Overview
Bandicam has stayed relevant by being light. It captures at a high frame rate without turning the machine into a slideshow, which matters enormously when what you are recording is a game or a demonstration that has to stay responsive while it is being filmed. The processor and memory footprint during a capture is a fraction of what the heavier alternatives use, and on a modest machine that is the difference between a usable recording and an unusable one.
Three capture modes cover the ground: a screen region or full display, a game running through a graphics interface, and an external device coming in over a capture card or a webcam. Hardware encoding through the graphics card takes the compression work off the processor entirely. This build removes the trial restrictions, so recordings run to whatever length you need and come out with no watermark.
The three capture modes
Screen recording captures a rectangle you drag, a specific window that stays captured as it moves, or a whole display. The region can be resized while recording, which is more useful than it sounds when a dialogue opens outside the frame. Mouse effects, click highlighting and a cursor spotlight are available, all of which make a tutorial considerably easier to follow.
Game recording hooks the graphics interface directly rather than capturing the desktop, which is both faster and produces a cleaner result because it captures the rendered frames rather than the composited screen. A frame rate counter can be overlaid, and the recording can be triggered by a hotkey without leaving the game.
Device recording takes a signal from a capture card, a webcam or another video input and records it directly, which covers filming a console, a camera or a second machine without involving anything else.
Encoding, quality and file size
Hardware encoding is available on the graphics card paths and is what makes high resolution recording cheap in processing terms. The quality setting is a rate rather than a preset, so a long recording can be tuned to a size that is actually manageable, and the format options cover the common intermediate and delivery containers.
Frame rate is settable up to very high values, with the practical limit being what the source can produce rather than what the encoder can take. Audio records from the system output, a microphone, or both mixed onto one track or kept on separate tracks, and the separate track option is the one to use if the recording will be edited afterwards.
A real time drawing overlay lets you annotate on top of what is being recorded while it is being recorded. For instructional material that removes an entire editing pass, since the arrows and circles are already in the file.
Scheduling, output and afterwards
Recordings can be scheduled to start and stop at set times or after a set duration, which covers capturing something that happens while you are not there. Auto complete recording splits output by size or duration so a very long session does not end up as one unmanageable file.
The output goes to a standard container that any editor will open without transcoding first, which is the important part. There is a light trimming tool built in for cutting the dead ends off a capture, but anything beyond that belongs in a proper editor. Screenshot capture, including timed sequences, is included in the same program.
What you get
- Screen, game and external device capture in one program
- Low overhead capture that leaves the machine responsive
- Hardware encoding on graphics card paths
- Unlimited recording length with no watermark
- Window capture that follows a window as it moves
- Mouse click highlighting and cursor effects for tutorials
- Real time drawing overlay recorded into the file
- Separate or mixed audio tracks from system output and microphone
- Scheduled recording and automatic splitting by size or duration
- Screenshot capture including timed sequences
Inside the archive
- Bandicam installer for 32-bit and 64-bit
- Hardware encoder support for the current graphics card generations
- Preset profiles for tutorial, gameplay and device capture
- Notes on choosing between hardware and software encoding
- Language files for the interface list shown above
System requirements
| Operating system | Windows 10, Windows 11, 32-bit or 64-bit |
|---|---|
| Processor | Dual core minimum, quad core for high frame rate capture |
| Memory | 4 GB minimum, 8 GB recommended |
| Graphics | A card with a hardware encoder for the accelerated path |
| Storage | Fast drive with plenty of space, recordings grow quickly |
| Display | Any resolution, capture region set independently |
Installing it
- Unpack the archive to a local folder.
- Suspend real time protection for the length of the install.
- Run the installer as administrator.
- Open the program, set the output folder to a fast drive with space to spare.
- Choose the hardware encoder in the format settings if your card supports one.
- Record ten seconds and check the file for a watermark before recording anything important.
Mirrors
| Route | Region | Note | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct, primary | Europe | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Direct, secondary | Asia Pacific | No wait, resumable | Online |
| Torrent magnet | Global | Small file, direct is faster | Online |
Release history
- Hardware encoder support updated for the current card generations
- Fixed audio drift on very long recordings with separate tracks
- Game capture hook improved for applications running in borderless windows
- Automatic splitting added by duration as well as by size
- Drawing overlay no longer flickers on high refresh displays
- Region resizing during an active recording
- Reduced processor use during screen capture on static content
Questions about this release
Is there a watermark or a time limit?
Neither. The trial restrictions are removed in this build, so recordings run as long as you need and come out clean.
Which capture mode should I use for a game?
Game mode, which hooks the graphics interface directly. It is faster than screen capture and produces a cleaner result.
Should I use hardware or software encoding?
Hardware if your card supports it, which is nearly all of them. Software encoding costs a large amount of processor time and is only worth it in specific quality situations.
Can I record system audio and a microphone separately?
Yes, keep them on separate tracks if the recording will be edited afterwards. Mixing them is fine for something going out as is.
Why is my file enormous?
The quality setting is a bit rate. Lower it, or record at a lower frame rate if the content does not need a high one.
Comments
Borderless window capture fixed. That was the one game mode kept refusing to hook.
Runs on an old laptop without tanking the frame rate, which is more than I can say for the alternatives.
Comments are read before they appear. If a build stops working, say so here and it gets rebuilt rather than quietly left up.
Drawing overlay straight into the recording removed an entire editing pass for me. Should have found this years ago.