How to screen record in Chrome

Record a tab, a window or the whole screen

What you pick decides what viewers see, and what they do not. Choose by what you are showing, not by habit.

A tab is the tidiest choice for anything inside the browser: a web app, a slide deck in Google Slides, a dashboard. Other tabs, your bookmarks and notifications stay out of it, and it is the only choice that can carry that one tab’s sound on every system. Switch to another tab and the recording keeps showing the shared one; Chrome offers Share this tab instead when a site allows it.

A window records one app, browser or not: a code editor, a spreadsheet, a design tool. Anything you drag over it is hidden, and menus that open outside it may not show. An entire screen records everything, including notifications, so turn on Do Not Disturb first. With two monitors, each screen is its own thumbnail.

• Chrome tab: one tab only. Sound: that tab’s, on every system.
• Window: one app’s window. Sound: on a Mac with Chrome 141 or later, the whole computer’s, not just that window’s; elsewhere often none.
• Entire screen: everything on one display. Sound: the whole computer’s on Windows, ChromeOS and a Mac with Chrome 141 or later; none on Linux.

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Recording sound from a tab

To record a video, a call in Google Meet or anything else playing in a tab, share that tab and keep Share with tab audio on. Only that tab’s sound is recorded, so a notification chime or music in another app stays out. You still hear the tab while it is shared.

For sound from outside Chrome, such as a desktop app or a game, share the entire screen and turn on Share with system audio. On Windows and ChromeOS that records everything the computer plays. On a Mac it needs Chrome 141 or later, macOS Sonoma 14.2 or later, and permission under System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen & System Audio Recording; the Mac computer audio guide covers the other routes. On Linux, Chrome shares tab sound only; the Linux guide covers the recorders that capture the rest.

Your own voice comes from the microphone, which the recorder asks for separately. If it is quiet or missing, run the microphone test before you record.

Chrome extensions: what to check before installing one

Search the Chrome Web Store for “screen recorder” and you get pages of extensions. They record through the same Chrome machinery as a web recorder, but they stay installed, and many ask for Read and change all your data on all websites. That permission lets an extension see every page you open, including your email and bank, for as long as it is installed.

A web recorder asks each time instead: Chrome shows the picker, you choose what to share, and the site sees nothing once you click Stop sharing. If you do install an extension, check these first:

• The permissions on its Web Store page, under Privacy practices, and whether it needs access to every site.
• Who publishes it, when it was last updated, and recent reviews, not just the star rating.
• Where recordings go: kept on your computer, or uploaded to the maker’s servers, and for how long.
• Limits on the free version: a watermark, a five or ten-minute cap, or exports locked behind payment.

Firefox and Edge

Microsoft Edge is built on the same engine as Chrome, so its picker is the same three panes and the same sound switches: tab sound everywhere, system sound when you share the screen on Windows. On Windows 11 the Snipping Tool recorder is the built-in alternative.

Firefox asks in a panel under the address bar, with a menu of windows and screens to choose from. It has no tab choice and shares no sound at all: a Firefox screen recording carries only your microphone, which the recorder asks for on its own. Firefox has no recorder built in either.

Safari on a Mac shares a window or a screen with no computer sound. Rescreen works in Chrome, Edge and Safari; in Firefox, open it in Chrome or Edge instead.

Your computer’s own recorder, outside Chrome

Every desktop system has a recorder of its own, and each records Chrome like any other window. Use one when you need a file on your disk rather than a link, or when you are offline.

• Windows 11: Snipping Tool, Windows + Shift + R. See screen recording on Windows 11.
• Windows 10: Xbox Game Bar, Windows + Alt + R, for one app at a time. See screen recording on Windows 10, or the guide to every Windows version.
• Mac: the Screenshot toolbar, Command + Shift + 5. See screen recording on a Mac.
• Chromebook: Screen capture, Ctrl + Shift + Show windows. See screen recording on a Chromebook.

Chrome on a phone or tablet

Chrome on Android cannot share the screen with a website, so no web recorder works there. Use the phone’s own recorder: on most Android phones, Screen record in Quick Settings, swiped down from the top of the screen. On an iPhone or iPad, add Screen Recording to Control Center in Settings, then tap it.

Record in Chrome with Rescreen

Rescreen is a recorder that runs in Chrome, so the picker above is all there is to set up. Choose your microphone and camera, click record, then pick what to share; the picker opens on Entire screen.

While it records, the recording page stays in front, with the time and a stop button. When you stop, the take is already uploaded. Rescreen takes out the stumbles and long silences and places your camera in a round bubble over the screen; in the editor you can put back any cut. Then copy the link and send it.

Tab sound and system sound come through exactly as the picker allows, so the comparison below holds for Rescreen too. A long file is not a problem, but if you also want a copy small enough to email, the video compressor shrinks a download in the browser. Check the camera with the webcam test first if you are not sure which one Chrome will use.

What Chrome alone can't do

• No record button, menu item or shortcut: Chrome records only for a site or extension that asks.
• Tab sound only for a shared tab; system sound only where the system allows it, never on Linux.
• A shared window hides anything dragged over it, and menus outside the window may not show.
• Protected video, such as Netflix or Disney+, records as a black box.
• No recording at all in Chrome on Android: a phone needs its own recorder.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask