How to Capture Video on PC [Windows 10 & 11]

Video capturing on PC let you achieve the favorable result whether you are a gamer with the hope of saving amazing in-game moments, or a developer who need to demonstrate your product. There are a lot of programs that ensures an easy workflow to capture the screen and your activity, from pre-installed apps to third-party screen recorders. How to capture video on PC? Here, we introduces the best 3 software to record a video on your Windows 10/11 PC easily and quickly.

Video Capture on PC with Built-in Screen Recorder for Windows

Microsoft has implemented a native screen recorder for Windows 10 - Xbox Game Bar. More than game recording as its name suggested, the tool is available to capture your any active window or program on your Windows PC. And the whole process is extremely simple and convenient. You can use keyboard shortcuts to start or end a record and hotkeys are customizable. 

However, Xbox Game Bar is not compatible with all Windows 10 computers. To be able to record screen in Windows 10, your PC's video card must support one of these encoders, Intel Quick Sync H.264, NVidia NVENC, or AMD VCE. If your computer hardware meets the requirements, you can follow the steps below to get started with Game Bar.

Step 1. Open the Xbox app and wait for it to load on your screen. You may need to log in with your Microsoft account if you haven’t.

Step 2. After opening the Xbox program, you can press the shortcut Windows key + G to launch Game Bar. You can also search for “Game Bar” in the Windows search bar to find it. In a few moments, a small bar will be loaded at the bottom of the screen, then click on “Yes, that it's a game” to confirm its execution even if you are not trying to record a game.

Step 3. To start video capture on Windows 10, just click on the red button. When the recording starts, the bar is minimized on one side of the screen, and just click on it again to stop recording. You can also use the Windows key + Alt + R shortcut to stop recording without having to use the mouse cursor.

In the program settings, you can customize the shortcuts and also change some settings related to the quality of the recording, audio capture, and more.

Where to find the captured videos? Open the Xbox App and click on the Captures icon from the left menu. All the recorded videos and screenshots will be listed here. You can watch any of them, make a brief edit, delete, rename or share each item, as well as open the system folder in which they are located. By default, all the recordings will be saved to the “Capture” folder, in the operating system's video directory.

Although Xbox Game Bar is recognized as one of the most straightforward solutions to capture video on Windows 10, it has several drawbacks from the limited recording mode (unable to capture full screen or select recording area) to not working issues. If Xbox Game Bar can't well meet the need, try to use a third-party screen recorder.

Capture Video on Windows with iTop Screen Recorder

An expert screen recorder is always the best choice to capture video on Windows 10. iTop Screen Recorder, the powerful video capture software for Windows 10 and 11, delivers a super smooth and unlimited experience to record any type of videos on your screen.

iTop Screen Recorder enables you to capture the screen flexibly. You can record part of screen, full screen or in fixed aspect ratio for convenient uploading to SNS. With the support of system speaker, external mic and webcam, it helps you record video with audio and yourself at the same time. What's more, it records HD/4K/60fps videos with no lagging thanks to low CPU usage. And, there is no time limit for video capture in Windows 10.

iTop Screen Recorder also works as streaming content recorder able to capture online videos/audios and live streams from any website. Thanks to the "Enhanced Mode", it can screen record protected videos without black screen and delivers a perfect recording for offline watching.

With a concise interface, the iTop Screen Recorder makes it easy to capture video on PC. Let's take a quick look at how it works.

Step 1. Free download iTop Screen Recorder and install it.

Step 2. Launch iTop Screen Recorder. Go to Record > Screen and select recording area.

Step 3. Turn on Speaker to capture video with internal audio on your PC. Turn on Mic and Webcam to record the screen with yourself if you need to create a tutorial or presentation. Next, click REC button to start recording.

Step 4.  Click on the Done button on the mini control bar to stop recording.

The captured video is automatically saved to Files > Video. From here, you can access a quick video editor to trim, crop screen recording. Otherwise, you can also use the advanced video editor to add text, image, effect and background music to enhance the video.

Capture Video on PC with Online Screen Recorder

Apowersoft Screen Recorder is a free online screen recorder and compatible with Windows and other operating systems. However, before you can use it online, you need to download and install a launcher. After that, it is quite practical.

Apowersoft Screen Recorder offers simple controls for adjusting the screen size, resolution, use of a microphone. The free version only allows you to record three minutes and the watermark cannot be removed, which is a reserved feature only for the Pro version. If that works for you, refer to the steps below to see how it works.

Step 1. Go to the Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder web page. Click the Start recording button. You will be asked to install a launcher for the online screen recorder in advance. Install it to proceed.

Step 2. Once the launcher is installed, click on the custom option to customize the recording mode if needed. Then select the screen area to video capture on Windows 10 and adjust the switches for the microphone and audio of the system according to your need.

Step 3. Click on the REC to start recording your computer screen. While recording, you can click on the pencil icon to add text, line, callouts, and other elements in different colors. When you want to end the recording, just click on the Stop option to save the recorded video.

Please note that most online screen recorder tools deliver unstable performance that is probably influences by CPU consumption of the browser and network condition. If the online screen recorder can't meet your need, a desktop screen recorder is a better choice.

Conclusion

There are several answers to the question - "How to capture video on PC?". Both Xbox Game Bar and online screen recorder empower you to record a video on Windows 10 and 11 without extra installation. However, the restrictions of those tools may lead you to discover a more versatile solution. iTop Screen Recorder is one of the best free video capture software for PC. It has an array of recording modes to meet various needs and ensures smooth recording performance, no lags and no shutters. Download iTop Screen Recorder and try.