Apowersoft Screen Recorder Pro allows you to edit the video during the recording, too. You can add lines, arrows, circles, rectangles and texts to the video. To access the editing options, you just need to click the pen icon directly, or you can also pause recording first and then make use of the editing options. Using this powerful program, you can record the full computer screen, select the recording region, record a locked window, record webcam, record audio on Windows 10, and many other things. Except for the recording function, this software support editing the recorded video clips.

1. Apowersoft Download
2. Apowersoft Free Online Video Downloader
3. Apowersoft Online Screen Capture
4. Apowersoft Screen Recorder Shortcuts App
5. Apowersoft Screen Recorder Shortcuts Recorder

There are times when we need to create screencasts, either for uploading to video streaming sites, sharing your screen with your friends or for other purposes. There are tons of applications that allow you to record on screen videos, make basic edits and save them to a desirable format. There are premium screencasting software like Camtasia Studio, that has a wide array of options for recording screen and adding desired effects. There are also some free alternatives such as Camstudio. However, wouldn’t it be great if you could create screencast videos without having to install any software? If you are looking for such an option, look no further than Apowersoft’s Free Online Screen Recorder.

The free online screen recorder by Apowersoft is a pretty handy tool that allows you to record your screen without installing any software. You will need to have Java installed on your PC though. Just visit their website and click the Start Recording button to initiate the Java applet for onscreen recording. Just wait a few seconds for the Java application to start.

The tool offers various options to make your task easier. You can either record a certain portion of your screen or record the whole thing. You can also change the settings for audio input to feed the audio from your microphone, system sound or both.

A good feature of Apowersoft’s Online Screen Recorder is that it also comes with some handy keyboard shortcuts. Click on the Options button to see the list of Keyboard shortcuts that can be used to control the screen recording process. There are shortcuts available for Starting, pausing, stopping, drawing rectangle, drawing ellipse etc. Clicking on the Recording tab will bring up another set of options that lets you set the frame rate, bit rate etc.

Once you start the recording process, you will see a small toolbar above your recording area. It has the buttons for Play/Pause and a set of other drawing tools. These allow you to draw rectangles, ellipses, and draw strokes using the brush. You can also pick colors using the color picker. If you want, you can add your webcam footage to the screencast as well. This will be especially handy if you are creating some sort of a video tutorial.

Apowersoft’s online screen recorder is a quite powerful and lightweight tool that is suitable for recording screencasts with ease.

With a free screen recorder, you can capture exactly what's happening on your screen (whether it's the entire display or just a selected area) and either stream it live, or save it as a video file.

The best screen recorders can do a lot more than that though, with options for recording your own commentary as a voiceover, adding captions and notes, and even using picture-in-picture to add footage from your webcam. The right software will also let you export your recordings in a variety of formats, and even export them directly to YouTube.

Not all free screen recorders are the same though – some only record for a few seconds, some come bundled with extra software you probably don't want, and some apply unsightly watermarks to your finished videos.

That's why we've rounded up the very best screen recorders you can download today, helping you choose the right one for your project. Whether you're making a software tutorial, recording a Let's Play video, or capturing a video call, there's something here that'll fit the bill.

The best free screen recorders at a glance

1. OBS Studio
2. FlashBack Express
3. Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder
4. Debut Video Capture
5. ShareX
6. Screencast-O-Matic

1. OBS Studio

The best screen recorder for any software, including games

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux

If you’re a keen gamer, OBS Studio is easily the best screen recorder for you. Unlike the hugely popular FRAPS (which only lets you record for 30 seconds at a stretch unless you’ve bought a license, and applies a watermark to the resulting footage), OBS Studio is open source, and completely free to use without restrictions.

OBS Studio supports both streaming and recording in high definition, with no restrictions on the number or length of your creations. You can stream live to Twitch or YouTube gaming, save projects and come back to them later, or encode your footage in FLV format and save it locally.

Because OBS Studio can record directly from your graphics card, it’s able to capture games running in full-screen mode (many other screen recorders can only record if the game is windowed), with customizable hotkeys to control the recording. OBS Studio can also make full use of multi-core CPUs for improved performance, and can record at 60FPS (or even higher).

It might take a little while to set it up exactly how you want, but OBS Studio is by far the best and most powerful screen recorder for gamers.

Read our full OBS Studio review

2. FlashBack Express

Ideal for recording games and capturing footage from a webcam

Platform: Windows

OBS Studio is our favorite free screen recorder, but Flashback Express comes an extremely close second. Despite being a free version of a paid program, FlashBack Express won't put ugly watermarks over your recordings or impose time limits, and it's packed with features and tools that rival many premium programs. Its interface is less intimidating than OBS Studio, so if you've never used a screen recorder before, it's an excellent choice.

You can record from your whole screen, a window, a selected area, or a webcam. Once you’ve finished, your recording will appear in a simple editor, where you can crop and trim it to suit your needs, then export it to YouTube, an FTP server, or your PC.

That’s all fairly standard fare for a free screen recorder, but take a minute to dive into Flashback’s advanced options and you’ll find a wealth of thoughtfully designed settings that will make your desktop recordings look truly professional. The recorder can automatically obscure passwords entered on screen, replace your silly wallpaper with a plain one, hide messy desktop icons, and highlight your mouse pointer to make it easier to follow. There's also a dedicated gaming mode that lets you define the number of frames recorded per second.

