4aaa771-v20-19] "Release Notes Desktop - Version 3.14.3 - ScreenPal". Retrieved 12 December 2024.

[wikidata-b23b3304b0642ba1518a0a07254db41379124cba-v20-20] "ScreenFlow Version History".

[wikidata-e279d96a55dc97053f10a0e239d29c81132fe967-v20-21] "Release 19.0.2". 28 January 2026. Retrieved 19 March 2026.

[wikidata-487d31d65bf5198734de8962835682bb0bb22551-v20-22] "Release 0.4.4". 24 May 2021.

[23] "Snagit (Windows) Version History". TechSmith Support. 13 November 2024.

[24] "Snagit (Mac) Version History". TechSmith Support. 14 November 2024.

[wikidata-d32c707340f7c5939549d50bd5e7f947884be306-v20-25] "VirtualDub - Browse /virtualdub-win/1.10.4.35491 at SourceForge.net".

[26] "VLC: Official site - Free multimedia solutions for all OS! - VideoLAN". VideoLAN. Retrieved 2022-12-28.

[wikidata-5ccf992cda80582ef8ad1674aeb5c99189192ec7-v20-27] "XSplit Broadcaster Release Highlights: Powerful New Audio Mixer Features, Background Removal Updates, and More!". Retrieved 13 December 2024.

[captivate6outputs-28] "Supported file formats". Adobe Captivate Help. Adobe Systems Incorporated. Retrieved 2013-06-03.

[pvx11outputs-29] "Output formats". Adobe Presenter Video Express Help. Adobe Systems Incorporated. Retrieved 2015-09-14.

[blueberry-30] "Feature Comparison". bbsoftware.co.uk. Blueberry Software. Retrieved 13 January 2015.

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Comparison of screencasting software

Comparison by specification

Comparison by features

See also

References