Free screen recorder for PC

Record your PC screen in 3 steps

1. Click Start recording above. Chrome or Edge opens its share picker: choose Entire screen for the whole desktop, Window for one app, or a browser tab. For the computer's sound, pick Entire screen or a tab and turn on Share audio before you click Share.
2. Record. Pause and resume as often as you like; the timer counts only recorded time. Stop with Stop and save, or with the browser's own “Stop sharing” button.
3. Play it back and download it. Chrome and Edge save an MP4 to your Downloads folder (Firefox saves WebM). To add zooms, a background or captions, click Add zooms in the editor.

This is the same tool as our free online screen recorder, explained for Windows. It works in Chrome, Edge and Firefox on Windows 11 and Windows 10, on desktops and laptops. There's no watermark, no time limit set by us, and nothing is uploaded: the browser records into the open tab, and the file only leaves it when you download it.

What you can record on a PC

• The entire screen. The desktop, File Explorer, the taskbar, and every app you switch to while recording. Use this for tutorials that move between programs. With two monitors, the picker shows each screen; pick the one you'll work on.
• One window. Only that app is recorded, so notifications, chat pop-ups and other windows stay out of the video. Text also stays sharper, because a single window is scaled down less than a full 1440p or 4K display.
• One browser tab. A web app, a slide deck in the browser or a video, with that tab's sound.

Recording audio on Windows

Windows is the friendliest system for recording sound in a browser. Chrome and Edge can capture the whole computer's sound on Windows, not just one tab's, so a PC screen recorder with audio needs no extra drivers here. What you get depends on what you share:

The microphone and computer sound are mixed into one track, so a narrated walkthrough of a video call or a YouTube clip records in one go. If your voice is missing, Windows may be blocking the browser from the microphone: open Settings → Privacy & security → Microphone and turn on “Let desktop apps access your microphone”, then pick the right mic under Settings → System → Sound → Input, as Microsoft's support pages describe (checked October 2026). Check your level first with the free webcam and mic test. Our guide to screen recording with audio covers silent recordings on every system.

Windows' built-in recorders, and where they stop

Windows ships two screen recorders, and for a quick clip they may be all you need. Both are free and add no watermark. Here is what Microsoft's and Dell's support pages say about them (checked October 2026):

• Snipping Tool (Windows 11). Press Windows key + Shift + R, drag over the area to record and click Start. Since version 11.2307.44.0 (August 2023) it can record your microphone and the PC's audio, and it saves MP4 files to Videos\Screen Recordings. Its limits: you record a fixed rectangle you draw first, editing means opening the clip in Clipchamp, and Microsoft documents the recorder for Windows 11 only.
• Xbox Game Bar (Windows 10 and 11). Open the app you want and press Windows key + Alt + R to start and stop. Clips save as MP4 to Videos\Captures. Its limits: it's made for games and records one app at a time, and Dell's support article says it doesn't work on the desktop or in File Explorer or Notepad.
• PowerPoint (2016 or later, including Microsoft 365) has Insert → Screen Recording, which drops the clip onto a slide; right-click it and choose Save Media as to keep a separate file.

So the gap is the whole desktop on Windows 10, File Explorer and multi-app tutorials, and anything you want to edit afterwards. That's where the recorder on this page fits. Step-by-step instructions for every built-in option, with where each one saves and how to fix a greyed-out Game Bar, are in our guide on how to screen record on Windows.

Screen recorder for laptops

A laptop is a PC as far as screen recording goes. The recorder on this page runs in the browser, so it works the same on HP, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, Acer, Microsoft Surface and MSI laptops. A few laptop-specific points:

• No special keys needed. You start and stop with buttons on the page, so a missing Print Screen key or an Fn layer doesn't matter. Windows' own recording shortcuts (Windows key + Shift + R and Windows key + Alt + R) don't use Print Screen either. HP's own guide notes that some HP keyboards need Fn + Print Screen, but that only affects screenshots.
• Plug in for long recordings. Encoding video while you work uses more power than normal browsing.
• Built-in microphones pick up typing. If you type during the recording, a headset or USB mic sounds noticeably cleaner.
• External monitor? The picker lists the laptop screen and the monitor separately. Record the one you'll demo on.

Add zooms, captions and a background

A raw PC recording is hard to follow on a phone or in a small player: the text is tiny and the click that matters is somewhere in a wide frame. After you stop, click Add zooms in the editor to open the recording in the ZoomCap editor (a free account; we save a copy to your Downloads first). There you add zooms where things happen, plus backgrounds, padding, rounded corners, captions, a webcam overlay, trims, music and 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1 versions, and export an MP4 up to 4K.

To be clear about Windows: you place zooms by hand on a PC recording. Automatic zoom on clicks and typing comes from the ZoomCap terminal recorder, which runs on macOS and Linux (X11); there's no Windows version of it yet. Recording and downloading on this page is free. The editor's free plan gives you 2 exports a month with a small watermark, and $29 once (or $12.49 a month) removes it. Plans are on the pricing page. The editor also runs in your browser and doesn't upload your video; the security page shows what does and doesn't leave your PC.

ZoomCap and other PC screen recorders compared

ZoomCap and the Windows tools come from our own use and Microsoft's documentation. The other rows come from each vendor's site, checked September 29, 2026; we didn't hands-on test the paid apps.

For most PC recordings, the recorder on this page is the quickest route: no install, the whole desktop with sound, and an editor when you need one. Pick something else only in these cases. If you stream, or record hours of gameplay with scenes and overlays, OBS Studio is built for it and costs nothing. If your team watches videos through hosted links with comments, Loom does that (its free plan: 25 videos per person, 5-minute limit, 720p). If you need zooms placed automatically on Windows, FocuSee follows clicks and typing, according to its site, at $49.99/yr (1 computer). Our roundup of the best free screen recorders covers more options, including which ones add a watermark.

Tips for a clean PC recording

• Turn on Do not disturb (Focus assist on Windows 10) so pop-ups don't land in the video, or record a single window.
• Make text bigger before you record: Ctrl and + in the browser, or a larger font in your editor or app.
• Record a five-second test and play it back with headphones to check both voice and computer sound.
• Keep takes short. Several two-minute clips are easier to redo than one long take.
• Shrink big files before emailing them with the free video compressor.

Frequently asked questions

Record your PC screen now

Scroll up and click Start recording: it takes a few seconds, costs nothing and installs nothing. When the video needs zooms, captions or a background, open it in the ZoomCap editor, free to try, with $29 once (or $12.49 a month) to remove the watermark. On a Mac or Linux machine, the same free screen recorder works in your browser too.