Record my desktop in mp4 format

How do I record my desktop interaction (video) and audio directly in MP4 format?

I have Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

4

3 Answers

Use the following command:

ffmpeg -f oss -i /dev/audio -f x11grab -s 1280x1024 -r 3 -aq 50 -i :0.0 /tmp/out.mp4

This records both sound and video of my screen. I have an attached monitor, so :0.0 is that monitor. The -r 3 keeps the file size smaller by doing 3 frames per second, which causes the mouse to jerk around slightly, but is suitable for tutorials. Increase that 3 towards 30 for much higher quality (but larger file size). The -aq 50 stands for audio quality at 50%, which is suitable for listening to tutorials on your laptop, but not suitable for like a large conference, where removing the -aq option might be best.

1

There are a number of tools, but first you should ensure you have the MP4 codecs installed. See here for instructions.

Once that is done, there are a number of tools available to you:

1. RecordMyDesktop

   sudo apt-get install recordmydesktop

2. Other tools referenced here - Istanbul, Kazam. There is also xvidcap.

1

As stated in your comment on the answer about installing recordmydesktop, that application does not (currently) allow saving the output in mp4 format.

The solution that worked for me was to install Kazam. This allows screen recording (screencasting as they call it) and you can configure the output codec. MP4 is an option here.

sudo apt install kazam

Once this is done, you can record and even edit the output in avidemux.

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