FFmpeg Screen Recorder

This program is a gadget which helps you use FFmpeg to record your screen on Linux. The video record can be saved as a file, or be streamed via RTMP protocol.

Only X11 is supported for now. In a Wayland session, x11grab can merely capture an empty XWayland screen, so this program refuses to run instead of writing a black video.

Setup

All you need is FFmpeg 8 or newer. You can get one here. It has to be compiled with libxcb and the selected H.264 encoder: libx264 by default, h264_vaapi for VAAPI, or h264_nvenc for NVENC.

libfdk-aac is optional. It is used for the audio track when the FFmpeg being used has it, and the built-in AAC encoder is used otherwise.

xrandr is used to detect the monitors, xwininfo is used by --window, and pactl is used by --list-audio-devices.

--with-audio records the default system output, while --microphone records the default input. Use both to mix them into one audio track, or use --audio-device to record a specific PulseAudio source.

--quality uses CRF with libx264 and QP/CQ with VAAPI or NVENC. Smaller values preserve more detail. The default libx264 preset is veryfast; accepted values are ultrafast, superfast, veryfast, faster, fast, medium, slow, slower, veryslow, and placebo. The default NVENC preset is p4; accepted values are p1 through p7, fast, medium, and slow. VAAPI does not use presets.

--normalize pads to the smallest common 16:9 resolution that can contain the captured area, from 426x240 through 15360x8640 (16K).

Help

EXAMPLES:
ffmpeg-screen-recorder                         # Record every monitor without audio into the current working directory
ffmpeg-screen-recorder -w                      # Select a window with the mouse and record it
ffmpeg-screen-recorder --select-region         # Drag a rectangle with the mouse and record it
ffmpeg-screen-recorder -m HDMI-0               # Record a single monitor
ffmpeg-screen-recorder -a                      # Record with the system audio
ffmpeg-screen-recorder --microphone            # Record with the default microphone
ffmpeg-screen-recorder -a --microphone         # Mix the system audio and default microphone
ffmpeg-screen-recorder -t 30 -o /path/to/file  # Record for 30 seconds and output to /path/to/file
ffmpeg-screen-recorder -o rtmp://xxx           # Stream to an RTMP url
ffmpeg-screen-recorder --hwaccel vaapi         # Let the GPU encode instead of the CPU

Usage: ffmpeg-screen-recorder [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -w, --window
          Select a window to record

      --select-region
          Drag a rectangle with your mouse and record only that area

  -m, --monitor <MONITOR>
          Record one monitor, named as in `xrandr --listmonitors` [default: every monitor]

  -a, --with-audio
          Record the sound playing through the default output device

      --microphone
          Record from the default microphone; combine it with --with-audio to mix both

      --audio-device <DEVICE>
          Record only from this PulseAudio source

      --list-audio-devices
          List the PulseAudio sources that --audio-device accepts, then exit

      --normalize
          Pad the capture to the smallest fitting common 16:9 resolution, up to 16K

      --no-mouse
          Do not record the mouse pointer

      --fps <FPS>
          Set the frame rate [default: 60, or 30 when streaming]

      --quality <QUALITY>
          Set recording quality; a smaller number means a bigger file [default: 18, or 25 when streaming]

      --preset <PRESET>
          Choose a libx264 or NVENC preset; VAAPI does not support presets

      --hwaccel <BACKEND>
          Let the GPU encode the video instead of the CPU

          Possible values:
          - vaapi: Intel and AMD GPUs, through `h264_vaapi`
          - nvenc: NVIDIA GPUs, through `h264_nvenc`

      --vaapi-device <PATH>
          Select a DRM render node for --hwaccel vaapi [default: first render node]

      --nvenc-gpu <INDEX>
          Select a GPU index for --hwaccel nvenc [default: first capable GPU]

  -t, --duration <DURATION>
          Stop after this long, as seconds, MM:SS, or HH:MM:SS

  -y, --overwrite
          Overwrite the output file if it already exists

  -d, --display <DISPLAY>
          Record this X display [default: $DISPLAY]

  -o, --output <FILE/RTMP_URL>
          Assign a destination of your video. It should be a file path or a RTMP url [default: CWD/<time>.mp4]

  -f, --ffmpeg-path <FFMPEG_PATH>
          Specify the path of your FFmpeg executable binary file
          
          [default: ffmpeg]

  -h, --help
          Print help (see a summary with '-h')

  -V, --version
          Print version

Press Ctrl-C, or send SIGTERM, to stop a recording. FFmpeg is given the chance to finish writing the file before this program exits.

License

MIT