Game streaming and content creation are big business these days, but it's also a fantastic hobby, even if you don't have aspirations of being the next big streamer. Whether you're using a capture card to encode the feed from a second device or streaming directly from your PC, you'll need software to encode your stream and send it to the streaming site of your choice. We've tested over a dozen of the most popular game recording programs, and we've picked out the best to give you a starting point. Whether you want to stream, record, or create short clips, you'll find an option that works for your setup.

1 OBS Studio

Simply the best app for recording and streaming your games

OBS Studio is an absolute juggernaut in the content creation space, and for good reason. This is arguably the best app you can get for recording your games and sharing them online, as well as for streaming. OBS offers a lot of customization options, with the ability to create scenes, select multiple sources for content (so you can add one or multiple webcams at the same time), and much more.

The tools in OBS go well beyond basic recording, and that can make it a little daunting for beginners, but it's an absolutely excellent tool. The interface, while dense, is relatively easy to understand once you get the hang of it, and it's one of the best in terms of support, especially since you can use it to record games from your PC, but also from a console using a capture card. And the best part about it is it's absolutely free, making this already excellent tool one of the best choices for just about anyone.

If the standard OBS Studio is too barebones for you, there's also Streamlabs, a more user-friendly version based on the same code. Streamlabs is a company that goes well beyond just the software itself, so there's a whole platform for streamers with custom frames, templates, and so on for you to buy or download for free. However, none of that is truly necessary, and the original OBS Studio would be my pick.

2 Xbox Game Bar

Ideal for quick and easy recordings

As much as OBS Studio can do, not everyone who wants to record their gaming needs all the tools it has on offer, and the software's complexity can sometimes hinder new users. If you want a simpler option, don't fret, because one is built right into Windows 10 and 11. The Xbox game bar, or just the Game bar, is a built-in piece of software that serves as an overlay for just about any game, and in addition to some social Xbox features. It also has a built-in game recorder.

The best thing about the Xbox game bar is how easy it is to use, plus the fact that you don't really need to install anything. Just press the Windows + G keys and click the record button to start recording. Or, you can set it up to automatically record in the background so you can capture those unexpected moments of glory (or hilarity). You can choose to record your microphone audio or not, although there's no option to include a webcam overlay. You can also adjust the recording quality in the Windows 11 Settings app if you need to. This is a basic option, but it will work well for most needs, and since it's built into every Windows PC, you might not need anything else.

3 Steam Game Recording

This tool is built right into Steam for easy access

Valve has a habit of surprise feature drops, and the new Steam Game Recording beta is one of their best yet. Because it's built right into Steam, so there's no complicated setup or messing around with extra programs. All you have to do to get started is change your Steam client to participate in beta builds, and the new Game Recording tab will show up in your settings.

Once enabled, you can set the feature to record all of your gameplay automatically or set it to start and stop with a button combination. And there's a Replay feature for capturing just the last few seconds of gameplay, which is linked to the Steam Overlay, so it works in any game that also works with the overlay. Even while playing non-Steam games, the Steam Overlay can be activated. And yes, it works on the Steam Deck, making it the easiest way to capture your gameplay on the gaming handheld.

If Steam Game Recording only captured your gameplay, that would be cool enough. But it does so much more, including timeline-enhanced recording. If your game supports the Steam recording feature, Steam will mark your timeline with handy chapter markers, which do things like show you time spent waiting in a lobby so you can skip through those parts, or that cool kill you picked up in PvP. Chapter markers are something that other game recording software only recently included, so for Steam to bring this feature on their first attempt is big news.

The fun isn't over once you've recorded your gameplay. Steam also has basic editing features, so you can trim and share your clips with friends, send them to another device, or export them as an MP4 file. While this is all great, the Steam Recording feature doesn't currently support livestreaming, but that might turn up in the future, as Valve has said more features are planned.

