Screen Recording – 5 Factors that Affect the Video Quality
Although screen recording does capture video footage of your screen, that does not mean that the quality of the video will match what was displayed precisely. It is important to understand that fact, and appreciate that just as with any video there are various factors that affect the quality of the videos that you capture using screen recording.
In particular there are 5 main factors that can affect the quality of screen recording videos:
Table of Contents
Resolution
The resolution that you record videos in is always important. In screen recording videos it is based on the resolution of the area that you’re recording from your screen.
Ideally it is best to record in as high a resolution as possible to produce videos with better definition and quality.
Aspect ratio
The aspect ratio is the ratio of the width to height of the resolution. It affects the video when it is viewed, and if the wrong aspect ratio is used the video may look ‘stretched’ or have black bars around it.
As a rule you should calculate the resolution of the frame based on the aspect ratio of the device or platform the video will be viewed on.
Frame rate
Essentially the frame rate is the number of frames recorded in each second of video. With more frames any movement in the video will look smoother – especially if it is fast-paced.
While a frame rate of 30 or higher is considered good, refresh rate of most monitors is 60Hz, so a frame rate of 60 may look closer to what you see on your screen.
System performance
The video that you record will capture what is displayed on your screen – warts and all. That is why the system performance is important, as if your system struggles to cope the video may stutter and appear to ‘lag’.
It is best to take what steps you can to improve the system performance – starting with closing any unnecessary background apps or processes.
Encoding settings
The settings that are used to encode the video such as the format, resolution, frame rate and video bitrate can all affect its quality. In particular if the video bitrate is too low it can result in compression artifacts appearing during playback.
Aside from that however, it is always best to use the same resolution and frame rate the video was recorded in when you encode it.
As you can imagine, the software that you use can play a part in the factors described above. That is why you should carefully choose a screen recorder for Windows 7 that has the features you need. For example, you could try Movavi Screen Recorder.
By understanding the factors that influence the quality of screen recording videos, you should be able to account for them individually. That in turn will allow you to record videos that have much better quality across the board, and really do look as close as possible to what was displayed on your screen.
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