CamStudio on SourceForge: http://sourceforge.net/projects/camstudio/

Rendersoft CamStudio 2.0

RenderSoft CamStudio is a tool for recording screen activity into standard AVI video files. If you move the cursor, launch a new program, type some text, click a few buttons, or select some menus -- anything that you see on your screen -- CamStudio will be able to record all these and allow you to play them back later on.

...You can use CamStudio to demonstrate features of a new software

...create movies used in user trainings

...track the progress of a program that executes for a long time

...record the sequence of steps that cause the occurrence of bugs in faulty software

...record a movie stream

...convert AVI files to Flash (SWF) files

CamStudio records screen activity from your Windows Desktop into standard AVI movie files. It is an ideal tool for developing videos to demonstrate features of a new software, for creating movies used in user training or any other task that requires the capture of desktop activity.

The program is easy to use, and you can select an area or full desktop for recording. You can adjust the video quality settings to reduce file size, use custom cursors and add a soundtrack through your microphone or speakers.

Furthermore, you can add screen captions to your desktop while recording. These captions are anti-aliased, high quality images that support text display in multiple languages. With the Video Annotation feature, you can also personalize your movie by including a webcam movie of yourself into the AVI.

This version allows you to produce tiny Flash (SWF) movie files that can be streamed across the internet. These SWF movies are able to incorporate customizable preloaders, progress bars and movie controllers.


Supported languages: English
Supported OS: Win95 / Win98 / WinME / WinNT 3.x / WinNT 4.x / WinXP / Windows2000

Tutorial - How To Pan And Zoom In CamStudio

Panning is built into CamStudio, but zooming isn’t (yet!) so in the meantime, I used a freeware third-party application called Magnifying Glass which you can get from http://www.workerscollection.com

Lossless Codec: New CamStudio Codec 1.4

So where can I get it and how much does it cost?

You can download and use it completely free - yep - completely 100% free for your personal and commercial projects as CamStudio and the Codec are released under the GPL (for more details on this license, click here.)

There are no royalties or any monies to pay - although if you do use it for a commercial product, I wouldn't say no to a copy of whatever you produce

Download Links

CamStudio: CamStudio20.exe

Lossless Codec: New CamStudioCodec14.exe

To manually install the codec, download the zipfile version, extract the contents to a folder, right click the camcodec.inf file and select Install.

If you don't have a lot of experience or just plain can't be bothered with all that mucking around [grin], download the EXE version and double click it to begin the install process.