4 Nvidia GeForce Experience (ShadowPlay)

Another built-in tool with some more features

Another tool that's built into many Windows PCs, specifically those with Nvidia GeForce graphics cards, is the GeForce Experience. This multi-purpose app lets you update your Nvidia drivers and optimize your games, but it also includes a built-in game recording and even livestreaming capabilities, so you can share your gameplay with the world. Similar to Xbox game bar, this is a more basic option that's meant to appeal to the masses, but it does its job slightly better than the Xbox option with a couple more options.

For one thing, you have finer control over things like the video recording quality and resolution, which is already a big benefit if you want higher-quality videos. But you also have the option to include a webcam feed in your recording, and you can even change where your webcam view is in relation to the game's video, which is really handy if you don't want it to cover certain UI elements.

Nvidia's tool may have some issues with compatibility with certain games, though, especially older ones, so it might not work well for you, plus it requires an Nvidia graphics card.

5 AMD Radeon Record & Stream (formerly ReLive)

Quick and easy game recording software for AMD graphics users

If you have a recent AMD graphics card, you already have everything you need to get started with recording your gameplay or livestreaming. That's because the Radeon Software that provides the drivers for your GPU also contains recording software, and it's pretty powerful. The view on the Record & Stream tab inside the Radeon Software app is very similar to other recording software like OBS. You have a large Preview section showing what's being captured and settings around the outside for adjusting your microphone, webcam, and other important things.

AMD's Record & Stream has powerful features, like the ability to choose which windows or monitors to record, or even a specific region of a monitor if you are making a tutorial. That puts it on a similar tier to OBS or XSplit, as built-in recording features in Steam or Nvidia's ShadowPlay can only capture the game being played. It's worth mentioning that the Record & Stream tab will only show up if you have a discrete AMD graphics card, so it won't work on APUs.

Recording your games is only part of what this software can handle. You can also stream to many of the major livestreaming sites. Of course, what stream would be complete without an overlay to show chat or other features on stream? The Live Stream tab lets you accomplish this easily and also lets you set up scenes to switch between and integrate services like StreamElements for a more interactive experience for your viewers.

You have full control over recording settings like bitrate, encoding type, and audio levels, making this an easy way to start your streaming journey. And even if you don't want to stream, you can access Instant Replay, Instant GIF, and In-Game Replay, which all let you grab clips of great gaming moments with the press of a hotkey.

6 Bandicam

Quick and easy to use

Bandicam is another relatively popular option you might have heard about, and it's also a solid one. Unlike most of the options above, Bandicam is all about recording, leaving streaming on the side. It's far less complex than options like OBS Studio, but it still has everything you need to capture quality game recordings.

Bandicam gives you plenty of options for the video quality and the encoder used for recording, plus it has an interface that's pretty easy to understand at a glance, while making it clear which options do what. Even though it's not made for streaming, it also supports external input devices like capture cards, so you can record footage from a console, too. You can choose to include system and microphone audio, along with a few other options. There's nothing too crazy here, so it doesn't feel overwhelming, but it doesn't feel like it's lacking, either.

The only major problem with Bandicam is that it's a paid app, but the free version does let you record up to 10 minutes with a watermark, which isn't too bad. You can pay up for an annual or a lifetime license if you want to unlock all the capabilities it offers.

7 XSplit Broadcaster

A solid OBS alternative

OBS Studio may be the most well-known streaming and recording tool, but that doesn't mean it's totally competition-free. XSplit is another fairly popular tool, and it also has a friendly user interface and a lot of the same capabilities.

You can use it to stream or record your games, and you can add all kinds of sources to your video, so you can record a game from either your PC or using a capture card, plus add a webcam feed and other kinds of content. Because of the cleaner interface when you first boot it up, it might be a bit easier to get a grip on if you're just starting out.

In terms of what it can do, XSplit is pretty much like OBS, with plenty of options for video and audio quality, along with all the sources you'd expect. However, things are a bit more simplified, making it easier to learn but also slightly less customizable. Still, it's a great option, no doubt. The biggest drawback is that your videos and streams will be watermarked unless you pay up, which costs $5 per month. But if OBS feels like too much for you, this is a great alternative.

