How to Screen Record on Windows 10 & 11 (With Audio)

Have you ever wanted to record your screen on Windows, but found yourself getting frustrated by the limitations of built-in tools? Odds are that if you’ve tried using a basic tool, you’ve struggled with one or more of the following obstacles:

• You can’t record file menus or dropdowns
• You can only record one window at a time
• You can’t add effects or callouts
• You can’t record your audio simultaneously
• You can’t add music or background audio

Well, believe it or not, there is a better way. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps of how to record your screen on Windows 10 & 11 using a range of different tools, so you can find the best screen recorder to suit your needs. 

This includes TechSmith software such as Camtasia and Snagit, both of which let you record your screen on Windows 10 & 11 with audio. So, if you want to learn how to screen record with audio on Windows, keep reading! 

And if you’re an Apple user, fear not — we’ve got another post on how to record your screen (with audio) on Mac. 

How to screen record on Windows 10 & 11 with Game Bar

The Xbox Game Bar is a built-in app created by Microsoft that’s readily available on Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers. While it was initially designed for gamers wanting to capture their gameplay, this handy tool can be used to record practically anything happening on your computer screen. 

Here’s how to use it: 

1. Open the Game Bar

Starting up the Game Bar is super easy. All you need to do is press the Windows logo key + G at the same time. This will open up a control panel near the bottom of your screen.

2. Choose your audio inputs

In case you want to narrate or add a live commentary to your screen recording, click on the Record Mic option. But remember, you can record your audio separately and add it later, if you prefer. 

If you do plan on adding a voiceover to your video, you might want to think about the equipment you’re using and whether you’ve got the best microphone for recording videos. While you don’t need to make a huge investment to get great audio, any external microphone will likely produce better-quality audio than the one built into your PC. 

3. Start recording

Next, start your screen recording by clicking on the bright red recording icon. Then, when you want to stop recording, click on the red recording panel that appears in the top right corner of your screen. 

All screen recordings are automatically saved on your laptop as MP4 files and can be found in the Captures folder, in Videos — and that’s all there is to it! 

How to screen record on Windows 10 & 11 with the Microsoft Stream app

The Stream app is one of the many tools now included in the Microsoft 365 bundle, sitting alongside Windows classics such as Powerpoint, Word, and Excel. 

It was primarily designed to simplify the video-making process across Microsoft devices and is a good tool for capturing screen recordings — if you’re a Microsoft 365 user. 

Here’s how to record your screen on Windows 10 & 11, with the Stream app:

1. Access the screen recorder in Stream

Start by launching the Stream app. Once inside, navigate to the screen recorder by choosing Create > Record Screen or Video from the navigation menu.

2. Configure your devices

Choose which devices you want to include in your recording by selecting one of the following options from the Screen and Camera dropdown menu: 

• Screen Only to record just your computer screen.
• Camera Only to record just your webcam.
• Screen and Camera to record both your webcam and computer screen simultaneously. 

3. Start recording

Once you’ve chosen what you want to capture, you can start recording by clicking the red recording button. You will then be asked if you want to record your entire screen, a specific window, or a tab in your web browser. 

If you’d like to record your microphone audio as well, click Share Audio (and be sure to check out this article on how to record great audio). 

Then, when you’re ready, click Share and your recording will start after a three-second countdown. To stop your recording, go to the Microsoft Stream Screen Recorder tab in your browser and click Next to review your recording.

It’s worth noting, the most you can record your screen with Microsoft Stream is 15 minutes.

4. Pause or end your recording

If at any time you want to pause your recording, simply click the Pause button. Then, when you’re ready to continue, click the Record button again. Once you’ve completely finished, click Next in the lower-right corner of your screen.

5. Review and edit

Once you’ve finished recording, you’ll be shown a preview of your screen recording. Here, you’ll also get to trim the start and end of your video by adjusting the handles on the timeline.

6. Upload to Stream

Finally, after reviewing your recording, you can upload it to Stream. If you’d like to share it outside of Stream then you can download it to your computer.

How to screen record on Windows 10 & 11 with Snagit

If you need to show a process or walkthrough with a short video that doesn’t require much editing, then a screen capture tool like TechSmith’s Snagit is the perfect tool for you.

It’s easy to use and comes packed with a range of features, from basic trimming and editing to more advanced tools that let you remove the backgrounds from pictures and turn screenshots into videos. 

Short and informal screen recordings are great for off-the-cuff videos that explain and convey information to others. For many people, these are the types of recordings they make the most, which is partly down to the fact that they only take seconds to create!

In this section, we’ll walk you through the steps of capturing your screen on Windows 10 & 11 using Snagit. 

Step 1: Choose what you want to record

Capturing a video with Snagit only takes a few clicks.

To start, all you have to do is open Snagit and select the video tab from the Capture Window. Make sure that Region is selected from the drop-down menu, as this will make it easy to record just part, or all, of your screen.

When you’re ready, hit the big red Capture button — you can’t miss it! Then, the Snagit crosshairs will appear, which you can use to select the area that you want to record.

You’ll notice that the selection will automatically snap to the windows you have open. Pretty sweet, right? However, if you want to manually select a portion of your screen, just click and drag the crosshairs accordingly.

Step 2: Choose which audio to record

With your region selected, it’s time to choose your audio input settings.

