Tools for audio and video recording

There are many tools for audio and video recording. Recording on the camcorder or smartphone may vary from device to device but usually are quite intuitive. We will review most popular software applications used for video/audio recording and will provide with comparison of main features.

  • Camera is a free application that comes preinstalled on Windows 10 or 11. It is very easy to use and have basic settings of video quality. We recommend to switch on Pro mode where you will be able to manually control brightness, color balance and some other functions (list of functions may depend on capabilities of the connected camera).
  • PowerPoint well known for its presentation creation capabilities but also can be used for recording of audio and screen capture videos. It is very easy to use straight from the Insert menu group. Recordings are inserted into the current slide, but can be saved as separate file by right clicking on the recorded object and choosing “Save Media as…” menu. Screen capture is working only on Windows and is not supported on PowerPoint for Mac.
  • Prezi Video is a separate app from well know presentation creation software Prezi. It allows to combine camera video with overlay text, pictures and even screen capture. You can choose layout template from the library and prepare your overlay information in the scenario sequence where you enter your text and insert pictures from integrated library or your computer. Recorded video can be published for hosting on Prezi cloud or be saved locally to your computer. You can use live output from Prezi Video as a virtual camera for Zoom, Teams meetings or other application. Free version has some limitations and comes with Prezi logo overlay in the top-left corner. Plans for more feature rich Education version starts from 3USD/month.
  • OBS Studio from Open Broadcaster Software is a powerful and versatile open source application for professional video recording and live online broadcasting. You can mix your live video and audio from many layers and sources, prepare scenes with different presets and transitions, record locally and in parallel stream live to any platform of your choice as well as feed output as a virtual camera to any other software. OBS functionality can be extended by using variety of plugins. The only downside of this software - user interface is quite overloaded with a lot of functions and not so quick to master when you are just starting.
  • SplitCam is also a free software and can be considered as a bit simpler and less powerful alternative to OBS Studio.
  • Zoom is primarily meant for video communication and video recording is just a secondary function. Nevertheless, Zoom can be considered as an easy tool for video recording as far as many teachers are already familiar with its functionality. It came as a default solution for recording of live online lesons and licensed users can even record and share videos on Zoom Cloud. Check if you are using HD video mode on your Zoom app settings. Some Zoom settings can be change only on the website in your Zoom profile Settings page. Here you might be able to activate Full HD (1080P) for Group HD video. In case you have a license and planning to edit recorded Zoom leson, you can enable “Record active speaker, gallery view and shared screen separately” on your Zoom profile settings page. In this way you will get separate video files of shared screen, speaker and participants and will have more flexibility in post processing the final video. Please note that some options may depend on organisational settings and can be unavailable for you.
  • MS Teams meetings is a competing solution to Zoom also used for video communication and capable to record video session. Recording is usually stored on MS OneDrive and can be downloaded for further post processing. MS Teams does not have possibility to record separately video and screen share, thus in comparison to Zoom post processing is more limited here.
  • Loom is one of many tools dedicated for creating tutorial or explainer screen capture videos. It is recommended here because of friendly interface, feature rich functionality and free unlimited version for educators (https://www.loom.com/education).Sharing of the video supports responsive embedding, password protection and restriction to specific persons with defined e-mails. You can also enable feedback features such as emoji reactions or in place commenting.