Screencast

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title: "Screencast" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["articles-containing-video-clips", "digital-container-formats", "film-and-video-technology", "graphical-user-interfaces", "screencasting-software", "training"] description: "Digital recording of computer screen output" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencast" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Digital recording of computer screen output ::

A screencast is a digital recording of computer screen output, also known as a video screen capture or a screen recording, often containing audio narration. The term screencast compares with the related term screenshot; whereas screenshot generates a single picture of a computer screen, a screencast is essentially a movie of the changes over time that a user sees on a computer screen, that can be enhanced with audio narration and captions.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Adjusting_photo_with_levels.ogv" caption="An example of screencasting: A video showing how to change a photo using "levels" in [[GIMP]]."] ::

Etymology

In 2004, columnist Jon Udell invited readers of his blog to propose names for the emerging genre.{{cite web |url = http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2004/11/15.html#a1114 |last = Udell |first = Jon |title = Jon Udell: Name that genre |date = 15 November 2004 |publisher = InfoWorld |access-date = 12 June 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080616182527/http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2004/11/15.html#a1114 |archive-date = 16 June 2008 |url-status = dead |url=http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2004/11/17.html#a1116 |first=Jon |last=Udell |title=Jon Udell: Name that genre: screencast |date=17 November 2004 |publisher=InfoWorld |access-date=12 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610055407/http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2004/11/17.html#a1116 |archive-date=10 June 2008 |url-status=dead

The terms "screencast," "screencam" and "screen recording" are often used interchangeably, due to the market influence of ScreenCam as a screencasting product of the early 1990s.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gzgEAAAAMBAJ&q=lotus+screencam&pg=PA121 |last=McCracken |first=Harry |title=Lotus' ScreenCam is Easy Multimedia |date=9 May 1994 |journal=InfoWorld |volume=16 |issue=19 |issn=0199-6649 |page=121 |publisher=InfoWorld Media Group |access-date=28 December 2010 |archive-date=15 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115002249/https://books.google.com/books?id=gzgEAAAAMBAJ&q=lotus+screencam&pg=PA121 |url-status=live | last = Braun | first = Linda | title = Listen up! Podcasting for Schools and Libraries | publisher = Information Today, Inc | location = Medford, New Jersey | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-1-57387-304-8 | last = Notess | first = Greg | title = Teaching Web Search Skills | url = https://archive.org/details/teachingwebsearc0000note | url-access = registration | publisher = Information Today | location = Medford, New Jersey | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-1-57387-267-6

Uses

Screencasts can help demonstrate and teach the use of software features. Creating a screencast helps software developers show off their work. Educators may also use screencasts as another means of integrating technology into the curriculum. Students can record video and audio as they demonstrate the proper procedure to solve a problem on an interactive whiteboard.

Screencasts are useful tools for ordinary software users as well: They help filing report bugs in which the screencasts take the place of potentially unclear written explanations; they help showing others how a given task is accomplished in a specific software environment.

Organizers of seminars may choose to routinely record complete seminars and make them available to all attendees for future reference and/or sell these recordings to people who cannot afford the fee of the live seminar or do not have the time to attend it. This will generate an additional revenue stream for the organizers and makes the knowledge available to a broader audience.

This strategy of recording seminars is already widely used in fields where using a simple video camera or audio recorder is insufficient to make a useful recording of a seminar. Computer-related seminars need high quality and easily readable recordings of screen contents which is usually not achieved by a video camera that records the desktop.

In classrooms, teachers and students can use this tool to create videos to explain content, vocabulary, etc. Videos can make class time more productive for both teachers and students. Screencasts may increase student engagement and achievement and also provide more time in which students can work collaboratively in groups, so screencasts help them to think through cooperative learning.

In addition, screencasts allow students to move at their own pace since they can pause or review content anytime and anywhere. Screencasts are excellent for those learners who just need an oral as well as a visual explanation of the content presented.

Software

Open-source tools exist for both screencasting and livestreaming the recorded video.

Trial versions of screencasting programs often apply a watermark, encouraging users to purchase the full version in order to remove it.

Hardware

An alternative solution for capturing a screencast is the use of a hardware RGB or DVI frame grabber card. This approach places the burden of the recording and compression process on a machine separate from the one generating the visual material being captured.

In popular culture

The films Unfriended, Unfriended: Dark Web, and Searching contain screencasts that were simulated for the purposes of the film.

References

References

1. "Definition of screencast".
2. (9 May 2010). "Definition of ScreenCam". [[Ziff Davis]].
3. (9 May 2010). "Definition of Screencast". [[Ziff Davis]].
4. (2023-11-24). "What Is Screen Recording? Capturing the Digital Canvas - Tech Review Advisor".
5. "Audiovisual formative feedback in online quizzes and essays".
6. (4 December 2012). "How to stream games with Open Broadcaster: a fast, free livestreaming application – News – PC Gamer". Future Publishing Limited.
7. (29 September 2018). "Top 3 Free Screencast Software To Create High-Quality Videos You Must Know".
8. "Automate Video Capture for Screencasting".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::