Comparison of screencasting software

A comparison of notable screencasting software programs, that are used to record activities on the computer screen, mouse movement, and often includes live audio for later playback. Screencasting is an asynchronous communication technology (not real-time). This category of software is used for recording demonstrations, remote technical assistance, sales presentations, and training.

Comparison by specification

Product Name	Publisher	Latest stable version	Latest release date	OS	Software license	Open source
ActivePresenter	Atomi Systems	3.0	2011-10-15	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
ActivePresenter Free Edition	Atomi Systems	3.0	2011-10-15	Windows	Freeware	No
Adobe Captivate	Adobe Systems	5.5	2011-05-27	Windows Mac OS X	Proprietary commercial	No
Bandicam	Bandisoft	1.6.1.113	2011-03-16	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
BB FlashBack	Blueberry Software	2.8	2011-02-17	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
BB FlashBack Express	Blueberry Software	2.8	2011-02-17	Windows	Freeware	No
BSR Screen Recorder	BSRSoft	5.2.1	2011-04-18	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
CamStudio	CamStudio.org	2.6 Beta	2010-10-27	Windows	GPL Version 2	Yes
Camtasia Studio	TechSmith	7.1	2010-10-12	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
Camtasia for Mac	TechSmith	1.1.1	2010-06-01	Mac OS X	Proprietary commercial	No
Capture Fox	Zafer Gurel	0.7.0	2009-11-25	Windows	MPL Version 1.1	Yes
FFmpeg	FFmpeg.org	0.9	2011-12-11	Cross-platform	LGPL	Yes
Fraps	Beepa Pty Ltd	3.4.7	2011-10-22	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
Freeseer	FOSSLC	2.5.3	2011-05-24	Windows Mac OS X Linux	GPL v3	Yes
HyperCam	Hyperionics & Solveig Multimedia	3.0.1006.10	2010-06-16	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
Jing Pro	TechSmith			Windows Mac OS X	Proprietary commercial	No
Jing	TechSmith			Windows Mac OS X	Freeware	No
Microsoft Expression Encoder	Microsoft Corporation	4	2010-06-08	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
Nero Vision	Nero AG	10.6.10800	2011-04-19	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
Pixetell	Ontier Inc.	1.3.11913	2010-01-15	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
QuickTime X	Apple Inc.	10.0 (118)	2010-03-29	Mac OS X	Part of Mac OS X	No
RecordMyDesktop	SourceForge	0.3.8.1	2008-12-13	Linux	GPL	Yes
Screencam	SmartGuyz Inc.	3.3.0	2009-03-24	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
ScreenFlow	Telestream	3.0.2	2011-08-11	Mac OS X 10.5	Proprietary commercial	No
Screenpresso	Learnpulse	1.2.6	2011-09-28	Windows	Freeware	No
Screenpresso Pro	Learnpulse	1.2.6	2011-09-28	Windows	Proprietary commercial	No
SnagIt	TechSmith	10.0.1	2011-04-21	Windows Mac OS X	Proprietary commercial	No
Snapz Pro X	Ambrosia Software	2.2.3		Mac OS X	Proprietary commercial	No
VirtualDub	Avery Lee	1.9.11	2010-12-24	Windows	GPL	Yes
VLC media player	SourceForge	1.1.11	2011-07-15	GNU Linux Windows Mac OS X FreeBSD Syllable OS/2 BeOS	GPL	Yes
Windows Media Encoder	Microsoft Corporation	9.00.00.3352 (x86) 10.00.00.3809 (x64)	2002	Windows	Freeware	No
Wink	Satish Kumar	2.0	2008-07-14	Windows Linux	Freeware	No
XVidCap	SourceForge	1.1.7	2008-07-13	Unix-like	GPL	Yes

Comparison by features

Product name	Can record audio?	Records entire desktop?	Supports full-screen OpenGL?	Supports full-screen DirectX?	Supports editing?
ActivePresenter	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes
Adobe Captivate	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes
Bandicam	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
BB FlashBack	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes
BSR Screen Recorder	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CamStudio	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes
Camtasia Studio	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Capture Fox	Yes	Yes	?	?	No
FFmpeg	Yes	Yes	Yes	?	No
Fraps	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
HyperCam	Yes	Yes	?	?	No
Microsoft Expression Encoder	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Nero Vision	Yes	?	?	?	Yes
Pixetell	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
RecordMyDesktop	Yes	Yes	?	N/A	No
Screencam	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
ScreenFlow	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes
Screenpresso	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
SnagIt	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
VirtualDub	Yes	?	?	?	Limited
VLC	Yes	Yes	?	?	No
Windows Media Encoder	Yes	Yes	?	?	No
Wink	Yes	Yes	?	?	Yes
XVidCap	Yes	?	?	N/A	No

External links

• Checklist of criteria for selecting a screencasting tool
• Market overview of screencasting tools