How to use Online Screen Recorder
Capture your screen, a browser tab, or an application window directly in your browser — no extensions, no desktop software, no uploads. The Screen Recorder uses the browser's built-in getDisplayMedia API to capture your display and the MediaRecorder API to encode the stream to a downloadable WebM video. Add optional microphone or system audio commentary and download the recording as soon as you stop.
- Click "Start Recording" — the browser will show a permission prompt asking which screen, window, or tab to share.
- Select the capture source (entire screen, application window, or browser tab) and click "Share".
- Optionally enable "Include microphone audio" to record commentary alongside the screen capture.
- Interact with your screen normally while the recording indicator is visible.
- Click "Stop Recording" to end the session, then preview the clip and click "Download" to save the WebM file.
Your data never leaves your device — 100% private processing.
How browser screen recording works
Screen capture relies on two browser APIs. getDisplayMedia() prompts the user to select a display surface (screen, window, or tab) and returns a MediaStream of video frames at the display's native resolution and refresh rate. getUserMedia() can optionally provide a second MediaStream from the microphone. The MediaRecorder API combines these streams into an encoded video, writing data chunks to memory as Blobs. Common codecs are VP8 or VP9 in a WebM container (Chrome/Firefox/Edge) or H.264 in MP4 (Safari). On session end, the Blobs are concatenated and converted to an object URL for the download link — nothing is ever sent to a server.
| Source type | Captures | Includes system audio | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entire screen | Full display including taskbar | Yes (Windows/Linux) | Full walkthroughs, desktop demos |
| Application window | Single app window only | Partial (app-dependent) | Software tutorials |
| Browser tab | Active tab content only | Yes (tab audio) | Web demos, screen-share meetings |
Audio capture and mixing
getDisplayMedia can request system audio (the sound playing on your computer) at the same time as the screen image. Browser support varies: Chrome and Edge on Windows and Linux grant system audio; Safari and Firefox do not currently expose system audio via getDisplayMedia. Microphone audio from getUserMedia can be mixed with the screen stream using an AudioContext node graph before passing the combined audio track to MediaRecorder. If you need voiceover but no system sound, enable only the microphone toggle.
Output format and converting WebM
MediaRecorder on Chrome and Firefox typically produces WebM (VP8/VP9 video, Opus audio) because VP9 is royalty-free and well-supported. Safari records H.264/AAC in an MP4 container. WebM is supported by all modern browsers and video editors, but if you need MP4 for wider device compatibility — such as an iPhone that does not support WebM playback — use a video converter to re-mux or transcode the file after downloading.
Glossary
- getDisplayMedia
- A browser API (part of the Screen Capture API) that prompts the user to select a display surface and returns a video MediaStream of that surface.
- MediaRecorder
- A browser API that encodes a live MediaStream into a series of compressed video/audio Blobs using the platform's native codecs.
- WebM
- An open-source video container format developed by Google, typically holding VP8/VP9 video and Opus audio; the default output of MediaRecorder in Chrome and Firefox.
- MediaStream
- A browser object representing a real-time stream of media tracks (video and/or audio) from a source such as a camera, microphone, or screen capture.
- VP9
- An open-source, royalty-free video codec developed by Google; widely used in WebM files for web video delivery and screen recordings.
Related reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use Online Screen Recorder?
- Captures any screen, window or browser tab using a native browser API — no extension needed
- Mixes optional microphone audio into the recording for live voiceover commentary
- Recording is processed entirely in the browser and the resulting file is never uploaded
- One-click download delivers the finished WebM file immediately after stopping
Common use cases
- Record a step-by-step software walkthrough for an internal onboarding knowledge base
- Capture a browser tab to document a web bug with the exact reproduction steps
- Record a design review presentation with live commentary to share with remote stakeholders
- Document a complex data-entry workflow in a legacy system for new employee training
- Capture a live code review session to reference when resolving the reviewer's comments
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