Record video in VLC

VLC Media Player is able to play video files, discs, webcams, devices and streams. It also supports video recording. You can use it to record webcam, DVD, web stream or any video VLC is rendering. In this quick guide, we will show you how to record a video in VLC for Windows so you can review it later.

Video playback capture vs desktop recording

Other than recording anything plays in the media player itself, VLC can also record your computer screen which allows users to record online videos, video chats, video demos, etc.

Play the video you like to capture in VLC media player. Right click on the video that is being played in VLC and choose Record button from the pop-up menu to start recording. To finish recording, right click on the video again and choose Record. Alternatively you can also access the Record option from Playback menu above the main player window.

record video playback vlc media player for windows

You can’t find it from the VLC interface like those common video playback controls. To display the recording buttons, right click on the player window, choose View from the pop-up menu, select Advanced Controls from the sub-menu. Now you should see the Record and other related buttons just above the Play controls bar. Hit the Record button in red to start recording. Hit the Record button again to stop recording.

The recorded video will be saved to the default Videos folder in your system drive. I am using VLC on a Windows 10 PC, the default path in Windows 10 is C:\Users\StoneW\Videos. You can change it to a different save directory if like from the Preferences panel in VLC media player. Refer to this tutorial to change video recording path in VLC player for more details with screenshots.