Game Recording Software for PC: What Actually Works for Capture and Edit

Most "best game recording software" rankings make it seem like comparing these programs is simply a matter of deciding which button to press first. What really matters here isn't how many different options you have for clicking buttons.

It comes down to who gets control of your GPU using their chosen encoder, at what bitrate your recorder can send to your recording drive, and if the end product even works well with the editing program you intend to use.

Make bad decisions on any one of those three, and your smooth 120 frames per second gameplay will turn into stuttering, choppy 30 frames per second video. Your 80GB long-form recordings will consume your system's boot drive. And your video editor may stall while attempting to move through the timeline.

Choosing the right software is the simple part. Making good choices about everything else is difficult.

Below we offer a filmmaker's perspective on making game recordings on PC. We are going to look at OBS Studio, NVIDIA ShadowPlay (now part of the NVIDIA App), AMD ReLive, Bandicam, and Insights Capture, but only as a front-end to the actual technical decisions.

If you plan to record from another computer or console device, you will need something like an Elgato HD60 X capture card along with the recording software.

Encoder Choice Matters More Than Software Choice

An encoder is the part of the code that takes raw frame input and converts it into a compressed video file. Which one you choose affects everything else about your video capture process, how many frames are dropped, how much CPU usage there will be and what your finished video looks like.

NVIDIA has been offering a hardware-based encoder called NVENC as part of its GPU design since the Kepler days. As such, the NVENC encoder uses virtually no CPU resources. This is exactly why programs including ShadowPlay, OBS, Bandicam and Insights utilize this encoder whenever possible.

With the advent of Turing cards (and later), NVENC has reached levels of quality that are on par with x264 set to medium for a given bitrate. For those who own an Ada (or RTX 40 series) card, the AV1 based encoder in NVENC has reached similar quality levels while reducing bitrate by approximately 40%.

AMD's AMF encoder was also a little rough around the edges, however the RDNA 3 generation helped to close most of the quality gaps. In addition, Intel's QuickSync encoder has made some significant strides in recent times, specifically on Arc and 12th gen and higher iGPUs.

If you have enough CPU power to devote to encoding your video files, then x264 will produce better looking video files than any other method. However, when you're running at framerates that are typically seen in game play situations where the GPU is working hard, then selecting x264 may cost you some framerate. Therefore, select x264 for capturing cinematics where the act of recording is important.

Rule of thumb: NVENC encoder for NVIDIA GPUs. AMF encoder for Radeon systems. QuickSync encoder as a second option should you happen to have an Intel iGPU that isn't being used. And if you happen to have a card from the RTX 40 series (Ada), use AV1 encoder unless your editor cannot read it.

OBS Studio: The Free, Endlessly Configurable Pick

OBS Studio is an open source tool for capturing gameplay (and everything else) that is free, endlessly configurable, and deep. That cuts both ways. The defaults are not optimized for gameplay capture.

The menu system hides important settings under three layers of menus, and your first recorded clip will likely be a 12GB file that resembles a JPEG. Once you know the knobs, it's truly the most flexible capture tool available.

To start using OBS for game capture, go to the Sources area and select the Game Capture source instead of the Display Capture source (Display Capture uses some overhead from the compositor). In the advanced output mode, choose either NVENC or AMF in the Recording section.

Select CQP at approximately 18-22 for a high quality master file, or CBR at 40-60 Mbps if you're planning to stream the same encode. Lastly, in the container area make sure to have MKV selected while recording (MKV will survive any crashes) and then convert your file to MP4 after. There's a separate guide to OBS Studio recording settings that actually look good on this site that goes deeper.

The replay buffer is perhaps OBS's greatest benefit for creating tutorials and montages. A rolling N-second buffer of encoded video is stored in memory, so when something occurs in-game that you want to save, you press a hotkey and the last 30 to 60 seconds of video is saved to disk. This is similar to ShadowPlay's Instant Replay feature, however, with all of OBS's flexibility behind it.

