How to screen record on Windows

MAY 9, 2026 • By Jeremy Brand Yuan

Your screen recording options on Windows

Three tools cover almost every use case. Here's the quick version of each.

Snipping Tool. Built into Windows 11. Screenshots and screen recording in one app, with microphone and system audio support as of the 2025 update. The cleanest built-in option if you're on Windows 11. Not available on Windows 10.

Xbox Game Bar. Built into both Windows 10 and 11. Originally for game capture, but works for any application. Audio is supported but inconsistent. The default if you're on Windows 10, or if Snipping Tool can't record what you need on Windows 11.

Airtime Recorder. Our screen recorder. Runs in any browser and as a desktop app for Windows and Mac. Records screen, microphone, and system audio in one step, uploads to a sharable URL the moment you stop recording, and plays back in a viewer that adapts to whatever device the recipient is on (with double-click zoom for fine detail).

The rest of this guide walks through each of those, plus what to do when audio gets weird.

How to screen record on Windows 11 with the Snipping Tool

Snipping Tool is Windows 11's built-in screenshot and screen recording app. It ships with the OS, which is the best thing about it—nothing to download, nothing to pay for, probably already in your Start menu. The catch is that its video and audio capabilities aren't obvious, and Microsoft hasn't done much to advertise them. So we'll walk through the whole thing.

If you're on Windows 11, this is the method we'd recommend most. It handles screen, microphone, and system audio in a single tool you already have.

Here's how to use it.

1. Open Snipping Tool. The fastest way is the keyboard shortcut: Windows + Shift + R. (Note: Windows + Shift + S is the screenshot shortcut. Different key.) You can also search "Snipping Tool" from the Start menu and open it from there.
2. Click the video camera icon in the toolbar. By default, Snipping Tool opens in screenshot mode. The camera icon switches it to video.
3. Click "New" and drag a rectangle around the area you want to record. You can record any portion of your screen or the whole thing—just drag from one corner of your selection to the other.
4. Open Settings (the three-dot menu) if you want audio. This is where the 2025 update lives. You'll see toggles for "Microphone" and "System audio." Turn on whichever you need. If you don't see these options at all, your Snipping Tool needs an update—open Microsoft Store, search Snipping Tool, install the update.
5. Click Start. There's a 3-second countdown, then recording begins.
6. Click Stop when you're done. Your recording saves to Videos/Screen Recordings by default. You can also copy it to memory, share via the Share dialog, or save manually elsewhere.

That's it. Screen, audio (if you want it), one tool, no installs.

What's new in Snipping Tool (the 2025 audio update)

Before 2025, Snipping Tool video could record your screen but not your voice or your computer's sound—which made it a non-starter for tutorials, demos, or anything where audio mattered. The 2025 update added both microphone and system audio capture, with toggles in the Settings menu that persist between recordings.

If you don't see the audio toggles, your Snipping Tool predates the update. Open Microsoft Store, search Snipping Tool, install the update. Free, fast, and you'll have full audio support afterward.

Heads up: Snipping Tool video is Windows 11 only. If you're on Windows 10, the next section is for you.

How to screen record on Windows with the Xbox Game Bar

The name is misleading. Xbox Game Bar is built into Windows—both 10 and 11—and despite the gaming branding, it works for recording any application, not just games. Microsoft built it for gamers as part of their effort to make Windows feel more like a gaming platform, and the Capture widget (which is what we care about here) was the side benefit that turned out to be useful for everyone.

Here's the practical version of who should care:

You're on Windows 10. Xbox Game Bar is your built-in screen recorder. There isn't really another option built into the OS.

You're on Windows 11 and Snipping Tool isn't covering what you need (it can't record certain windows, you want a longer continuous recording, you need an instant-replay style "record what just happened" capture). Game Bar fills those gaps.

You're on Windows 11 with Snipping Tool working well. This section is optional reading. Feel free to jump down to Audio configuration.

If you're still here, here's how to use it.

