CamStudio is a desktop software for Windows computers that can record all on-screen video and audio activity, creating industry-standard AVI video files and optionally turn those into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs) using its built-in SWF Producer.
Here are just a few ways you can use this software:
You can use it to create demonstration videos for any software program
Or how about creating a set of videos answering your most frequently asked questions?
You can create video tutorials for school or college class
You can use it to record a recurring problem with your computer so you can show technical support people
You can use it to create video-based information products you can sell
You can even use it to record new tricks and techniques you discover on your favourite software program, before you forget them
“Nick, here is what I think I'll do; rather than fork out the $300.00 bucks for [CENSORED], I'll just keep using CamStudio.
“I am a self-employed consultant that works in the public safety community (cops, fire, ems, dispatch etc). What I have planned is to use CamStudio to capture on screen video for training vids.
“Thanks for a great product and your help!”
Joe Borgione
www.AlpineGeographic.com
Don't like the sound of your voice? No problem.
CamStudio can also add high-quality, anti-aliased (no jagged edges) 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.
And if all that wasn't enough, 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.
But all of these features would be worthless if CamStudio wasn't easy to use ... fortunately that's not the case. 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.
So where can I get CamStudio and how much does it cost?
You can download CamStudio and use it completely free - yep - completely 100% free for your personal and commercial projects as CamStudio and the Codec are released under the GPL (for more details on this license, click here.)
CamStudio was originally released by a company called RenderSoft who were subsequently bought by a company called eHelp who used some of the technology in their program, RoboDemo ...
Some time later, eHelp was bought by Macromedia who wanted RoboDemo (which was to become Captivate) ...
Knowing that CamStudio did some of the stuff RoboDemo did for free (mainly export to streaming Flash), they released a newer version which fixed some bugs but most importantly, removed certain features. Gone was the ability to create SWFs, added was the requirement to register to use it, and over time, links to the various webpages that had CamStudio and its source code, became broken.
However, I managed to find an earlier version complete with the related CamStudio video codec and the source code for both then put the website up so people could download them.
Issues
A number of people have mentioned having trouble viewing SWF videos generated by CamStudio. It turns out there's a bug which means you can't see anything if you try watching them with Netscape or Firefox (Internet Explorer works fine) ...
The next update (2.5) will fix this but until then, here's a temporary workaround:
Open the related HTML to the SWF you've just generated and look for the line starting with the "EMBED SRC" command ...
Change the Width and Height values in this line to match values in the line starting with "OBJECT CLASSID".
Save the file and you should be good to go ...
I seem to be getting a lot of questions about a registration code ... the version of CamStudio available from this site doesn't require registration AND has more features, so uninstall v2.1 from your system, download and install CamStudio from here and you're good to go!
If your computer's memory or virtual memory usage starts climbing rapidly when viewing a SWF authored by CamStudio to the point when your PC locks up so you have to reboot it, recreate the SWF from your source AVI file and in SWF Producer, make sure you select the Advanced tab and check the Memory Management tickbox (Manage Flash player internal memory). That should sort the problem out. Thanks to Ben Ward for the fix.
CamStudio Updates
V3
It's been a looooong time coming, but yes a brand new version of CamStudio is almost ready.
V3 is a completely new codebase for using the "ScreenRecorderLib.dll" which is a .NET library for screen recording in Windows 8 OS and above (sorry Win7 users), using Microsoft Media Foundation for real-time encoding to H.264 MP4 video or PNG image files.
You will need the following files installed on your Windows 8+ machine to run CS3:
I don't think it will cause any issues, damage or generally screw anything up however, I can't 100% guarantee it (no software author can.)
So by downloading CS3 (or CS2.x for that matter) you agree to not hold me liable for any problems either software might cause.
I'm hoping to open source the code in the near future, but right now I want to get CS3 stable enough before I move forward with making the code available.
Forum
The forum has been out of action for quite a while now, thanks to spammers however, I do intend on setting up a new support forum and all future V3 support will be handled on there.
CamStudio.org will be moving to a faster hosting setup soon - details to follow.
If you'd like to be notified when I have some news related to CamStudio, check this page or the forum (link opens a new window) and you'll be kept "in the loop" ...
Spread The Word About CamStudio ...
I'd really appreciate any help or love to help spread the word about CamStudio - it's real "labour of love" - so please tell as many people as possible about V3 coming soon.
If you'd like to link back to this site, here's some example code you can use:
I've got big plans for CamStudio and want to continously improve it and the Codec as well ... but I'm not a programmer.
The potential for CamStudio to be used as a professional training and support tool is huge and not just in the information technology and internet marketing arenas, but also in diverse markets and tasks like home eduation, recording online geneological research, keeping a video record of special offer prices on your favourite snowboarding (or whatever) website - you get the idea ...
It doesn't matter if you're at home in Las Vegas or on an Alaskan Cruise - if you've got a laptop or PC you can use CamStudio.
So if there are any Visual C++ programmers out there that have Flash, video encoding and codec experience who'd like a challenge, please get in touch.
So, at some point in the near future I'd like to start accepting donations so any coders that work on this project will get some kind of financial reward in addition to the warm, fuzzy feeling they get from helping to resurrect this cracking piece of software ... so if you're feeling generous, please get in touch at the email address above and let me know.
I'd also love to get your feedback on CamStudio ... what you liked, what you thought sucked and what you think is missing.
DISCLAIMER: CamStudio is (c) Rendersoft Development.
The version available from this website is developed independently under the terms of the GNU Public License V2. This website, the software (in whole or in part) and any other related content is not affiliated with, connected to, sponsored by, endorsed by or derived from Camtasia or Camtasia Studio from Techsmith.com nor any other product or software with a similar sounding name from any other company.
Camtasia, Camtasia Studio and Techsmith are marks of Techsmith Corporation, registered in the U.S. and other countries.