While OBS is beneficial for new users who plan to use the scene-and-sources method for streaming, there are many disadvantages when compared to other tools for simply capturing one clip of gameplay. Using multiple sources to build one scene is a complex task. If you are not going to stream with multiple cameras simultaneously, finding a simple way to configure your scene for one capture may require a lot of mental effort.

NVIDIA ShadowPlay and AMD ReLive: Zero-Overhead Instant Replay

Use ShadowPlay for everyday gaming because it doesn't show itself when you're running games. Pressing Alt + F10 will record the last five minutes of gameplay by default. You don't have to configure scenes, select sources, or calculate bitrate. It just works.

However, you sacrifice some level of control. In ShadowPlay's 4K resolution, frame rate is limited to that of your display's native (you can also use DSR to limit to 4K/60). In addition, in 4K, bitrate cannot exceed 130 Mbps. Also, ShadowPlay does not allow you to add overlay graphics, additional audio tracks or webcam compositors.

In terms of video compression, the output is limited to H.264 encoding. This results in larger file sizes compared to an AV1 NVENC encoded clip created using OBS. Since both are being used to create short-form video for sharing with others on social media sites, the limitations of ShadowPlay shouldn't matter. For tutorial content that includes a picture-in-picture webcam view or additional microphone audio tracks, ShadowPlay won't work well.

AMD ReLive (available through AMD's Adrenalin software) is essentially the same thing as ShadowPlay. The features in ReLive, instant replay, scene capture, audio sources, are similar enough that it should work similarly to ShadowPlay for many users. Although its initial releases were plagued by bugs and resulted in a damaged reputation, AMD has brought ReLive into competitiveness with ShadowPlay on RDNA3. If you have a Radeon card, this would be a good place to start.

Store either ShadowPlay recordings or ReLive captures on a high-speed NVMe internal drive or a Samsung T9 external SSD. Both are designed for continuous write operations and you don't want to write those files onto the same disk as your games' streaming assets.

Bandicam and Insights Capture: Easier Paths In

Selecting a screen capture program can feel overwhelming if you're new to video production. Bandicam is a simple and user-friendly alternative to OBS Studio.

It has a one-window interface, makes it easy to add a webcam or microphone overlay, allows quality settings with NVENC, and produces MP4 files using H.264 by default. Nothing about Bandicam is technically advanced, and that's the point.

Many people comment on online forums about how much they like Bandicam because it simply works well on low end computers where OBS is too resource intensive. That makes sense. OBS Studio is modular and does multiple things at once. Bandicam is just a single executable file which only captures video.

When run on a four core machine without a dedicated graphics card, Bandicam utilizing Intel's QuickSync will have a more consistent frame rate than OBS at the same settings. Another criticism of Bandicam is its licensing method. Users purchase the application once, however the license is tied to a serial number as opposed to an account. Therefore, if you reinstall Bandicam repeatedly, you may need to enter your license each time.

Insights Capture is another option, designed specifically for gaming and competitive players. It captures additional metadata beyond what other programs offer, and integrates into the insights.gg review platform so teams can organize recordings.

As a free option for individuals, Insights Capture meets the needs of both individual improvement and team review. While it lacks the versatility of OBS, it provides the tools and services needed specifically for this type of content creation.

Capture and Editing Pitfalls

Hitting 120fps without dropping frames

The point at which many players' systems start to break down is capturing without dropping frames. 1080p60 is trivial on a modern computer. To capture 1440p120 or 4K60 with no dropped frames you need to think about three things: encoder, disk write, and game framerate headroom.

Encoder choice we covered above. Your only realistic options are NVENC or AMF on a current GPU. For disk write, an 80 Mbps capture at 120fps is 10MB/s of sustained writing, and a 200 Mbps 4K60 master is 25MB/s. Any decent NVMe SSD handles either.

The trap is recording to the same drive your game is reading from. SSDs have fast sequential write speeds but mixed read and write under load on the same drive causes stutter on both sides. A separate external SSD for video editing via USB 3.2 Gen 2 is a clean separation, or use a second internal NVMe stick.