Configure Game Bar (one-time setup)

You only have to do this once.

1. Open Settings → Gaming → Xbox Game Bar. Toggle it on if it isn't already.
2. Click "Captures" in the left sidebar. This is where the recording settings live.
3. Set your save location, max recording length, and recording quality. The default 30 fps and standard quality work for most things. The default save location is Videos/Captures.
4. Scroll to the audio section. Toggle "Record audio when I record a game" on. Set audio quality (128 Kbps is fine for most uses), and choose whether to record system audio, your microphone, or both.

If you want audio in your recordings, all of that has to be set here. Game Bar won't ask you again at record time.

Record with Game Bar

1. Open the app you want to record. Game Bar records the foreground application, so whatever's open and active is what'll be captured.
2. Press Windows + G to open the Game Bar overlay.
3. In the Capture widget, click the record button (solid white circle). Or use the keyboard shortcut: Windows + Alt + R.
4. Do whatever you're recording.
5. Press the record button again, or hit Windows + Alt + R, to stop. Your recording will appear in Videos/Captures (or wherever you set it during configuration).

A few things worth knowing:

• Game Bar won't record File Explorer, the Windows desktop, or some system dialogs. It's designed around app windows.
• It records one app at a time. If you switch windows mid-recording, Game Bar follows the active window—but multi-app recording isn't really its strength.
• Game Bar's audio capture is, well, inconsistent. Microphone usually works; system audio sometimes drops. If audio matters and you're not on Windows 11 with a recent Snipping Tool, plan for some trial and error.

How to screen record on Windows with audio

Audio is the most common failure point in Windows screen recording. Here's the actual landscape, by version and tool.

The easy answer

If you're on Windows 11 and your Snipping Tool has been updated in 2025 or later, you have the cleanest option. Open Snipping Tool, switch to video mode, open Settings, and toggle "Microphone" and "System audio" depending on what you need. Done. The toggles persist between recordings, so once you set them you don't need to revisit.

This is a meaningful improvement over the situation a year ago, when capturing both your voice and your computer's audio on Windows usually meant third-party software or virtual audio devices.

When the easy answer doesn't apply

Maybe you're on Windows 10. Maybe your Snipping Tool predates the audio update. Maybe you need finer control than the toggles offer. Three options:

Update Snipping Tool. Microsoft Store, search Snipping Tool, install update. Free, fast, and you get the modern audio support afterward. If you're on Windows 11, this is usually the answer.

Use Xbox Game Bar. Game Bar can record system + microphone audio when configured correctly. Reliability varies, but for casual use it works.

Use Airtime Recorder. If you record often enough that the configuration overhead matters, or if Game Bar has dropped audio on you before, a dedicated tool earns its place. Airtime Recorder captures screen, microphone, and system audio together—in one step, no settings to configure—and that's just the floor. The reasons to actually use it are coming up next.

Audio: what Windows actually captures

A few specifics that come up a lot:

Microphone audio. Always works, on both built-in tools, with any decent mic.

System audio (the sounds your computer plays). Works in Snipping Tool with the 2025 update. Works in Game Bar with the right settings. Doesn't work in older Snipping Tool versions.

Application-specific audio. You generally can't isolate one app's audio (e.g., recording just Zoom audio without your notification sounds). Windows handles audio at the system level, not the app level.

If the audio you need to capture is unusual—a specific app, multiple inputs at once, audio routed through a specific device—Airtime Recorder is built for that. Native tools handle the common cases.

Where built-in tools fall short

The built-in tools handle the common cases. If you're sending a one-off recording to a teammate or grabbing a quick clip, you don't need to leave the OS. But there are four specific places where Windows native tools fall short—and where Airtime Recorder is built around solving them.

Sharing friction. Native Windows recordings save as MP4 files in Videos/Screen Recordings or Videos/Captures. To share one, you find the file, upload it somewhere (Drive, Dropbox, your work file-sharing tool), send a link, and hope the recipient can play it. Airtime Recorder uploads to a shareable URL automatically when you stop recording. No file management, no upload step. Stop recording, copy link, paste link.

