

If you don't plan to stream, choose "Optimize just for recording. When you launch OBS for the first time, if you haven't already, you will be asked whether you want to optimize it for streaming or recording only. However, you can also use OBS to record the entire screen in Windows 11 and save it as an MP4 file, without ever streaming what you do.ġ. A small recording widget showing how long you've been recording appears somewhere on the screen, most likely in a corner. OBS Studio is very popular in the game streaming community because it's free and great at broadcasting games out to Twitch and other sites. Hit the Windows Key + Alt + R to start screen recording.

To capture your entire desktop and all the windows on it, you need a third-party app and, while there are many, we like OBS Studio for this purpose. The biggest drawback to using the Xbox Gamebar to screen record Windows is that it can only work with one app at a time and will not show the desktop or File Explorer. Recording the Whole Screen with OBS Studio