For framerate headroom, if your game natively runs at 130fps and you're trying to capture 120fps, the encoder thread has almost no margin. Cap your in-game framerate to 120fps via V-Sync or RTSS so the encoder gets consistent timing. Cap first, then record.

File formats that don't fight your NLE

The cleanest capture is worthless if your editor can't scrub it. H.264 long-GOP files (what every game recorder produces by default) are designed for delivery, not editing. They play back fine but scrubbing means decoding from the nearest keyframe every time, so the timeline cursor lags behind your mouse.

DaVinci Resolve handles long-GOP h.264 better than most NLEs because Resolve creates optimized media in the background. Premiere Pro and Final Cut benefit from running captures through a proxy pass first, either via the NLE's built-in workflow or by transcoding to ProRes Proxy or DNxHR LB in HandBrake or Shutter Encoder before importing.

AV1 captures from RTX 40 series ShadowPlay are even worse for editing. Scrubbing AV1 in any current NLE without proxies is brutal. The bitrate savings are real, but you pay them back in transcode time.

If your recordings are short (under ten minutes) and your NVMe is fast, you can probably skip proxies. For longer sessions and tutorial work, proxies are not optional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is OBS Studio really good enough that I never need to pay for recording software?

OBS Studio is the right fit for nearly all PC users. It provides the functionality needed to stream, record, maintain a replay buffer, create compositions of multiple input streams and route audio through the system. All of these functions exist within the program.

Only two reasons exist to spend money on a different piece of software. Either you require support and guidance (Bandicam), or you wish to utilize the additional features provided by a particular piece of software (Insights Capture for review of esports gameplay). In terms of quality, when utilizing NVENC in OBS Studio it has been found to match or exceed nearly all paid options.

Does ShadowPlay hurt gaming performance?

On cards with NVIDIA's Turing architecture and later models, the negative effect will be negligible, in the 1-3% range. While some gamers may have difficulty perceiving the effects due to the overall smoothness of gameplay, others will certainly experience them.

On cards with Pascal and earlier architectures, the negative effect will be greater, approximately 5-7%, primarily because those architectures utilized less-efficient NVENC encoding blocks. If you find yourself noticing stutters while playing games and also experiencing performance issues while utilizing OBS Studio, consider lowering your capture resolution by one level or switching to OBS with a lower bitrate.

Why does my recorded video look worse than the game does live?

Three common culprits typically cause this issue. First, you likely have set your bitrate too low for either the selected resolution and frame rate. Consider increasing your constant bitrate setting to 50-80 Mbps for 1080p60 or 80-130 Mbps for 1440p120.

Second, you are using x264, a software-based encoder that utilizes your CPU for encoding. As such, if your CPU cannot encode fast enough, you should switch to either NVENC or AMF. Third, you are resampling. Your game is being captured at 1440p, but it is actually running at 1080p. Lock both settings to the exact same resolution.

Should I record in MKV or MP4?

Capture your video in MKV format and then convert it to MP4. MKV format allows for crash recovery. If your computer experiences a blue screen or otherwise crashes during a recording session, a file saved in MKV format can potentially recover after remuxing. If you are saving your recordings in MP4 format, however, there is no possible way to recover a corrupted file created as a result of an application hanging or crashing during a recording session.

Many recorders provide a quick method of converting from MKV to MP4 via a "Remux to MP4" tool located in the Tools menu. This process generally only requires a few seconds and results in absolutely no loss in quality. For longer game recording sessions on PC where blue screens or hangs are a real possibility, there is no logical alternative to always capturing in MKV first.

What about capturing from a console or second PC?

You'll need a capture card. The Elgato HD60 X is the gold standard for 1080p60 with 4K60 passthrough.

For 4K60 capture or 1080p240, the AVerMedia Live Gamer Ultra 2.1 is available at B&H and works as a standard USB video source in OBS. The Elgato Cam Link 4K is fine for occasional HDMI captures but caps at 1080p60. A deeper capture card guide on this site covers the rest.