Would like to demonstrate to a friend, family member or coworker how to do something on their computer? You can create a video demo by recording your screen and send them the video. If you want to know how to record screens on Windows 11, then this is the guide for you. Here we’ve compiled a list of the best screen recording software for Windows. These free tools can help Windows users easily record screen with audio support, without watermark or any restrictions.
Contents
- Method 1. Record screen with Windows Snipping Tool
- Method 2. Record PC screen with PowerPoint
- Method 3. Record screen on Windows PC with XBox Game bar
- Method 4. Capture PC screen with ShareX
- Method 5. Record Screen as GIF in Windows
Method 1. Screen Recording with Windows Snipping Tool
Windows 11 finally gets the built-in screen recorder. The new Windows Snipping Tool not includes the screen recording option so we can record a video of anything on our PC without any third-party screen recorders.
Do a search from the taskbar in Windows to quickly find and open Snipping Tool on your Windows computer. It will default to the screenshots capturing mode if it is the first time you launch it. You have to manually switch to the video capture mode by clicking the camera slider to change it to the video recorder.
Click on the New button. Then draw a box around the window or any area of your PC screen you wish to capture. Click the Start recording button from its control bar along the top, a countdown appears before the screen recording starts. When you’re satisfied, click the Stop button at the control bar. The recorded screen will be opened in the Snipping Tool, so you can play the video. Click the Save button to save your screen recording as a video in MP4 format to the Downloads folder on your PC.
Method 2. Record PC screen with PowerPoint
Find and launch the PowerPoint on your computer. It has the built-in Screen Recording tool which can help Windows users easily record computer screen and related audio, and then embed it in PowerPoint slide or save it as a separate video file.
Open or create a slide in PowerPoint, click Insert in the ribbon, select Screen Recording, see below screenshot.
On the Control Dock, choose Select Area. You’ll see the cross-haired cursor Cross haired cursor. Select and drag to select the area of the screen you want to record.
PowerPoint automatically records the audio and the mouse pointer, so by default those options are selected on the control dock. To turn them off, deselect Audio and Record Pointer.
Select Record to start recording the selected area of your PC screen. You can pause the screen recording anytime. Click Stop when you’re done. The recorded screen video clip will be inserted into the current slide in PowerPoint.
Right-click the video frame, and select Save Media as. In the Save Media as box, choose a folder, and in the File name box, type a name. Click Save to export the recorded screen video in MP4 format on your Windows PC.
Method 3. Record screen on Windows PC with XBox Game bar
Windows comes with the built-in tool, Xbox Game Bar, to capture screen activity natively without third-party screen recorders. It was designed to record clips of video games, but can also be used for any type of video capture on Windows computer.
Press the windows + G keyboard shortcut to quickly open the game bar on your PC. You will see its main toolbar at the top, the Capture panel at the top left, and the Audio panel behind the Capture panel.
Click on the microphone button before an app to enable or display the recording from this selected app. Switch from Mix to the Voice tab so you can add commentary or do a voice-over.
When you’re ready, click on the Record button from the Capture panel to start recording and click on the same button to stop when want to finalize the recording.
Method 4. Capture PC screen with ShareX
ShareX is the best free and open source screen capture for Windows. There are many screen capture settings you may find useful such as showing cursor, transparent window capture, delayed capture, multiple region selection with different shapes, etc.
Now bring up what you want to record on your PC screen. Open ShareX, click Capture > Screen recording. The screen recorder is very easy to use, like any other screen captures you may have seen. Just drag across your PC screen to select the area you like to be included in the video capture and start recording. Stop the recording to complete. You can then find the saved screen capture with the system audio included in the screen capture software.
Method 5. Capture Screen as GIF in Windows
Want to record your PC screen and turn it into animated GIF? The simplest way to record screen of a Windows computer and save it as a gif file is by using ScreenToGif. It is a free, open source screen, webcam and sketchboard recorder with an integrated editor for Windows.
Launch the GIF recorder program on your Windows computer, select Recorder from its home screen.
You will then see a frame with transparent background. Drag the borders of this frame to select the area you want to record on your PC screen.
The frame rate is set to 15FPS. If like, you can change the value up to 60fps which means 60 frames per second.
The recording of a Windows PC screen is plain and easy. You hit the Record button to start. Click the Stop button once you are done recording. The recorded video will be sent to its integrated GIF editor where you can edit the recorded GIF before saving it to your computer hard drive.