13 Best Open Source Screen Recorders in 2024

OBS Studio is open source software that is not really intended for beginners. However, it is primarily aimed at those who want to stream on YouTube or Twitch. However, it can also be used to film what is happening on your Windows desktop. You can control the program via customizable hotkeys and use the built-in audio mixer to create excellent quality videos. OBS comes with live streaming capabilities that you won't find in native programs of major operating systems, in addition to screencast options. You can find help on their site, but to save you time, when using OBS Studio for the first time, click + in the Sources area and then select Display capture.

You will then see your desktop appear; you can specify the monitor if you have more than one. It will happily shoot games in full screen with game capture, which a lot of software refuses to do. OBS is powerful software, especially for a free product with so many features. It is a comprehensive tool for live streaming and recording.

Key features:

• Real-time video and audio capturing and mixing
• Intuitive audio mixer
• A wide range of configuration options for broadcasting and recording
• Customizable layout

Download OBS Studio

ShareX is an open source video recorder for Windows users. There is no watermark or time limit; you can use the completely free recorder to record the entire screen, window, or selected area. It is an excellent alternative if you don't want OBS but want an OBS-level quality. The source code of the project remains hosted at GitHub's code development and code-sharing platform. The software is available for Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. There are no advertisements, and it is lightweight.

Key features:

• No ads
• Easy screen capture sharing
• Customizable workflows
• Open source recording software

Download ShareX

CamStudio is open source recording software that is wholly made free for personal and commercial projects. It has not been updated since 2013 and only produces videos in AVI and SWF format. However, it can be used to record part of your screen and add captions if you are creating for Facebook or if you just don't want your voice. Best of all, it doesn't add a watermark. However, we regret that CamStudio does not have the post-capture editing tools that you will find elsewhere.

Key features:

• Custom cursors
• Video annotations
• Customized frame rate
• Ability to convert AVI to SWF

Download CamStudio

VirtualDub is an open source video capture software that works with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows systems. What's more, it's also a powerful video editor so that you can fine-tune your screen recordings in the same app. It is a lightweight and lag-free screen recorder. It offers advanced features, such as noise reduction.

Key features:

• Fractional frame rates
• Real-time downsizing
• Noise reduction
• Keyboard and mouse shortcuts

Download VirtualDub

The Simple Screen Recorder is open source software that is used for recording games and other running applications on your display screen. The open source screen capture software is simple to use yet very powerful with rich features and a user-friendly interface.

Key features:

• Statistics during recording
• Preview during recording
• Live streaming
• Tooltips for almost everything

Download Simple Screen Recorder

RecordMyDesktop is a basic command-line tool for screen recording on Linux. There are two GUI versions which are based on GTK and QT4, from where users can select a window and start screen recording. The open source recording software is a lightweight screen recording tool that doesn't take up much disk space. You can record from the user interface or with a command line. It also lets you save video recordings with audio in OGG Theora and OGG Vorbis.

Key features:

• Ability to record audio
• Capturing and encoding
• Basic command-line tool

Download Record My Desktop

Captura is open source recording software whose source code is available on GitHub under MIT license term. Captura is free, and you wouldn't need to pay a dime. It is available in more than 30 languages that are easily translatable. Asides from being free, the software doesn't display ads.

Key features:

• Ability to run while minimized to the System Tray
• Input and output audio mixing
• Command-line usage
• Game recording

Download Captura

UltraVNC is a screen recorder that looks similar to CamStudio.

This screen recorder is built from the old source of Rendersoft CamStudio. It wasn't written from scratch by the developers. They just added and removed some codes to make things faster. The software even gives an acknowledgment to its original creators. But it still has its uniqueness.

Key features:

• Export and social sharing
• Recording timer
• Subtitle editing
• Faster than Rendersoft CamStudio

Download UltraVNC

ScreenCam is a Windows-based screen recorder that is designed for Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 7, and Windows 8. There is even a version for Android. It offers a virtual camcorder which you can use to record everything on a Windows desktop. It adds quality interactivity to the elegant package.

Key features:

• Video trimming
• Audio recording
• Ad-free

Download ScreenCam

Freeseer is an open source project made in Python/Qt4. It's aimed at recording screencasts on Linux and Windows platforms (Mac not yet available). It allows the recording of a specific region of the screen, recording by software or hardware, setting different resolutions, or even streaming.

Key features:

• Video and audio recording
• Video and audio streaming
• Basic keyboard shortcuts
• Input from multiple audio sources
• YouTube uploader

Download Freeseer

Kazam is a powerful but straightforward screen recorder that can be used on a Linux desktop. With this, you can capture screen content, record video files, and also audio (optionally) from a compatible input device. It is available in the repositories of Universal Ubuntu. You can also make use of any stable PPA due to delays on Ubuntu repository versions.

Key features:

• Recording selected areas of the screen
• Ability to take screenshots
• Recording in MP4, AVI, and other formats
• Ability to capture mouse clicks and key presses
• Broadcasting via YouTube

Download Kazam ScreenCaster

XVidCap is a small tool for capturing everything on X Windows. It makes videos available in MPEG.

Although it has a lot of bugs, due to its open source nature, any developer can make a contribution to the software to improve it. The software has an audio recording option, and you can record the entire screen.

Key features:

• Ability to record screencasts
• Saving videos in MPEG or AVI

XVidCap

Krut Computer Recorder is an open source screen recorder for Windows 10, 7, and more. It’s a portable application that you don’t need to install on a computer. Just use Java to run the tool.

The utility enables you to record video and audio and customize frame rate and video encoding quality. You can also preview output while recording.

Key features:

• Recording live-streaming videos
• Timer-controlled recording
• Recording areas moveable during recording
• Written in Java

Download Krut Computer Recorder for PC