How to record your screen
- 1
Choose your sound
Tick the microphone box if you want your voice in the video. - 2
Start and pick what to share
Press Start recording. Your browser opens its own dialog, where you choose a screen, a window or a tab. - 3
Stop when you are done
Use Stop recording here, or the Stop sharing button your browser shows. - 4
Check it and download
Watch the preview, then press Download video. Until then the recording exists only in this tab.
Record your screen with audio
Your voice comes from the microphone. Sound from a video or call on your computer is only included if your browser offers to share audio in its sharing dialog, and not every browser does. When you have both, the tool mixes them into one track. If you do not allow the microphone, the screen still records without your voice, and the tool says so.
A whole screen is saved as MP4 (H.264 and AAC) if the browser can produce it, as current Chrome and Safari can. A window or tab is saved as WebM where the browser supports it, because a window or tab can change size while you record, and that breaks an MP4. Chrome and VLC play WebM, but some players cannot skip through it. There is no watermark, and the video is at most 1080p at 30 frames a second.
How long can a recording be?
Up to 2 GB, because the video builds up inside your browser while you record. The tool shows the size as you go and warns you at 1.7 GB. At 2 GB it stops by itself and keeps everything recorded so far.
How long that lasts depends on what is on screen and on the browser. In our tests at 1080p, slides took 4 to 15 MB a minute and scrolling text 17 to 33 MB. That makes 2 GB about an hour or more of a busy screen, and longer for slides. A screen where everything moves at once uses far more.
Phones, privacy and consent
Most phones and tablets do not let a web page capture the screen, so use the device’s own screen recording feature there.
Nothing is uploaded: recording, preview and download all happen on your device. Everything you share ends up in the video, so close private tabs first. If other people can be seen or heard, ask them before you record, and check your university’s rules for lectures.
Need the words from a recording? Spirelight’s interview transcription takes audio files and MP4 videos and gives you a draft to check against the recording. It does not take WebM video, so turn a WebM recording into audio first with the video to audio tool.