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I know this question is partially a stub from: http://superuser.com/questions/201/free-desktop-recording-screencasting-on-windows

However I would have to use this at work, so it doesn't have to be free, just work very well.

Lended from the free post:

I would expect such an application to have these features:

  • choose the whole desktop, a region, a window to record
  • zoom in an area, and camera move
  • save the recorded movie to a compressed format
  • have basic editing tools
  • have the mouse highlighting feature
  • highlight window/field on the screen, any trick will do
  • display pressed keys/key combinations (like iphone does)

So the question is:

Which desktop recording/screencasting software would you recommend?

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97% accept rate
Omg 3 answers in a near tie with the same solution... The one with the most votes wins! – Ivo Flipse♦ Jul 17 '09 at 8:11
For a commercial product you can also ask for advanced editing/scripting for the captured movie. – Mercer Traieste Jul 17 '09 at 8:58
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possible duplicate of What is the best software for desktop recording? – Sathya♦ May 22 '10 at 12:44
Do you mean something that would take a video of the screen? – soandos Jul 25 '11 at 22:52
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closed as not constructive by Sathya♦ Sep 4 '11 at 17:55

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protected by studiohack♦ May 3 '11 at 18:04

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10 Answers

up vote 22 down vote accepted

I can recommend Camtasia for professional usage. For example, I used it to create a whole Screencast library for one of my company's software products for which we don't provide a written manual.

One feature I like particularly is, that when I'm recording, I can emphasize the location of the mouse and its clicks. So I can capture the entire screen or a only specific area, like a window or a part of a window. You can also zoom and span the video which looks very cool. You can use a web cam and microphone to add comments.

You can export projects to many different format and optimizes for size/time. Normally I use flash or avi, but you can export for Youtube directly or to an iPhone/iPod format.

You can watch the videos on the Camtasia learning center which show how to use the software and learn more advanced features.

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quick draw mcgraw eh – John T Jul 17 '09 at 8:05
Time for an old fashioned fight in the carpark :-) – Bruce McLeod Jul 17 '09 at 8:11
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@John T: :-) Yes, but to choose Camtasia is really a no-brainer. – splattne Jul 17 '09 at 8:17
I used Camtasia briefly, and from what I remember, it was intuitive, feature-rich and polished. There was extensive documentation (in screencast format, of course), and I was able to produce awesome-looking screencasts in no time. Highly recommended! – onnodb Dec 12 '09 at 18:32
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up vote 11 down vote

For a really good and expensive one, I've heard Camtasia Studio is great.

From the same company is the free Jing, which doesn't have zooming, but works well and has built-in sharing capabilities.

I think CamStudio works well enough; it's FOSS.

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+1 for CamStudio - freeware! – Simon Apr 19 '11 at 7:51
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up vote 6 down vote

Free: CamStudio

Commercial: there is nothing better than Adobe Captivate. You have to try it to see why.

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Blarg. CamStudio is a piece of junk. Just finished with a perfect 3:00 take (because it has no built-in editing) and it fails with some error about not being able to copy the audio file. And then there's the general UI crappiness of updating the capture area extremely slowly, getting the fixed capture area wrong, looking like crap. – RandomEngy Sep 30 '11 at 4:23
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up vote 2 down vote

Perhaps not the most appropriate for powerusers but it does allow instant screencasts. http://screenr.com. Mac and PC, I believe it is Java powered.

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up vote 2 down vote

I prefer expression encoder screen capture (since it comes with Expression Studio that I already own) But the downside is there are no NLE to speak of. There is only the most basic of splicing available on the timeline.

I think the products are geared for two different kinds of consumers.

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up vote 1 down vote

On a mac, the software I would recommend is SnapzProX.

I only mention it because this question doesn't have any platform tags and it doesn't have windows in the title.

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Good point, Ill take the windows out of my question. All platforms deserve attention – Ivo Flipse♦ Jul 17 '09 at 8:52
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up vote 1 down vote

Maybe this is of interest: A checklist of criteria for selecting a screencasting tool at http://www.indoition.com/screencasting-tool-choosing.htm, a list of screencasting tools at the same web site.

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up vote 1 down vote

I've never used MS expression recorder but I've been using Camstudio for a while and it works just fine. It's easy to use and has virtually no learning curve.

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up vote 0 down vote

ScreenFlow for the Mac is great -- worth the $100. It will let you do a screencast in one or several passes, you can have multiple video and audio streams [such as the screen and a webcam capture of you talking], and it'll let you highlight the active window or a circle around the mouse.

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up vote 0 down vote

I recently tried out BB FlashBack Express and I found it really good and complete. And it's free.

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