This page provides a comparison of notable screencastingsoftware, 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[edit]
Snapz Pro X is a lightweight and unobtrusive OS X application especially designed to help you record or capture your Mac's screen quickly and effortlessly. Easy to use screen recorder with a user-friendly interface and multiple screen recording modes. Snapz Pro is a utility best screen recorder on Mac that is made by Ambrosia Software. It is designed to record movie-like screenshots of a computer monitor doing various actions, such as a user moving their mouse across the screen, clicking on desktop icons, typing text, etc. It has been used commercially in the production of many books. Bring your Razer gaming peripherals to the next level with Razer Synapse, featuring advanced macro capabilities, hybrid on-board and cloud storage, and more. If you're a fan of macOS but not Macs, or at least Apple's pricing for them, you might have considered building a Hackintosh at some point. While installing macOS on a regular PC is entirely feasible, it's far from simple, and it requires specific hardware for everything to work properly. It's now time to look at Ambrosia Software's $69 Snapz Pro X. This is anapplication that's been around for years and it's a very popular screen capture tool.We use it routinely here at lynda.com.Not only it can capture stills, but also motion along with audio.Let's take a look at the interface.We will launch the Snapz Pro.
Product name | Publisher | Latest stable version | Latest release date | OS | Software license | Source code available? |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ActivePresenter | Atomi Systems | 8.3.1 | 2021-01-08 | Windows macOS | No | |
ActivePresenter Free Edition | Atomi Systems | 8.3.1 | 2021-01-08 | Windows macOS | Freeware | No |
Adobe Captivate | Adobe Systems | 9.0 | 2015-08-03 | Windows macOS | No | |
Adobe Presenter Video Express | Adobe Systems | 11.0 | 2016-09-14 | Windows macOS | No | |
AVS Video Editor | Online Media Technologies Ltd | 7.5.1.288 | 2017-01-16 | Windows | Commercial | No |
Bandicam | Bandicam Company | 5.0.1.1799 | 2020-12-24 | Windows | No | |
BB FlashBack | Blueberry Software | 5.4.0.3442 | 2014-12-18 | Windows | 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 |
CloudApp | CloudApp | 6.1[3] | 2020-07-13 | Windows macOS Linux | Freemium | 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 | No | |
Freeseer | FOSSLC | 3.0.1 | 2013-12-15 | Windows macOS Linux | GPL v3 | Yes |
HyperCam | Solveig Multimedia | 4.0.1511.06 | 2015-11-06 | Windows | No | |
HyperCam | Hyperionics | 2.29.00 | 2016-01-07 | Windows | Freeware | No |
Microsoft Expression Encoder | Microsoft | 4 | 2011-11-02 | Windows | Freeware | No |
mimoLive | Boinx Software | 5.8 | 2020-08-18 | macOS | No | |
Nero Vision | Nero AG | 10.6.10800 | 2011-04-19 | Windows | 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 | 26.1.1 | 2021-01-06 | 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 | 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 | No | |
ScreenFlow | Telestream | 7.3.1 | 2018-06-20 | macOS | No | |
ShareX | Jaex and Michael Delpach | 13.4.0 | 2020-12-16 | 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 | No | |
Snagit for Mac | TechSmith | 4.0.6 | 2016-10-25 | macOS | No | |
Snapz Pro X | Ambrosia Software | 2.6.1 | 2016-10-17 | macOS | No | |
VirtualDub | SourceForge | 1.9.11 | 2012-12-27 | Windows | GPL | Yes |
VLC media player | VideoLAN | 3.0.8 | 2020-04-09[4] | 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[edit]
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[5] | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| ||
ActivePresenter free edition[5] | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| ||
Adobe Captivate[6] | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | SWF, EXE, MP4 | ||
Adobe Presenter Video Express[7] | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | MP4 | ||
Bandicam | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | AVI, MP4 | ||
BB FlashBack | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | AVI, FLV, SWF[8] | ||
BB FlashBack express | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | AVI, FLV, SWF, MP4 (H.264 or MPEG-4 ASP), WMV, Animated GIF, PowerPoint slideshow, self-extracting EXE[8] | ||
CamStudio | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | AVI, SWF | ||
Camtasia | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | .camrec, AVI | ||
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 ยง 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 | |||
mimoLive | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | MOV ProRes 444, MP4 | ||
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 | ||
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[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Camtasia (Windows) Version History'. TechSmith Support. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
- ^'Camtasia (Mac) Version History'. TechSmith Support. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
- ^'Introducing: Automated Drop Naming, Enhanced Annotations, Multi-Monitor Support, and 4k Video Quailty Options'. CloudApp Blog. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
- ^VideoLAN, a project and a non-profit organization.https://www.videolan.org/. Retrieved 2020-04-10.Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - ^ ab'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.
- ^ ab'Feature Comparison'. bbsoftware.co.uk. Blueberry Software. Retrieved 13 January 2015.