Watching across devices. A Windows-native MP4 is a fixed-size file. Watching a recording made on a 27-inch monitor on a phone means tiny detail, pinching to zoom, or just giving up. Airtime Recorder playback adapts to the device viewing it—a recording made on your desktop watches well on someone else's phone, and vice versa.

Detail in the recording. Tutorials and demos often hinge on small things—a button, fine text, a UI element you're walking through. Native tools record at fixed resolution; viewers see what you saw. Airtime Recorder lets viewers double-click any region of the recording to zoom in, examining details at their own pace. Once you've watched a recording where the audience can zoom into the part that matters, going back to a fixed-size video feels limiting.

Reliable audio that comes for free. Windows native audio capture is improving—Snipping Tool's 2025 update is real and useful. But it's inconsistent: Game Bar's audio is famously hit-or-miss, older Snipping Tool versions don't have audio at all, and what works depends on your build. Airtime Recorder captures screen, microphone, and system audio in one step, every time, no version-dependent quirks.

But here's what matters: that's the floor. The other three points stack on top. Native Windows tools give you a video file. Airtime Recorder gives you a video file plus the four things native can't do.

Airtime Recorder runs in your browser (no install) and as a desktop app for Windows and Mac. Recording, audio, sharing, viewer zoom, presenter overlay—one workflow, one link, one place.

Windows keyboard shortcuts for screen recording

Two sets, depending on which tool you're using.

Snipping Tool (Windows 11)

• Open Snipping Tool video mode directly: Windows + Shift + R
• Open Snipping Tool screenshot mode: Windows + Shift + S

Xbox Game Bar

• Open Game Bar overlay: Windows + G
• Start or stop recording: Windows + Alt + R
• Record the last 30 seconds: Windows + Alt + G
• Toggle microphone: Windows + Alt + M
• Take a screenshot: Windows + Alt + PrtScrn

Some of these can be customized. Settings → Gaming → Captures has the keybind options if your shortcuts conflict with another app.

Common Windows screen recording problems (and how to fix them)

Most of these come up regularly enough to be worth spelling out.

My Snipping Tool doesn't have audio options. You need the 2025 update or later. Open Microsoft Store, search Snipping Tool, install the update. The toggles will appear in Settings the next time you open it.

Game Bar's record shortcut (Windows + Alt + R) isn't working. Three usual causes. (1) Game Bar is disabled—check Settings → Gaming → Xbox Game Bar and turn it on. (2) The shortcut conflicts with another app—rare but it happens. (3) The active window is something Game Bar doesn't record (File Explorer, the desktop, certain system apps). Click into the app you actually want to record first, then try again.

Xbox Game Bar won't record this window. Game Bar is built around recording app windows, not the system. It won't record File Explorer, the Windows desktop, settings panels, or some system dialogs. If you need to record those, use Snipping Tool (Windows 11) or Airtime Recorder.

My recording has no sound. Most common cause: audio isn't enabled in your tool's settings. In Snipping Tool, open Settings → toggle Microphone and/or System audio. In Game Bar, check Settings → Gaming → Captures → Recorded audio. Second most common: the wrong audio source is selected. Confirm your microphone is set correctly.

My recording is laggy or low quality. Three things to try. Lower the recording resolution if your tool allows. Free up disk space (recordings can get large). Close background apps competing for CPU—anything streaming or rendering is the usual culprit.

Where did my recording save? Snipping Tool: Videos/Screen Recordings by default. Xbox Game Bar: Videos/Captures. Both can be changed in their respective settings.

How do I trim a Windows screen recording? The Photos app has basic trimming built in. Right-click the file → Open with → Photos, then use the trim controls. For more advanced editing, Clipchamp (free, included with Windows 11) is solid. Both come with Windows.

Frequently asked questions