How to use Screencast-O-Matic to record a PC screen for free

Whether you like to make YouTube guide based videos or whether you’re an avid computer gamer – there are no shortage of reasons why you might want to record and then share your computer screen. There are a number of ways to achieve this goal, using a number of different pieces of software. Our aim with this guide is to show you how to record a PC screen for free, as there is really no need to invest in software that can do this for you.

In the opinion of the BurnTech.TV team, the best screen recording software on the market at the moment is Screencast-O-Matic. Therefore, for the purpose of this guide, we will use Screencast-O-Matic as our example software, although there are a number of similar softwares that you could investigate too.

How to record a PC screen for free

What exactly does Screencast-O-Matic do? Simply put, it is a piece of software which simultaneously captures your computers audio whilst recording what is on your PC screen. The software allows you to add a watermark to the video that you create, ensuring that the contents of your video don’t get ‘borrowed’ by other web users. The software spits out videos in a number of different formats, including MP4, AVI and FLV. Finally, the software can be set to auto-post the output video to YouTube.

The free version lets you record 15 minutes of video. You can lift this restriction, if required, by purchasing the full licence for £10. Additionally, the upgrade allows you to create High definition (HD) videos too.

How to use Screencast-O-Matic to record a PC screen for free: Step One

You need to visit www.screencast-o-matic.com and download the free version of Screencast-O-Matic. Follow the prompts to install it. The link to Screencast-o-matic opens the website in a new tab, so that you can continue to follow this guide.

How to use Screencast-O-Matic to record a PC screen for free: Step two

How to record a PC screen for free

Once you have opened up the software, you will be faced with a screen like the above one. The dotted box represents the portion of the screen that will be recorded. You can drag this box to re-size it, covering the entire screen if required. Once this is set, hit the red record button to commence recording your PC screen.

How to use Screencast-O-Matic to record a PC screen for free: Step three

Once you have recorded everything that you wanted to for that clip, hit the done button.

The software now comes up with some posting options, including a direct ability to post the video straight to YouTube. Alternatively, you can collect the output as a video file.

How to record a PC screen for free

How to use Screencast-O-Matic to record a PC screen for free: Step four

Select the format that you want to save the video into. You have the following options AVI, FLV, MP4 or GIF. These can be selected off the drop down box on the right hand side of the window.

How to record a PC screen for free

There you have it, a simple four step process to record a PC screen.