Screen recording
Record your screen with audio and camera overlays in PixPin. Trim recordings, adjust sound and effects, and export MP4, GIF, or WebP files.
PixPin can record any area of your screen, making it useful for demonstrations, tutorial animations, and videos for reporting issues. There are two stages: record first, then preview, trim, and adjust in the playback window before exporting as MP4, GIF, or WebP.
Two recording modes
| Mode | After recording | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Normal recording (default) | Opens the playback window, where you can trim, adjust sound and animation styles, and choose an export format. | When you need to edit or export an animated image. |
| Quick recording | Exports directly to an MP4 file without opening the playback window. | Longer videos that you only need to save as recorded. |
Switch using Recording mode in the recording toolbar. See Quick recording for details.
Start recording
Press Ctrl+1⌃ Control+1 to start a screenshot and drag to select the area to record. You can also select a window directly.
Click Record screen in the screenshot toolbar, or press GG. The recording toolbar appears beside the selection. You can also choose Record screen from the floating ball.
Set the frame rate, delay, audio, keyboard and mouse recording, and camera as needed in the recording toolbar, then click Record/Stop to start.
Frame rate and delay
- Frame rate: Click the frame rate shown in the toolbar (24FPS by default) to choose 5, 16, 24, 30, or 60FPS. Higher frame rates produce smoother recordings and larger files. A lower frame rate can significantly reduce GIF file sizes. You cannot change the frame rate after recording starts.
- Recording delay: Choose No delay or 1, 2, 3, 5, or 10 seconds. With a delay set, clicking Record starts a countdown, giving you time to move the pointer to its starting position or switch to the window you want to demonstrate.
Controls while recording
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Stop recording | Click Record/Stop again. Normal recording opens the playback window; quick recording exports directly. |
| Pause / Resume | Click Pause/Resume. Frames during a pause are not recorded, letting you skip unnecessary waiting, such as loading. |
| Rerecord | Click Rerecord to discard the current recording and start over. |
| Discard recording | Click Close. PixPin asks whether to stop recording and warns that this will delete the current recording. |
Audio
In the recording toolbar's audio options, you can select these independently:
- Record system audio: Sounds played by your computer, such as videos and notifications.
- Record microphone audio: Your voice, useful for narrated demonstrations.
Both are on by default and are saved separately during recording. You can adjust their volumes independently during playback (see Adjust volume). If a device is not detected, PixPin reports that no system audio device or microphone device was found. You cannot change audio settings after recording starts; stop recording first.
Record mouse and keyboard input
For tutorials, you can show viewers where you click and which keys you press. Select these in the recording toolbar's keyboard and mouse options:
- Record mouse actions: Records clicks and scrolling, showing click effects during playback.
- Record keyboard actions: Records key presses and displays them in the video during playback.
These effects are added in the playback window after recording, rather than drawn directly onto the captured frames. You can therefore change their styles or turn them off any time before export (see Animation styles).
On macOS, recording keyboard and mouse input requires Accessibility permission. If permission is missing, Needs permission appears beside the option. Click it and follow the instructions to enable it in System Settings.
Camera overlays
When recording narrated demonstrations or lessons, you can overlay your camera feed on the screen recording:
Click the camera option in the recording toolbar and select Enable camera overlay.
Choose cameras under Camera devices (up to 2). You can overlay up to two camera feeds at once.
Set the Shape (rectangle or circle), Size, and Border color and thickness for each feed. If needed, rotate the camera 90 degrees clockwise or mirror it.
Drag the camera feeds on the screen to position them.
The system requests camera permission the first time you use it. If Camera access not allowed appears, click it and allow PixPin to use the camera in System Settings.
Recording toolbar visibility
When the recording toolbar overlaps the recording area, PixPin asks whether to hide it from the recording:
- Hide toolbar: The toolbar remains visible on your screen, but is not included in the video.
- Show toolbar: The toolbar appears in the recorded video.
If you use remote control software, a hidden toolbar may also be invisible in the remote view. On the Screenshot page in settings, under Dynamic screenshot, set Toolbar visibility during recording to Ask every time (default), Always show, or Always hide during recording.
