How to record gameplay

Downloading

Drag the corner of the ScreenToGif window to get your desired recorded area.

Click here to save.

Even though this program is called ScreenToGif, we're just not going to use it for recording gifs.

Instead we're going to record MP4s, as they're dozens of times smaller than gifs, which means longer + prettier recordings.

Choose the MP4 format.

Choose the default MP4 preset.

Setting the CRF value to the max of 51 results in tiny files that are of really shitty quality.

Setting the CRF value to 1 results in massive files that are of high quality.

If you're having trouble getting your recorded files small enough then consider:

Lowering the framerate after recording by going to Edit > Reduce Frame Count.

Choose the Webm format.

You'll see this popup if another application on your computer hasn't already installed ffmpeg.

Download ffmpeg from here and then enter its ffmpeg.exe path like so.

WebM has a max CRF value of 63, instead of 51.

MP4 has the lowest size of 76 KB for my recording with CRF 51/51.

mp4-51.mp4

Webm is close with a size of 105 KB and CRF 63/63.

webm-63.mp4

But if we want to know which is better, we just change the MP4's CRF to 47/51 so it's 108 KB, which is close enough to the Webm's 105 KB.

The MP4 looks significantly worse than the Webm for the same size, which means the Webm format is the superior choice (needs more testing:tm:).

mp4-47.mp4