Until now you have always used VLC to play multimedia content of all kinds, from MP3 songs to streaming streams. However, you must know that the potential of this great program is not limited to reproduction only. With the right precautions, in fact, it is also possible to record audio streams with VLC , everything that happens on the desktop (behaving like any program to create “screencasts”), and as the icing on the cake, record a real movie using the webcam almost like a movie camera.
How do you say? I intrigued you and now you are interested in knowing how to wisely take advantage of VLC’s recording features? Excellent, I want to tell you right away that you are in the right place, at a time that could not be better: below you will find explained in detail all the various steps that must be taken to be able to perform the operations described above through the commands “hidden” among buttons and menus scattered here and there in the application.
So? May I know what are you still standing there? Get comfortable, take a few minutes just for yourself and start concentrating on reading this tutorial. I am sure that in the end you will be able to tell yourself very happy and satisfied with what you have learned. Trust me, it’s going to be a lot of fun!
Index
- How to record with VLC: Windows
- How to record audio with VLC
- How to record screen with VLC
- How to record from webcam with VLC
- How to record with VLC: Mac
- How to record audio with VLC
- How to record screen with VLC
- How to record from webcam with VLC
- How to record with VLC: Android
- How to record with VLC: iOS / iPadOS
How to record with VLC: Windows
To begin with, let’s find out how to record with VLC using Windows . Below, therefore, you will find explained how to record audio , screen and contents taken by the webcam . It’s a lot simpler than you might think, trust me.
How to record audio with VLC
If you are interested in finding out how to record audio streams with VLC , first start the program by clicking on the Start button (the one with the Microsoft logo ) on the taskbar and select the link in the opened menu.
Now that you see the main window of VLC on the screen, click on the Media menu at the top left and on the item Open capture device present in it, then choose the DirectShow option from the Acquisition mode menu and select the PC microphone or whatever connected to it from the Audio Device drop-down menu .
After completing the above steps, press the Play button , then click on the View menu located at the top left and choose the Advanced Controls item in it in order to enable the capture controls. Finally, start recording press the Record button (the one with the red circle ).
When you want, you can stop recording the audio stream by clicking on the Record or Stop playback buttons (the one with the square ) and save the final file (by default, it is stored in the Windows Music folder ).
How to record screen with VLC
To record the screen with VLC for Windows, click on the program’s Media menu located at the top left, then on the wording Open capture device present in it.
At this point, in the new window that is shown to you on the screen, expand the drop-down menu Capture mode and select the Desktop item , then adjust the refresh rate for shooting within the desired Frame rate for capture field (I recommend using the 50 f / s setting ).
To capture the desktop recording to a video file to save to your PC hard drive, click the Convert / Save button located at the bottom of the screen.
Then make sure that the Source field of the next window is set to the screen: \\ option (otherwise you do), check that Convert is selected (otherwise you always do it) and, finally, set the Profile menu to the Video option – H.264 + MP3 (MP4) .
To conclude, click on the Browse button located next to the Destination File item to choose the folder in which to save the new file, indicate its name in the appropriate text field and finalize everything by clicking on the Save button .
Once this is done, you can finally start the actual recording by pressing the Start button located at the bottom. Subsequently, VLC will immediately begin to acquire the video sequence coming from the desktop, saving it in the file indicated above.
The program will continue to record until the acquisition is stopped manually: to do so, simply press the Stop playback button (the one with the square ) located in the lower bar of the software.
How to record from webcam with VLC
Are you wondering how to record with VLC what is recorded by the webcam connected to your computer? So do this: click on the Media menu in the upper left part of the program window and select the item on Open capture device .
Next, expand the Capture Mode drop-down menu visible in the new window that opened and set the DirectShow option, then select your Webcam via the other Video Device Name drop-down menu .
If you intend to record audio as well, make sure you select the correct microphone in the Audio device drop-down menu and, finally, enter the resolution of the video you want to obtain in the Resolution text field (if you don’t know what to choose, I recommend using the parameter 640 × 480 , suitable for all types of webcams).
When you are finished, press the Play button to view everything that the webcam frames on the screen and, once satisfied with the result, prepare VLC for recording the contents.
