Record a lecture or a long walkthrough EN

To record a lecture or a long walkthrough, lower the video settings before you start so the file stays small, record in one take, then add chapters so viewers can jump to the part they need.

Keep the file small

A long recording at full quality can use a lot of storage and, on the free plan, a lot of your allowance. Slides and a talking voice don't need the highest settings. Change these before you press record.

1. Open the Rekorder popup and select the settings (gear) icon.
2. Open the Video tab.
3. Set Resolution to 720p (16:9). Higher resolution gives a clearer picture but a bigger file. If your screen has small text, do a short test recording first and check that it's readable.
4. Set Frame rate to 15. Rekorder describes this option as suited to low motion and presentations, low-end machines and small file size. If you scroll, animate or demo a lot of movement, use 30 instead.
5. Set Quality to Medium or Low. This controls the video bitrate of every recording. High is the default. A lower setting gives a smaller file, and it can help recording stay smooth if your computer encodes video in software.

These settings apply to new recordings, so set them before you start. To reuse them every time, see Set defaults so you do not reconfigure every recording. For what each setting does, see Resolution, frame rate and quality explained.

If the video stutters on your computer even at these settings, see Make Rekorder fast on an older laptop.

While you record

• Keep the recorder tab open. Rekorder opens an extra tab to run the recording. Closing it stops the recording. See The extra tab that opens when you record.
• Pause instead of stopping. Pausing keeps the take, so you can take a break or skip a tangent and carry on in the same recording. The default shortcut for pause and resume is Alt+Shift+P. See Start, stop, pause and resume a recording.
• Uploads happen as you go. In Cloud mode, your recording uploads in the background while you record. If Chrome crashes or your laptop sleeps, you don't lose the whole take. See If Chrome crashes or your laptop sleeps mid-recording.

Recording time and storage

The limits that apply to a long take are your plan's recording time and storage. As you near the limit, Rekorder shows "Recording limit nearly reached" and tells you how much time or space is left. If you reach it, the recording stops, and everything already uploaded is kept.

On the free plan, a long lecture can use up your allowance quickly. See The free allowance: 60 minutes and 1 GB, explained and You hit a limit mid-recording. Was the take lost?. Pro gives unlimited cloud recording time and storage for covered seats. See What Pro costs, and what it includes. For length in general, see Is there a maximum recording length?.

Make it easy to navigate

Chapters give viewers a list of titled moments under the video, and each one jumps to that point. Do the steps in this order, because rendering clears captions, summary and chapters.

1. Wait for the recording to finish processing. See Why editing, sharing and captions wait for processing.
2. If you want to trim dead air or cut a mistake, do it now in the editor, then choose Apply & render. See Remove all the dead air automatically and Save a draft vs Apply & render.
3. Generate captions. Pick the spoken language yourself rather than relying on auto-detect. See Generate captions for a recording.
4. On the recording's page, in the Edit tab, select Auto-generate Chapters, then Generate. Rekorder builds the list from your captions.
5. Check the list under Chapters. If a chapter starts in the wrong place, or you'd rather follow your own outline, move the player to the right moment and select + Add chapters. You can't edit a chapter's title once it exists, so delete the old chapter and add a new one.

Generating chapters again replaces the whole list, including chapters you added by hand. For everything about chapters, see Chapters: generated, added and renamed. To add a short overview under the video as well, see Generate a summary.

Chapters and captions need Cloud mode. Offline recordings have no captions and no editor. See What you give up in Offline mode.

Related articles

• Turn a long recording into something people will watch
• Suggest a playback speed to your audience
• Encoder preference and when to change it
• My recording stopped by itself
• Video is blurry, stutters or drops frames