To record your voice, select the Record Microphone option. If you want to record the sounds that come from your computer as well, like notifications, make sure to select Record System Audio.

Snagit can even record your webcam alongside your screen so that your face appears in the screen recording. We like to call this a picture-in-picture video, and it’s a great way to bring more personality to your videos and connect with your audience.

Click here to learn more about how to record a picture-in-picture video.

Step 3: Start your screen recording

When you’re ready to start recording, click Record. Snagit will then give you a three-second countdown and anything that appears in the recording area will be captured in your video.

Once you’ve recorded everything that you want to be included in your video, click Stop. Yes, it really is that easy! 

Step 4: Trim your video

Once you’ve stopped recording, you don’t have to wait for anything to render, buffer, or load, your video is all set and ready to go. The Snagit Editor will open in a new window and your video will open up in a new canvas, ready to be edited, trimmed, or shared. 

Of course, once you’re finished with your screen recording, you’ll probably want to edit it a little. Even the most carefully planned recordings will likely have something you want to cut, and with Snagit, you can easily trim your recording to remove unwanted clips.

So, if you find anything you want to remove, make a selection with the playhead, and click cut.

On the other hand, if you wanted to bring multiple clips or snippets together to produce a longer video, you might want to make use of one of Snagit’s latest features: Combine Videos. This allows you to collate several videos together and create one cohesive video.

On the other hand, if you find yourself needing more in-depth, high-tech video editing than what Snagit offers, you should check out TechSmith’s Camtasia.

Step 5: Save or share

When you’re finished with your video, you have the option to either save it locally on your computer or share it with your contacts — or both! 

To save your video, simply go to File and click Save as…, from there, all you have to do is decide where you want to save your file, and click Save.   

However, if you’re in a hurry to share your video with your colleagues then you can click on the Share Link button in the top-right corner of the Snagit Editor. This will automatically upload your video to TechSmith Screencast. 

The link to your video will be automatically copied to your clipboard so that you can share it instantly with anyone — and best of all, it’s free! Simply paste the link into an email, a direct message, a Slack channel, or any other form of communication (excluding carrier pigeon) and send it!   

How to make a professional-quality recording on Windows 10 & 11 with Camtasia

While Snagit is perfect for creating short and informal videos, there’s really nothing better than Camtasia for creating professional-quality videos. Not only does it have hundreds of easy-to-use, drag-and-drop editing features to give your screen recordings a polished feel, but it also comes with a free trial. 

While many screen recordings don’t need to be overly complex, sometimes you might want to add annotations, closed captions, effects, and animations to your videos.

But don’t worry, despite its advanced functionality, Camtasia is just as easy to use as Snagit — and we’ll prove it! In this section, we’ll walk you through the steps of recording your screen on Windows 10 with Camtasia. 

Step 1: Choose your recording options

First, open Camtasia and click the Record button.

This will open the Camtasia recorder, which is the control center for your video and audio recordings.

From here, the Camtasia recorder allows you to fully customize the controls for your recordings.

Step 2: Select the region you want to record

Similarly to Snagit, start off by selecting the part of your screen that you want to record. 

While there may be times you need to record your entire screen, if the purpose of your video is to demonstrate how to use software or where to click on a website, it’s probably better to record a single window — or even just part of one.

Just as with Snagit, Camtasia will let you choose to record your whole screen or a specific part of it. You can choose from one of the pre-determined regions or choose “select an area to record” to select a custom region.

Pro tip: If you do plan on recording your entire desktop, it might be worth tidying it up a little to ensure there is nothing distracting or unwanted in your video.

Step 3: Record your audio

If you’re narrating your recording, then we suggest writing a script, or at least some talking points. Having a script in place is a good way to ensure you cover all the most important points without veering off-topic.

For now, however, just choose which microphone you want to record from and decide whether you want to record your computer’s system audio.

Then, when you’re ready to stop the recording, click the recorder icon in the taskbar. We told you it was easy! 

Step 4: Edit your video

While you can do some simple editing in Snagit, Camtasia comes with a much more powerful and feature-rich built-in video editor. That said, it’s still incredibly easy to use.

When editing your video, the first thing you’ll want to do is cut out any mistakes and errors. You can do this by selecting them with the playhead, and clicking Cut. You can also trim footage from the beginning and end of your recording by dragging either end of the clip in the timeline.

Once you’ve trimmed your footage accordingly, you can play around with Camtasia’s more advanced features and add a wide range of different effects. 

Step 5: Produce and share

Finally, once you’ve perfected your video it’s time to share it with the world. Whether you’ve recorded a webinar or an entire lecture, there are loads of platforms you can use to host your video.

Depending on your audience an online platform like YouTube or Vimeo could be the perfect place to host your video. If, however, you’d rather share it with a select group of people then TechSmith’s Screencast might be a better option. Alternatively, you might not want to share it online at all, in which case you can save it on your PC as a video file.

And that’s all there is to it! Whether you want to use the built-in tools, like Game Bar, or third-party software such as TechSmith’s Snagit and Camtasia, you now know how to screen record on Windows, with audio.

Screen recordings are a great way to produce clear communications for your audience. This could mean you no longer have to schedule Zoom calls to walk a coworker through a process or have countless meetings to explain simple tasks. From now on, you can just send them a screen recording!

Screen Record on Windows 10 & 11, the FAQs