Free Video Screen Capture Software – ScreenCast or Record with CamStudio

Camstudio is a free open source utility which you can use to record screen activities with audio input as well. The free streaming video software  records video in AVI format, which you can convert into SWF format (Flash) with the SWF Producer installed along with CamStudio.

Camstudio also lets you add screen annotations to your video. For this, you have to save the text for annotations as a layout prior to recording. Then while recording, you can call them using a hotkey.

• Screen annotations to add custom text captions and callouts to your video
• Ability to record from Microphone or from your PC speaker
• Fullscreen and custom area capture options available

CamStudio 2.0 is a 1.3 MB download and is completely free for personal and commercial use.

Download CamStudio 2.0 from SourceForge

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Here are just a few ways you can use this software:

1. You can use it to create demonstration videos for any software program
2. Or how about creating a set of videos answering your most frequently asked questions?
3. You can create video tutorials for school or college class
4. You can use it to record a recurring problem with your computer so you can show technical support people
5. You can use it to create video-based information products you can sell
6. You can even use it to record new tricks and techniques you discover on your favourite software program, before you forget them

• CamStudio can also add high-quality, anti-aliased screen captions to your recordings in seconds and with the unique Video Annotation feature you can even personalise your videos by including a webcam movie of yourself “picture-in-picture” over your desktop.
• CamStudio also comes with its own Lossless Codec that produces crystal clear results with a much smaller filesize compared with other more popular codecs, like Microsoft Video 1.
• You have total control over the output of your video: you can choose to use custom cursors, to record the whole screen or just a section of it and can reduce or increase the quality of the recording depending on if you want smaller videos (for emailing to people, for instance) or you can have “best quality” ones for burning onto CD/DVD.
• CamStudio can be learned in a matter of minutes and comes with a comprehensive built-in helpfile, so if you do manage to get stuck, you can simply hit “Help” and get the answers you need.