How to record your PC screen without installing anything
Short how-to videos, a record of a bug as it happens, part of an online meeting: you need to record your screen more often than you think. But work computers often block software installs, and installing a recorder for one quick job is a hassle. Modern browsers have a built-in screen sharing feature, and you can use it to record right away with nothing to install.
1. What you need: Chrome or Edge on a computer
It works in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on Windows and Mac. To record sound as well, Chrome or Edge on Windows works best. Phone browsers do not let web pages record the screen, so on a phone, use the built-in screen recording feature instead.
2. Step by step
- Decide whether to include system sound and whether to use a microphone. If you want to narrate, press Load microphone list and pick your mic.
- Press Start recording and the browser asks what you want to share. Choose the entire screen, a window (one app) or a browser tab.
- When the countdown ends, recording starts. Press Pause to stop for a moment. Nothing is recorded while paused.
- Press Stop, or the browser's Stop sharing button, to finish. You can preview and save right away.
3. If the sound is missing
The most common cause is that audio sharing was not turned on in the share dialog. Turn on the Share system audio or Share tab audio switch at the bottom of the dialog. If you pick a single window, sound often cannot be included, so choose Entire screen or a tab when sound matters. On Mac, only tab audio can be recorded because of operating system limits.
If your microphone is too quiet, raise the input level in your system sound settings and keep the mic about a hand's width from your mouth.
4. Tidy up after recording
The start and end of a recording usually show you clicking the button and switching windows. Keep only the part you need with the video trimmer and it looks much cleaner. If the file is too big to email or send in a chat app, shrink it to around 720p at 1 to 2Mbps with the video compressor. Screens full of text become hard to read at low resolutions, so try not to go below 720p.
5. Good to know
- The recording is never uploaded. It builds up in this device's memory and is then saved as a file. If you close the tab before saving, it is lost.
- Recordings longer than an hour use a lot of memory. It is safer to split them into several files.
- If other people's screens or conversations appear in your recording, ask for their consent first.