best free screen recorder

Best Free Screen recorders: The 3 Top Free Screen Recorders

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A short intro to the Best Free Screen recorders

So far, you probably only know about taking screenshots with your desktop, which is just an image capture.  That is a cool thing to have but have you ever wondered about pushing the boundaries even more and capturing a video of what is taking place in your desktop? 

For most devices, it is not possible. Some may offer just some basic screen recording capability but to get something potent with diverse tools; you will need a third-party app.

Think of the possibilities of doing this, whether it is recording a live game or creating a movie to share on YouTube or creating something for the next generation. This can be exciting, but is it possible?

Yes, it is possible and the best thing about it, you can get the tools for doing it for absolutely free. All you need is make your pick of the best free screen recording that is available on the internet.

So which are the some of the best free screen recorders that you can find? The best free screen recorders include the following that I have listed as the top three.

#1 OBS Studio

I would be dishonest if I told you this wasn’t the king of the best free screen recorders out there.  This open-source software happens to be a great favorite of the gaming community as well, and that’s not surprising given its awesome array of features. It is extremely powerful and versatile for video recording, live streaming, and recording from your webcam and microphone.

OBS Studio will give you many things for free that you may get charged for from a popular paid software like FRAPS. FRAPS allows you only limited recordings of 30 seconds at a time. It will also apply watermarks or stamps on your footage.  OBS Studio, however, gives you unlimited recordings and of course with none of the ugly watermarks or stamps.

OBS Source offers you with all the video formats, and it will provide support for live streaming and working with Twitch, Facebook Live, Smashcast, Daily Motion, and YouTube Gaming.

Keep in mind that OBS Studio can record straight from your graphics card. That means games running in full-screen mode can be captured using customized hotkeys for control. Other screen recorders restrict you by recording only if the game is windowed.

You can get even higher quality recordings with OBS Studio because it can use multi-core CPUs. That means recording at the amazing level of 60FPS or even more.

A high-quality audio mixer, image masking, visual filters are all functions you will get from OBS Studie. You can also piece together your recording with other video and images or sections you have selected from your screen.

OBS Studio may be difficult to learn at first, especially for beginners, but its easily the most powerful reorder you can get especially for gamers.

Fortunately, for those who will get stuck on setup, they will not lack for help because of an active community forum where tutorials are available, and one is free to ask questions. OBS Studio’s other great attraction is that it can work with all common platforms like Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Features at a glance

  • Offers HD streaming and recording
  • You can make unlimited recordings
  • Can work with Linux, Windows, and macOS
  • Initial setup may take a while

#2    Flashback  Express

This paid application makes available free applications that are quite useful for many functionalities. Newbies will find that using it will be quite easy and intuitive, unlike OBS Studio, which can be intimidating.

You can use the free version without limitation in terms of recording. Unlike other free versions of paid applications, you will not be subjected to stamps or watermarks being placed on your recordings.

Gamers will also find it exciting for providing the ability to define frames per second or FPS.

Flashback Express gives you many fascinating options like recording an entire window, a selected area, or from a webcam. You are then presented with your finished recording in a simple editor which you can edit (trim, crop, etc.) before sharing it on YouTube or sending to your PC or FTP server.

To enjoy other features, however, you will have to get the paid version. For example, the free version only allows you to save your recording in WMV formats. Get the paid version, and your options are expanded to other formats like MP4, GIF, AVI, Flash, QuickTime, and EXE.

Paying for the license also unlocks other features like removal of erratic cursor actions, frame-by-frame editing, and the ability to encrypt or hide sensitive information.

The developer of this software, Blueberry Software, has also made available a free software tailored specifically for gaming. Called FBX, it records game footage in HD with AMD, Intel CPUs, and Nvidia cards.

Flashback Express may be a paid version, but it ranks among the best free screen recorder at least for its free version.

Features  at a glance

  • Easy to use and intuitive interface
  • Has a video editor which is in-built
  • Offers a variety of choice in output formats
  • Compatible with windows

#3  Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder

Unlike other screen recorders, this is one is  a browser-based tool, so it runs entirely  in your browser

For this reason, it is not suited for games, but this doesn’t mean it can’t be used for many other great things like video streaming. Indeed this software packs more power than most desktop screen recording apps.

Apowersoft is offered as two different screen recorders. Since we are interested only in free screen recorder, the free web version is what is reviewed here. The other version is a paid application which users can access as a limited free trial and get premium features if they subscribe.

The free web-based version is free just as it says: no time limitations, no watermarks or paywall. The only requirement is a small launcher application which is downloadable from the internet. This is required to enable you to use the recorder and is done only once when you start using Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder.

Once you have downloaded the small launcher application, hit the button that says start recording and you will receive some promptings. Follow these promptings, and you will soon see a recording toolbar with options. If you have seen most desktop recording software, then you will be amazed by the superior number of options the Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder offers in comparison. Your options of footage to be captured can range from your desktop or webcam. You can also capture audio from your microphone or PC, taking both or neither.

 By default, the center of your screen will be selected as the area to be recorded.

However, from the drop-down menu, you can make your selection of the screen area you want to be recorded. This can be the full screen, an area you have customized or an area the size of a mobile phone, etc. You can also choose from a list of preset resolutions the app will give you. This is especially great for making videos for YouTube. It saves you of the trouble to resize the video later using a video editor separately,

If you want speed and convenience, you can even create your keyboard shortcuts customized to your need. The cursor that appears in your recording is also something you can choose to either keep or eliminate, according to your preference. You can add annotations to your footage as the recording progresses.

Of course, if you are okay with the default settings, then using Apowersoft Free is as easy as simply making one click and start recording at once.

Apowersoft  Online Free Screen Recorder can be especially useful for creating tutorials or walkthrough videos because as you record, you can annotate or add your notes to accompany specific parts of the video.

Once you finish recording, you can upload the output for backup or safekeeping to Google Drive or  Dropbox, or you can share it on YouTube or Vimeo. You have many options for video formats such as MP4, WMV, AVI, FLV. MPEG, VOB, ASF, and GIF.

Apowersoft  Online Free Screen Recorder also comes with a video editing application which you can use to edit your footage to your liking. You can also save your output video locally into your PC or Mac.

Overall, Apowersoft Free is a brilliant app for any recording task you can think of except of course games.  It’s the reason I have included it here among the best free recorders.

Features at a glance

  • Gives no watermarks and no time limits on recordings
  • Many options for exporting
  • Highly customizable
  • Works in both Windows and macOS
  • Not suitable for games