There’s no limit on the length of your recordings unless you choose to set one, which can be useful if there’s a chance you might accidentally leave the recorder running. You can also choose to break long recordings up into chunks – a brilliant touch that helps you avoid creating huge, unwieldy files. Your recordings won’t be watermarked, either.

Following a recent update, Flashback Express can export in WMV, AVI and MP4 formats, eliminating the need for a separate video converter, and it no longer requires a free license key for activation – just install the software and you're ready to start recording.

Developer Blueberry Software has also released a free screen recorder designed specifically for games – FBX. This recorder captures HD in-game footage, with hardware acceleration for AMD and Nvidia cards, and Intel CPUs.

If you're thinking about upgrading to FlashBack Pro, Blueberry software is offering TechRadar readers an exclusive 25% discount.

Read our full Flashback Express review

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3. Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder

An in-browser recorder more powerful than most desktop apps

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)

If you want to record a presentation, software demonstration or tutorial, give Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder a try. It's a browser-based tool, which means it's not suitable for games, but for any other tasks it's ideal.

The first time you use Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder, you'll be prompted to download a small launcher application. You'll then be provided with a control bar packed with more options than you'll find in most desktop screen recording software. You can capture footage from your desktop or a webcam, and record audio from your PC, microphone, both or neither.

You can record the whole screen, select an area manually or choose one of the preset resolutions – ideal if you’re recording a clip for YouTube, for example, and don’t want to use a separate video editor to resize it later.

Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder also offers customizable keyboard shortcuts for speed and convenience. You can choose whether or not to include the cursor in the recording and take your pick from a range of output formats including MP4, WMV, AVI, MOV and many more. You can even add annotations during the recording.

Once you’re done, you can save the recording as a video file or GIF, upload it directly to YouTube or Vimeo, or send it to Google Drive or Dropbox. You can also edit the clip. Selecting this option will download an additional component – Apowersoft Video Editor – which lets you make simple adjustments before exporting your video in your preferred format. A truly exceptional tool.

Note that the 'Download desktop version' button links to a program called Apowersoft Screen Recorder Pro. This is a trial version of a premium application, and is more limited than Online Screen Recorder.

Read our full Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder review

4. Debut Video Capture

Capable of recording from screens, IP cameras and webcams

Platform: Windows

Debut Video Capture is a new addition to our roundup of free screen recorders, and although its slightly dated design does it few favors, it's an extremely powerful program that can do much more than just capture what's happening on your PC monitor.

In addition to basic screen recording (with no time limits or watermarks), Debut Video Capture can also record footage from external devices, including webcams and security cameras. It can even record on a regular schedule, which means it can become the main hub of a home security system. Not too shabby for a program that's totally free for personal use.

There are no post-production editing tools, but you can apply filters and add your own captions and watermarks before you begin recording. There's no option for exporting videos directly to YouTube or Facebook, but they can be saved in all the main formats, including MP4, MOV and AVI (to name just three).

Debut Video Capture is currently in public beta, so we look forward to seeing the final release version with a lick of extra polish soon.

Read our full Debut Video Capture review

5. ShareX

A great choice if you want to share your screen recordings online

Platform: Windows

ShareX is an open source app for capturing still screen grabs and recording videos. There are no watermarks or time limits to worry about, but the interface isn't the most intuitive in the world so you’ll be best off using keyboard shortcuts. For quick reference, you can start a recording by tapping Shift + Print Screen, and stop it again using Ctrl + Shift + Print Screen.

You can also use this free screen recorder to save your capture as a GIF rather than a video file, which can be extremely useful for sharing on forums and social media.

Not only is ShareX a brilliant free screen recorder, it can also capture an entire scrolling webpage, capture and identify text via OCR, and even capture your screen according to a schedule.

Another of its best features is the ability to send your captured grabs and videos straight to a file-sharing or social media site. There’s a vast array of options, which you can check out on the project’s site.

Unfortunately, ShareX doesn’t support taking screen grabs or recordings from games running in full-screen mode. Other than that, it’s a superb screen recorder that will serve you extremely well.

Read our full ShareX review

Apowersoft Download

6. Screencast-O-Matic

A browser-based free screen recorder with a lot to offer

Platform: Windows, macOS, ChromeOS (in browser)

Apowersoft Free Online Video Downloader

Screencast-O-Matic is another browser-based free screen recorder, and a very capable one at that. Recordings are limited to 15 minutes in length, but you can record as many clips as you like, zoom while recording, trim your recorded clips, add captions, save them to your desktop, YouTube or the cloud, share a video link, or add one of 30 royalty-free music tracks

Apowersoft Online Screen Capture

Hit ‘Start recording for free’, followed by ‘Launch free recorder’. As with Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder, you’ll be prompted to download and install a small web launcher, after which the screen recorder will launch. Prepare your screen and adjust the size of the recording window to suit your needs (it can record the whole screen or just a selected area), then hit the red button. You can capture audio from your PC or a microphone, and record footage from your screen, a webcam or both.

Upgrading to a Deluxe account gives you extra features including scripted recordings, drawing and annotations, a video editor, and (perhaps most usefully) the ability to generate captions automatically with text-to-speech. That’s an impressive set of tools for $1.65 (about £1, AU$2.50) per month, but the free version of Screencast-O-Matic has a lot to offer as well.

Apowersoft Screen Recorder Shortcuts App

The only real downside is that your recordings will be watermarked unless you upgrade, but if that’s not an issue then this free screen recorder is well worth a look.

Apowersoft Screen Recorder Shortcuts Recorder

• Check out our guide to the best free video editing software