Best Free Screen Recorder for 2019 | Windows, Mac, Linux

• January 12, 2019
• Nick Saporito
• 6 comments

Today I’ll be doing a brief tutorial on OBS, which I believe is the best free screen recorder for Windows, Mac and Linux, and why. This is something I’ve been asked about a lot so I figured I’d finally address this once and for all.

I’ve been creating tutorials for YouTube for nearly 4 years now, and in that time I’ve used a lot of different screen recording applications. Some have been good. Others, not so much. But the best free screen recorder I’ve used, by far, is OBS Studio.

Best Free Screen Recorder

Click the image to visit the OBS Studio website

Much like Inkscape and GIMP, OBS Studio is a free and open source application that can be used for screen recording and live streaming. It can be downloaded at OBSproject.com or by clicking the link.

Why I Like OBS Studio

OBS is more stable, has no watermarks, and has more features than any other free screen recorder I’ve used. I’m not averse to paying for software, but the thought of paying hundreds of dollars for screen recording software when something as feature-rich and robust as OBS exists just seems absurd to me.

Here’s a few of the many features I really like…

Picture-In-Picture Capture

You can record more than just your screen with OBS. You can add additional capture sources, such as a webcam, and then scale it down and overlay it onto your screen capture. You can manually move it around and place it anywhere you’d like too.

Better Output Controls

OBS allows you to dictate what resolution you’d like to export your recording as. This is helpful if, like me, you’re using a 4K monitor but don’t find it necessary to generate large 4K video files for basic screen recordings. OBS also lets you adjust the frame rate as well, which is really useful in dictating file size.

Adjustable Audio Levels

Believe it or not, I’ve used several screen recording applications that don’t allow you to adjust your audio levels before recording. You’ll just have to hope that they’re set properly out of the box. Thankfully that’s not the case with OBS Studio though. You’ll have the ability to make sure your audio isn’t too low or too high before getting started.

Live Streaming

This is just an added bonus, but you can also use OBS for live streaming. I even tested it out myself with Twitch and it worked great. Absolutely recommended for streaming as well!

How To Use OBS Studio

Check out the top of this post for a brief video tutorial on how to use OBS Studio to record your screen. If you have any questions then leave a comment below, and as always, thanks for watching!

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