8 WonderShare DemoCreator

Simple, but capable

You've probably seen a few ads and sponsorships for WonderShare on the internet. I went into this fully expecting this app to not be that great, but WonderShare DemoCreator is actually a pretty nice app for video recording, complete with a built-in editor, too.

The recording part of WonderShare DemoCreator is fairly straightforward, but it does the job very well. It was actually one of the few apps here that managed to record at a smooth framerate even on a laptop with no discrete graphics, so it knew to choose the right encoding option, and that's always a plus. It's also just easy to use. You select the app you want to record, choose whether you want a webcam feed, configure system and microphone audio, and start recording.

All of this comes in a UI that looks modern and friendly, and on top of that, you also get a built-in video editor. You can trim and split clips, add in your own prior videos with a multi-track interface, and add all kinds of effects and stickers. You probably don't need all these options, but it doesn't hurt to have them handy if you do want them.

WonderShare DemoCreator is paid software, however, and you'll need to pay to remove the watermark and also to unlock recordings longer than 10 minutes without editing. The paid plan also includes some features like unlimited text-to-speech and more advanced editing tools.

9 Medal

Big on social features

Medal is an interesting video recording tool that's made specifically for gamers, but not necessarily proficient content creators. A big emphasis of this app is on its social features, and you can use it to browse popular clips shared by other Medal users, as well as share your own with the world. It even has a chat feature so you can talk to people that play the same games as you.

Recording on Medal is interesting. By default, you can choose to either record the entire game session (Medal detects when you start a game) or to only have capture enabled, but not record until you hit the record key, which saves the last few moments of the game, so you don't miss important, but unexpected moments. You do have the option to start recording manually, but it's not immediately obvious how you can make it happen.

Still, Medal does its job well and it stands out from others in terms of what it offers. On top of the social features, it also has a built-in video editor, so you can create clips from longer sessions and apply some very meme-y effects, making the videos prime for sharing.

Medal is free to use, but there is a premium subscription that gives you unlimited cloud storage for recordings, the ability to share up to 10-minute videos in 4K, and other perks.

10 ShareX

A great all-purpose screen recorder

Rounding things out, we have ShareX, which isn't really made for recording games, but it works fairly well at doing so. ShareX is a popular tool for both taking screenshots and screen recording, and it offers plenty of options, including the ability to upload captures for easy sharing.

ShareX doesn't do anything too crazy; for example, you can't add your webcam to a game recording, but it works fairly well for what it sets out to do. Out of the box, it also won't record audio, but you can install the virtual audio capture if you want to have sound in your clips. Another drawback is that since there's no dedicated game capture, it might not work well for every game, but it worked fine in our test, and it recorded very smooth video, even on a laptop without discrete graphics.

At the end of the day, ShareX isn't our first recommendation for gamers, but it does the job if you want a capable screen recorder and screenshot tool.

Bottom line and tips for game recording

All of these tools are solid options, but it's hard to deny that OBS Studio is the best. It supports all kinds of inputs and has a range of advanced tools; while you may not need everything, they certainly come in handy as you try to produce more high-quality content (if you choose to do so). It's also got deep API access, so that control surfaces from the Elgato Stream Deck to the Logitech MX Creative Console can help you control your stream with ease.

One thing that's worth noting about recording your screen in general is that it's taxing on your system, particularly if you're gaming on it at the same time. If you have a gaming PC, you'll be fine, but even premium laptops can struggle if they don't have a discrete GPU. Options like OBS Studio still have good recording quality when using an integrated GPU for gaming, but for others, you might need to play with the encoding options to get things working right.

One other note is that you may want to get a good gaming microphone if you want to record your audio, and a capture card will be necessary to record video from a console. Then you'll be all set to record some great gameplay videos.