Screen recording apps for PC are very useful for people who want to create tutorials or demonstrations of their skills. They can also be used by teachers who wish to record their lectures and share them with students. The screen recording app can also be used by gamers who want to show off their gaming skills in videos and share them on Youtube, Twitch, or Facebook Live. Microsoft recognized the practicality of this feature and released the Xbox Game Bar app along with Windows 10 (and continued it with Windows 11), which allows users to record gameplay sessions that can later be uploaded to streaming services like YouTube or Twitch. However, the Xbox Game Bar only works when you focus on a specific window and doesn’t come close to the practicality and usefulness of third-party screen recording apps, which offer far more features and the ability to create professional-looking live streams.
7 Best Windows 11 Screen Recorders
So if you are looking for the best screen recorder for your Windows 11 PC, check out this list of free and paid screen recording apps available on the market that can help you create professional screen recordings in no time.
1. OBS Studio
OBS or Open Broadcaster Software is one of the best free, open-source software for gameplay recording, screen recording, and live streaming, which is compatible with Windows, macOS, and Linux. OBS Studio offers many features and settings for power users who want to create professional-looking YouTube videos or live streams on Twitch. OBS Studio offers powerful real-time features for capturing and mixing video and audio. You can create multiple scenes from a variety of sources, including window captures, custom text, image overlays, videos, webcams, your smartphone’s camera, a DSLR, and more. On the audio side, you can add multiple audio inputs/sources with dedicated filters like noise reduction, amplification, equalization, etc., which give you finer control over your sound. This makes OBS one of the most versatile screen recording software among the bunch. Although OBS is free and versatile from a live streamer’s point of view, beginners might find it complicated and annoying if they are just looking for a simple screen recording solution. This prompts us to state if you are not willing to get over the learning curve posed by the complicated UI, you might want to consider one of the below OBS alternatives. Download OBS Studio (Free)
2. Streamlabs OBS
Streamlabs OBS, not to be confused with OBS Studio, is also a software tool that allows you to record your screen and create real-time live streams. However, unlike the former, Streamlabs OBS offers a very user-friendly interface that is easy to set up while retaining all the features of OBS Studio. Streamlabs OBS lets you decide how you want your dashboard to look. You can drag and drop elements to create a unique user interface that suits your screen recording/live streaming needs. You have full control over your recording by being able to choose which sources appear in your recording. Streamlabs OBS is a great option for gamers as it allows them to create live replay clips for their live stream instantly. In addition, gamers can also configure dynamic in-game overlays that are optimized to work on a single monitor. This lets you include custom notification boxes, event lists, or chat boxes in your live stream to generate more engagement and keep viewers engaged. Download Streamlabs OBS (Free)
3. TweakShot Screen Recorder
After OBS Studio, TweakShot Screen Recorder might be the best Windows screen recorder. TweakShot Screen Recorder has everything you need from a great screen recorder for your Windows PC. It has powerful and effective features let you easily record your screen at up to 4K resolution. At the same time, you can capture multiple types of screenshots, add a personalized watermark, record a selected area on the screen, and so on. Moreover, you can record yourself while recording the screen, allowing you to capture webcam videos. Download TweakShot Screen Recorder (Freemium)
4. Bandicam
Bandicam Screen Recorder is a user-friendly, simple and efficient screen recording tool for Windows, ideal for gamers and teachers to create presentations and record gameplay scenes. With Bandicam, you can capture videos and images for screen recording in the best possible quality while reducing the load on your system. It offers support for hardware-accelerated h.264 encoding, allowing you to capture video quickly at a high compression ratio and excellent video quality at resolutions up to 4K UHD (3840 x 2160). Apart from the technical details, Bandicam displays the FPS number in the corner of the screen when you enable the “Game Recording” mode, which lets you merge your webcam stream with the screen recording. In addition, unlike most screen recorders, Bandicam can remove the background of a webcam stream and offers support for mouse-click animations as well as a real-time annotation feature that allows users to draw lines, boxes, or highlights while recording. Although it lets you capture an unlimited number of screen recordings, the freemium version of this app comes with a large watermark and only allows you to record videos up to 10 minutes long at a time. To overcome these drawbacks, you need to buy the full version of Bandicam, which is available for a one-time purchase of $39.95 (about Rs. 3,816). Download Bandicam (Freemium)
5. Loom
Loom is available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS and might be one of the easiest apps for screen recording. With Loom, you can take screen recordings of what’s on display and record yourself using the webcam. In addition, the ability to sync videos directly to your username makes the screen recordings easy to share and collaborate with other users that can be added to the same account, making it ideal for workplaces. However, unlike all the other alternatives listed here, Loom requires an active Internet connection to work. With the free version, you can only create up to 25 five-minute screen recordings. On the other hand, if you want to capture longer or more screen recordings, you need to subscribe to the business plan starting at $10/month. Download Loom (Free Trial) Related Read: 10 Best Windows Screen Sharing Tools
6. Screenrec
Screenrec could be the perfect free alternative to Loom, offering an amazing number of features not usually offered by free products. First of all, Screenrec is a lightweight recorder that won’t hog up your system resources. You can use it to make screen recordings at 1080 pixels with voiceovers and publish these videos without watermarks. Besides, there is no time limit for recording! After recording, Screenrec will also immediately provide a shareable link for the recorded videos. Meanwhile, all recorded videos will be synced to your personal Screenrec cloud storage space. The platform also supports offline screen recording, where the files are stored locally on your PC and synced to the cloud as soon as you are connected to the internet. Download Screenrec (Free)
7. Wondershare DemoCreator
Wondershare DemoCreator is an easy-to-use screen capture tool originally developed as part of the Wondershare Productivity and Media Creation apps. Wondershare DemoCreator is great for recording tutorials, PowerPoint presentations, gameplay sessions, and more. It offers powerful screen recording capabilities and a very useful video editing feature that lets you trim, rotate, and crop clips. Besides, Wondweshare DemoCreator enables you to apply various audio/video effects, annotate/draw over videos, and record voiceovers, whether you have a subscription or not. Note, however, that during the free trial period, you can only record up to 10-minute videos at a time. The paid plan, which offers unlimited recording and full access to the video editing toolkit, animated text, and the DemoCreator Chrome extension, is available for $10 for the monthly plan, $40 for the annual plan, or a one-time payment of $60. Download Wondershare DemoCreator (Fremium) There are many different types of screen recording apps available on the market, with some being more popular than others. Some of these apps are free while others require payment in order to use them. Meanwhile, on the audio side of things, you can add multiple audio inputs/sources with dedicated filters such as noise reduction, gain, equalization, and so on that give you finer control over your sound. Additionally, with Streamlabs OBS gamers also can configure dynamic in-game overlays that are optimized to work on a single monitor, allowing you to enable custom alert boxes, event lists, or chat boxes to appear in your Livestream to create more engagement and retain viewers. Screenrec can be set up very quickly and also offers the ability to add a webcam overlay over a screen recording, syncing across multiple devices, and much more whilst being completely free. However, if you want to go even higher than 4K and your PC supports it then OBS Studio might be your best bet. It offers you the ability to enter custom screen recording resolutions while being completely free.