Playback and editing
Stopping a normal recording opens the playback window. Preview your recording here and edit it before export.
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Play / Pause | Click Play/Pause in the toolbar. |
| Seek | Click or drag the progress bar below the video. |
| Playback speed | Click the speed in the toolbar (1.0X by default) to choose from 0.2X to 2.0X. The exported video uses the selected speed, useful for turning a longer operation into a short animation. |
| Trim the beginning and end | Drag the handles at both ends of the progress bar to set the start and end positions. Only the part between the handles is exported. |
| Adjust the frame boundaries | Drag the borders around the video to crop unwanted content from its edges. |
| Rerecord | Click Rerecord to discard the current recording and record again. |
Adjust volume
Click the audio option in the playback toolbar. System audio and Microphone each have a separate volume control and Mute switch. For example, if background music is too loud during narration, lower system audio independently.
Animation styles
If keyboard and mouse recording was enabled, the corresponding style options appear in the playback toolbar. Changes can be previewed immediately:
| Option | What you can adjust |
|---|---|
| Mouse | Show cursor, Cursor size, Animation speed, and whether effects appear for Left click, Right click, Middle click, and Mouse wheel. |
| Keys | Which categories to display: Character keys (A-Z, 0-9), Modifier keys (Ctrl, Shift, etc.), Combinations (such as Ctrl+A), and Other keys (F1-F12, Esc, etc.); the Size and Background color of the key labels. |
| Progress | Enable Show progress to include playback progress in the exported video. Choose Text or Progress bar for the Countdown style, and set its size and foreground and background colors. |
On the Screenshot page in settings, under Dynamic screenshot, you can adjust how long keys appear, how many past key presses are shown at once, how many consecutive characters are combined, and whether mouse paths are smoothed.
Export
Click the format button in the playback toolbar and choose an export format:
| Format | Features |
|---|---|
| MP4 | Video with small files and good quality. Suitable for longer recordings and videos with audio. |
| GIF | Image with broad compatibility and lower quality. Almost all applications and web pages can display it directly, making it useful for short animations. |
| WebP | Image with good quality and moderate compatibility. Sharper than GIF, with smaller files. |
Choose the quality. Higher quality produces larger files.
Click Save to choose a location, or Quick save to save directly to the configured folder. You can also click Copy to copy the file to the clipboard, then paste it into a chat application.
Progress is shown during export. Select Exit recording automatically after encoding to close the playback window when export finishes. You can also enable Exit recording after encoding by default in settings.
GIF and WebP contain only images, with no audio.
Quick recording
Choose Quick recording under Recording mode in the recording toolbar. On first use, PixPin explains its limitations and asks you to choose an Export quality: Lightweight, Standard, or Original.
- Save location: Set the quick recording save path on the Save page in settings. It defaults to the system Videos folder, and file names include the recording time. If a fixed path is not enabled, you are asked to choose a save location before recording.
- Export directly when finished: Stopping recording exports an MP4 file and exits recording without opening the playback window.
Limitations:
- Only MP4 video can be exported.
- Mouse and keyboard animations cannot be added.
- You cannot trim the recording or adjust frame boundaries or volume.
Performance and compatibility
- Hardware acceleration: Enable hardware acceleration on the Screenshot page in settings, under Dynamic screenshot, to encode video using your graphics card and reduce CPU usage during recording and export. It is on by default on macOS and off by default on Windows. Turn it off if recording problems occur after enabling it.
- Permissions: On macOS, screen recording requires Screen & System Audio Recording permission; microphone recording requires Microphone permission; camera overlays require Camera permission; and keyboard and mouse recording requires Accessibility permission. The system requests permission the first time you use each feature. See Install and update for setup.
- Audio warning: If you change audio settings while recording, PixPin tells you to stop recording first. To disable this warning, select Do not remind me again in the message, or enable Do not show audio recording warnings in settings.
- Unexpected interruption: If PixPin exits unexpectedly while recording, it offers to restore the interrupted recording at the next launch. Click Restore to recover the recorded content.
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