How to record or stream your gameplay on PC

June 3, 2016

Whether you want to share your gaming moments with the world or just record some of your favourite highlights, you’re going to need some specialised software for the job.

There are a variety of recording and streaming programs to choose from, with some offering more features than others.

Check out which recording or streaming program is right for you below:

XSplit (Streaming)

XSplit is one of the easiest programs to use if you want to stream your gameplay to Twitch.

It does, however, require a monthly subscription in order to access its full range of features. These features include image overlays, webcam image effects and various addons you can use to enhance your live video for viewers.

To use XSplit capture software:

Register/Login on the XSplit website and download the server
Start the program and log in to your Twitch account
Open the game you will be streaming
Press CTRL + TAB to open XSplit
Click Broadcast

You are now streaming your gameplay to Twitch. The XSplit interface can also be used to control custom overlays and addons if you want to use those features.

Open Broadcasting Software (Streaming/Recording)

A slightly less user-friendly but free option is Open Broadcasting Software.

Here’s how to set it up for streaming or recording:

Download OBS from here
Open OBS and navigate to the Settings menu
Under “Streaming Services” select Twitch
Next to “Play Path/Stream Key” enter the key you got from Twitch
To record, change the broadcast settings to record and designate a file path as the streaming destination.

OBS can be fairly complicated, but it is also powerful. Before recording or streaming, you will need to add sources via the “Add Sources…” button, and from there you are able to add game capture windows along with various other scenes.

In order to properly set up the quality of your video, I recommend following this guide.

Plays.tv (Recording)

Plays.tv is standalone game capture software that is also integrated with the latest AMD GPU drivers.

It is great for recording gameplay and sharing highlights, as it does not use as much processing power as other game capture solutions.

The software is also integrated with the website, enabling you to easily share highlights with friends.

It is very intuitive and easy to use, and is available free from the Plays.tv website.

ShadowPlay (Recording)

If you have an Nvidia GeForce 600 Series or newer graphics card, you can use Nvidia’s ShadowPlay software to record gameplay.

ShadowPlay is useful as it draws a barely noticeable amount of processing power from your gaming system while it is recording.

The software records the last 20 minutes of gameplay continuously, allowing you to save any epic gaming moments at the touch of a button.

It is very simple to use as well, simply turn ShadowPlay in the GeForce Experience panel and fire up your game. While ShadowPlay is running, you can press Alt + F10 to capture the last 20 minutes of gameplay, and you can use Alt + F9 to manually toggle recording on/off.