A picture is worth a thousand words. By that logic, we think it’s safe to say a screen recording is priceless. This method of screen capture is an excellent tool for all communicators – from small businesses advertising their ecommerce stores to creators making online tutorials.
Screen recording allows you to share your laptop or computer screen with anyone and immerse viewers in an experience from your point of view. Importantly, it allows you to share your screen when it’s not physically possible to do so in person, something more relevant than ever at this time.
We think screen recording is so essential that, here at Clipchamp, we’ve launched a free online screen recorder in our video editor. Now, recording your screen and editing the footage into a video is simple enough to complete in a single web browser. In this blog post, we’ll be covering:
How does screen recording work?
How to screen record online using Clipchamp
How does screen recording work?
Screen recorders work by securely accessing your computer and recording the screen and audio of your choice – think of it like a regular video, except the recording happens right inside your computer (and outside if you're recording a voice over).
Some screen recorder software providers require you to download a program to your computer and many charge for these programs. Fortunately, we’ve found a way to create an online screen recorder that works in your browser for free.
How to screen record online using Clipchamp
Step 1. Create an account
If you haven't already, sign up to Clipchamp Create for free, or log in.
Step 2. Create a new project
Select the Create a Video button on the left side bar. Choose between the five different video formats and select the one best suited to your project. We recommend using a widescreen 16:9 ratio if recording your laptop or computer screen.
Step 3. Start screen record
When the video editor opens you will notice a Record Screen button located above the editing timeline. Click this button and a new window will appear giving you the option to choose which screen you want to record. You may choose from Entire Screen, Application Window or a specific Chrome Tab. Once you’ve selected your screen click the Share button to start recording.
Step 4. Screen record with audio
If you wish to screen record with audio, you'll need to decide if you want to record with your computer's microphone, inside a browser tab or both.
To record your computer's Microphone (an excellent way to record voice overs), simply Allow Clipchamp access when the below pop up appears on your screen. Anything you say during your screen recording will be picked up by your microphone and saved as audio.
To record the audio of a browser tab, you'll need to select a specific Chrome Tab to record. Select the desired tab and then check the Share Audio box located in the bottom left corner of the window. Then click the Share button to start recording.
Step 5. Record your screen
Now you can record your screen! Any actions you take in the selected window, application or tab will be recorded by Clipchamp’s Screen Recorder. Don’t worry if you make any mistakes, these can be edited out in the editor later.
*Note there is a 30 minute time limit on screen recordings. If you wish to record longer, you will need to perform multiple recordings and combine them in the editor later.
Step 6. Finish screen recording
While you were recording you may have noticed a tab pop up that says “app.clipchamp.com is recording your screen”. That tab also has a blue Stop Sharing button that you can click when you're ready to finish your screen recording. When you click this your screen recording will pop up in the editor. You can either choose to Add to Project or Retake recording if you’d like to try again.
Step 7. Add screen recording to project
Once you’ve selected Add to Project, the screen recording will appear in the editor’s media library. To start editing, you need to add your screen recording to the editor timeline. You can do this by hovering your mouse over the recording and clicking the green + button or dragging and dropping the clip to the editor timeline.
Step 8. Fix the fit
Your screen recording clip may not fit into the 16:9 frame perfectly. If it doesn’t you have the option to Crop to Fill by selecting the clip, selecting Transform and then Crop to Fill.
Alternatively, if this crops away too much of the clip, you can apply the Blur Fill Filter to fill the black space on the sides of the clip by selecting the clip, selecting Filters and then Blur Fill.
Step 9. Edit your screen recording
Chances are you made a few mistakes throughout your recording, here’s where you can fix that up by trimming your clip. Note, if your clip is long you might need to click the Zoom Out button a few times to see it in its entirety. You can easily trim the beginning and end of your clip by selecting it and dragging in the green bars on either side.
Alternatively, if you prefer a more precise technique, you can drag the white scrubber to any point in the timeline and select Split to split the clip, then select and Delete the clip you’d like to discard.
For tips on how to add special effects like filters and motion text, check out our video editing tutorial.
Step 10. Export and share
When you’re happy with your screen recording video, click the Export button in the top right corner of the editor window. Once the export window appears, choose 1080p, then Continue to export. You also have the option to upload your video to YouTube straight from Clipchamp.
