How to record video with webcam

How to record video with webcam: Your best friend is about to celebrate his birthday but, since you live in two different cities, you thought you would like to surprise him on his birthday by shooting a video with your computer webcam, to wish him the best on that special day of his. . You have a YouTube channel and would like to record videos with your computer webcam , to show your passions to your audience. You have to participate in a talent show and have been required to shoot a webcam video to demonstrate your talent to the judges.

If you find yourself in one of these situations described above and would like to find out How to record video with webcam of your Windows PC or Mac, then I am happy to inform you that you have come to the right guide. Shooting a video with the webcam is a procedure in itself of a disarming simplicity, if you know where to get your hands on your PC and what software to use.

In fact, you must know that, if your PC does not have it, most external PC webcams are self-installing. If you want to shoot videos with the webcam, I suggest you take a few minutes to calmly read this tutorial of mine. I will tell you in detail how to shoot a video with the webcam, both with Windows PC and Mac. Don’t worry, I will explain in detail how to use them in the following lines. As usual, before we begin, I would like to wish you a good read.

Index

• How to record a video with the PC webcam
• How to record a video with Mac webcam
• How to record video with webcam: programs
  • OBS
  • Other webcam programs

How to record a video with the PC webcam

You have a Windows PC through which you need to record a video on the fly using the webcam. Unfortunately you have never used the webcam for a similar operation, so you have no idea how to record a video with the PC webcam .

To record a video with the webcam, all you have to do is use the Camera application on a PC with Windows 10 and later (for example Windows 11 ). To open the application in question, just click on the Start button (a flag icon) located in the bottom bar, type “camera” and click on the first result in the list.

Once the Camera application is open, move to video recording mode by clicking on the Video button located in the sidebar on the right and which you will easily recognize from a camera icon.

Once in the video recording mode, all you have to do is click on the Capture Video button located in the sidebar to start recording. To end a recording, instead, just click on the Stop Video capture button , recognizable by a button with a red square.

The video you just recorded will be automatically saved in the Camera Roll folder that you find inside the Windows Pictures folder .

How to record a video with Mac webcam

You need to record a video via your Mac webcam , but you have no idea how to record a video with a Mac webcam .

Don’t worry, below I will show you how to do it using both the QuickTime application and Photo Booth , both of which are present by default on all Macs.

To record a video with QuickTime the first thing you need to do is click on the Launchpad located in the dock below, click on the Other folder and then on the QuickTime Player application (or search for it in Spotlight ): from the screen that opens, click on the File item placed in the top bar and from the menu that appears click on the item New movie recording .

In a few seconds, a QuickTime screen will appear on the screen with the video preview coming from the webcam of your Mac (if you have more than one webcam, you can select which one to use using the v menu next to the Rec button ): to start recording, you just need to click on the round Start Recording button and to stop it click on the Stop button .

To save the file you just recorded, click on the File item at the top left and from the menu that appears on the screen click on the Save item : from the screen that appears, type the name you want to give the video, the folder in which to save it (for example the Desktop ) and click the Save button .

If, on the other hand, you want to use the Photo Boot application, all you have to do is open it by first clicking on the Launchpad button located in the dock at the bottom and then on the Photo Boot icon (or looking for it in Spotlight ).

From the screen that opens, click on the camera icon at the bottom left to enable video mode and then click on the red button with a camera icon at the bottom to start recording: after a short countdown it will start the recording, which you can stop at any time by clicking on the Stop button .

In order to save the file you just recorded, right-click on the video thumbnail at the bottom right and, from the menu that appears, click on the Export item : type the name you want to give the video, the folder in which to save it and click on the button Save .

How to record video with webcam: programs

In the previous paragraphs I showed you how to record a video with the webcam using the default applications within Windows and Mac , but you would like to use some more complete software.

No problem, in the next few paragraphs I will show you how to shoot a webcam video with third party programs. What do you say, let’s get started?

OBS

One of the best third-party programs to use to record webcam video is OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) . This program is free, open source and compatible with Windows, macOS and Linux.

To download the software, just go to this web page and click on the button for the version dedicated to the software platform of your PC (for example Windows ).

Once the installer has been downloaded, proceed with the installation following the instructions on the screen. In the case of the Windows version, just click in sequence on the Next , Next , Install and Finish buttons . More info here .

Once the program in question is open, proceed with the automatic configuration wizard . In the first screen you will have to decide what type of registrations you are going to make, in this case select Optimize only for registrations, I do not do direct and click on the Next button . In the following screen decide the resolution and the FPS and click on the Next button : complete the procedure by clicking on the Apply settings button .

Once this is done you will surely notice that your webcam has not yet been detected by the program, so you have to set it as the source for the recording. Proceed by clicking on the + button in the Sources section at the bottom and from the menu that appears click on the item Video capture device : select the item Video capture device and click on the OK button .

On the next screen, the program will automatically select your webcam, but if this does not happen, just click on the Device item and select it from the list. As for resolution and FPS, make sure that the Device defaults item is activated , so that the program automatically goes to set the best possible quality and click the OK button to finish the procedure.

Well, now all you have to do is click on the Start Recording button at the bottom right to record the video with your webcam. When you are done, however, just click on the item Finish registration .

How do you say? Do you want to discover all the great potential of this program? No problem, in this case take a look at my tutorial on the subject , where you will find all the information you need to make the most of OBS.

Other webcam programs

The programs present by default on Windows PC and macOS are not suitable for your needs and maybe the others proposed in this tutorial seem too complicated to use: for this reason you want to understand if there are other webcam programs that could be for you.

Don’t worry, below I will list other programs that allow you to record a video via webcam.

• Splitcam( Windows / macOS ) – free program that allows you to record video via the webcam and broadcast in streaming. The software has a very simple interface to use, is compatible with both Windows and macOS and the Italian language is also available.
• Debut Video Capture( Windows / macOS ) – software available in Italian for both Windows and macOS, which allows you to record video with the webcam. It also allows capture from external devices, such as an IP camera or PC screen. In order to use all the features, you need to purchase a Home or Pro license for $ 60 or $ 70 respectively.
• VLC( Windows / macOS / Linux ) – you probably weren’t aware of this but VLC is not only a multimedia content player, it can also be used to record video from webcams or other capture devices. This program is totally free, open source and is available for Windows PC, macOS and Linux, also in Italian. More info here .