Hi all, I want to do some screen recording on my linux desktop. And like a normal-functioning member of society, I decided to do it the hardest way and learn ffmpeg CLI to do it. Why? well, something about using underlying tools and customizing their usage excites me.
I have already started doing this, and I am finding I have to do a lot of trial and error to get things right. Before I dive deeper, I want to ask: Am I limiting myself in doing this? Is there anything I could be missing out on taking this route, or something that ffmpeg could not do on its own that a dedicated solution can?
What will I use this for exactly? well, things like recording a video game as I play it (which I suppose will require hardware acceleration to be of viable quality), or recording a tutorial (requiring voice input from mic), things like that.
I don’t know whether it would be impossible to do, but using OBS would be much easier both on the short and long term
I guess no Wayland support, which is pretty big
what do screen recording softwares for wayland use under the hood then?
They use XDG Desktop Portal, which makes video and audio capture system level instead of application level to enhance security. When a program wants to record your screen you get a pop up to choose which screen/window to share. After that the app can only see that window or screen.
I wish you success. I’m happy to use SimpleScreenRecorder(https://github.com/MaartenBaert/ssr).
I have this bound to a hotkey for quick screenrecording
I’ve used this with success https://flathub.org/apps/com.dec05eba.gpu_screen_recorder
Surprisingly, VLC has a simple screen recording feature in the GUI. Record by screen or by individual app.
VLC also has a very comprehensive cli.
vlc -Hgives almost every possible option with useful descriptions of them You can configure everything to your needs. Inputs, outputs, framerate, audio and video encoders, muxers, filters, network live stream or to file or both, in the background, etc. EverythingGUI
One page of the advanced settings options (using the -H option gives me 60 full pages of options in this portrait format)
GNOME has a screen recorder built in, but I use OBS because it’s a swiss army knife of (screen) recording.