Detailed Guild: How to Record Screen by Using VLC (With Sound, Alternative offered)

VLC, the real godfather of the open-source multimedia video player. The VLC (VLC media player) is now about 20 years old after it was released on February 1, 2001. And they’ve kept their oath of free & open software since 2001. After 20 years of iteration and development, the VLC is now supporting almost all media formats & video/audio codecs on practically all platforms. As the one most trusted multimedia player, the VLC developer, the VideoLAN team, cooperated with its community and made the VLC player evolved to a more than multimedia player but a jack of all trade of video and audio solution. The VLC supports VCD, DVD playback, the RTSP online streaming. It also supports video streaming through the internet (with peer-to-peer). 

The VLC player can do a system call to FFmpeg encoder and decoder to process the raw videos... etc. The one we cared about is that if the VLC supports recording screen, and the VLC gives us a positive answer: YES, VLC supports screen record. But it also has one Achilles’ heel. Which we will explain later.

How to Record Screen with VLC

As we stated, the VLC is powerful enough to handle almost all media things. Talk about recording the screen or how to screen capture with VLC, Hmm, is somehow in its range. Here we gonna use the VLC media player version 3.0.12 (Ventinari) as the example to introduce the step we take to record the screen through VLC in detail. 

Step 1. Download the VLC media player & install the software; I would personally suggest choosing “Recommended” when the install wizards let you select the installation preference to get all necessary components & modules installed for advanced features.

Step 2. Open the VLC media player, find the “Media” button on the left upper hand menu bar, click it, then choose “Convert/Save” or “Open Capture Device” in the drop-down list, a window names “Open Media” will pop up.

Step 3. Select the “Capture Device” tab. There will have several different options for you to select the capture source & basic parameters. To do the screen recording, you need to select “Desktop” as the Capture mode. You can change the framerate of recording by entering different frames per second in the “Options”. Higher framerates usually mean smoother motion & better video continuity, but also the higher occupation of system resources. 

After setting up everything, click the down arrow of the “Play” button on the right-hand bottom, select “Convert” in the drop-down menu.

Step 4. Then the “Convert” window will show up. We don’t need to change anything in “Source” just leave it here. In the “Settings” ，I would suggest checking the option of “Display the output”, “Display the output” would let you observe the recording process in the VLC media player main interface. By selecting “Deinterlace” will effectively restrain the graphic degradation and edge trembling of recorded video. After setting up, click “Browse” in “Destination” to locate the target folder you want to put your recorded videos in, also enter a file name for your screen record file. After everything is done, click “Start”.

Step 5. Now the VLC media player is ready, go back to the main interface, click the “Play” button, then the VLC media player will begin to record the full screen for you. The VLC media player will record full screen anyway, no matter if you want to record the YouTube live stream or video game playthrough. You can pause the recording by clicking the “Pause” button and stop the recording by click the square stop button.

Need more information on how to record the screen? Get to know the 10 best screen recorder for 2021, could be great to help you record the screen.

Problems of VLC Screen Recording

Many may notice that their recorded video through VLC Screen Recording is video only with audio absent. As a multimedia player, VLC Media Player has limited support to record your computer screen. The VLC media player will NOT accept:

• Record your screen with sound
• Record part of your screen instead of capture the entire desktop
• Record screen with your webcam captured 
• Edit, trim the video after recording
• Save the recorded file to alternative formats (.MP4 only)

 Thus, as I’ve mentioned, the Achilles heel of VLC is, the VLC media player is still, essentially a media player. It has limited features to support recording the screen, and a video editing function is generally not provided. It offers basic recording features, but for a specialized screen recording solution, a VLC media player substitute is necessary.

Missing sound? Also read >> How to Record Your Screen on Windows 10 with Sound [Free] <<

iTop Screen Recorder, A Good VLC Competitor [Free & With Sound]

For general screen recording tasks, I would personally strongly recommend you have a try to iTop Screen Recorder as the expert to assist you to record & capture the screen. it is compact & with all functions, you’ll need to record screen, clean (no addon, no malware), and most important point is, it is FREE, no time limitation, no feature restriction, plus no watermark on the captured video. And it capable for recording with by passing record restirction, like record Zoom meeting without permission.

Steps to record the screen with iTop Screen Recorder aren’t quite difficult. 

Step 1. Open up the iTop Screen Recorder, the UI design is intuitive enough, all general functions are presented directly and clearly.

Step 2. Click the “Select a Region” button. In the drop-down list, click the window/ screen you want to record, then hit the red “REC” button.

Step 3. Then the record will begin and the video of the screen (or select region) will be perfectly captured by iTop Screen Recorder with audio. I would strongly recommend you download & have a try of this wonderful freeware if you got trouble with VLC screen capturing.

Step 4. You may find your recorded videos in the “My creation” tab. Also, you can do some simple edits to your video here. If you need further editing, you can try its built-in video editor too.

Additional. You may change the setting of iTop Screen Recorder in “Recording Settings”, for example, to save the video other than a .MP4 file or higher quality.

To Record Screen & Sound, You Have to Have A VLC Substitution

 By far, you should have a clear mind of how to record your computer screen with a VLC media player. If you are seeking a screen recorder that capable of recording both video & audio or just seeking a lightweight, easy-to-use free screen recorder, the iTop Screen Recorder is one of the best free options you can choose.