Therefore, click on the View menu located at the top left and choose the Advanced Controls item from the latter to activate the acquisition controls and, to start recording the webcam stream, then press the Record button (the one with the red circle ). When you’re done, press the Record or Stop playback buttons (the one with the square ) to stop capturing the video and save everything to a file (stored, by default, in the Windows Videos folder ).
How to record with VLC: Mac
Do you own a Mac and, therefore, would you like to understand how to record with VLC in that case? I’ll settle you immediately. Find everything explained below. Even then, you can use this popular program to make audio , screen and webcam recordings .
How to record audio with VLC
If your desire is to be able to record audio streams on your Mac with VLC, the first step you need to take is to start the program by clicking on the Launchpad icon (the one with the colored squares ) that you find on the MacOS Dock bar and selecting the link to VLC from the proposed screen.
Now that you see the software window on your desktop, click on the program’s File menu located in the upper left part of the screen and choose the Open capture device option in it.
Now, select the item Input devices from the drop-down menu at the top, check the Audio option and make sure that the Mac microphone or the one connected to the computer you want to use is selected in the relevant drop-down menu (otherwise you can fix it).
Then, press the Settings button , indicate the location where you want to save the output file by clicking on the Browse button corresponding to the File item, select the option you are interested in from the Encapsulation method drop-down menu , check the Audio box and define the output format, bitrate and channels using the appropriate fields, then press the OK button and the Open button .
Then proceed to start audio recording with the microphone, opening the Playback menu at the top left and choosing Record in it.
When you are done, click on the Stop button (the one with the square ) located at the bottom and the final file will be saved in the location indicated by you.
How to record screen with VLC
If you want to use VLC to record the screen of your Mac, first click on the File menu of the program visible in the upper left part of the screen and, subsequently, on the item Open capture device .
When you reach the next screen, select the Screen option from the drop-down menu at the top, define the value you prefer in the Frames per second field (I recommend setting 50 ), check the Stream output option and, when you are done, click on the Settings item .
Through the new window that you now see, you must instead set all the parameters related to saving the file on disk. Therefore, select the File item , then use the adjacent Browse key to choose where to save the recording (by default it is saved in the Documents folder ), then select the MPEG 4 item from the Encapsulation method drop-down menu , put the check next to the words Video and Audio and, finally, use the appropriate drop-down menus to use the right codecs (i.e. h264 and mp3) and to correctly set the acquisition parameters ( 2048 kb / s for the video bitrate and 128 kb / s for the 2-channel audio bitrate).
When you are finished, click OK to return to the previous window and, to start recording, press the Open button without delay : the Mac screen capture and conversion to the desired file will start immediately, without any input visible from the interface.
When you deem it appropriate, you can stop the recording by simply clicking on the Stop button (the one with the square ) located on the VLC bar located at the bottom.
How to record from webcam with VLC
If you then want to record a video via the webcam with VLC for Mac, you can act as follows: click on the File menu of the program located in the upper left part of the screen and select the item Open acquisition device from the menu that appears.
Next, select the Input Devices item from the top drop-down menu, then check the Video and Audio items , making sure that the webcam and the Mac microphone are selected in the relevant menus (otherwise you will do it).
At this point, click on the Open button to see in real time everything that is captured by the webcam and, when you are ready, access the Playback menu at the top left and select the word Record in it to start the acquisition of content via the webcam and microphone you selected earlier.
When you are done, press the Stop button (the one with the square ) located at the bottom and the resulting video will be automatically saved in your Mac Documents folder. Et voilà!
How to record with VLC: Android
VLC is also available for Android smartphones and tablets , but in this case no useful functions are offered for recording operations. Considering this, I suggest that you turn to the use of other resources specifically dedicated to recording audio, the screen and what is visible from the camera, as in the case of those that I pointed out to you in my guides on how to record with a mobile phone , how to record screen Android and how to record a video from your phone .
How to record with VLC: iOS / iPadOS
Do you own an iPhone or an iPad? I would like to inform you then that VLC is also usable on iOS / iPadOS , but unfortunately, like Android, the app for Apple-branded mobile devices does not offer recording functions. If you have this type of need, you must turn, even in this case, to specific third-party solutions, such as those I indicated in my guides on how to record audio with iPhone , how to record the iPhone screen and how to record video on iPhon
