[Solved] How to Record Audio from System Sound or Microphone with VLC

Part 1: How to Record Desktop Screen Using VLC Media Player

If you were curious as to how you can start recording your screen using VLC Media Player, or save the recorded videos to the desired format, you can learn more details about the process as below.

How to Record Desktop Screen Using VLC Media Player

Step 1Launch the VLC Media Player on your computer, head to the View menu and choose the Advanced Controls option to display the Open Media Window with the VLC record button.

Step 2Choose the Capture Device menu. Unfold the drop-down list to select the Desktop option as the capture mode to record desktop screen via VLC Media Player. It allows you to set up the frame rate as 30 f/s in the Desired frame rate for the capture options.

Note: When you want to save the recorded video of VLC with high quality, you can also change it to 60 f/s instead. Of course, there are 24 f/s, 12 f/s or other frame rates.

Step 3After that, you can find the desktop screen within the VLC Media Player. To record desktop on Windows via VLC, you only need to click the Record button in the bottom left corner.

How to Save Recorded Video on VLC Media Player

Step 1Usually VLC save the recorded files in AVI format. Just click on the little down arrow near the Play button, you can choose the Convert option to save the recorded video with VLC as MP4 instead.

Step 2From the Profile options, you can choose the Video – H.264+MP3 (MP4) option to save the recording audio and video. Of course, you can also click the Browse button to select the destination folder.

Step 3If you are satisfied with the output, you can click the Start button to start recording. When done, back to VLC Media Player and click the Stop button to save the recorded video file to your computer.

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Part 3. VLC Alternative – Record Screen and Video with Audio Easier

VLC is the multifunctional media software, but you have to admit that it is not a dedicated recorder to offer some advanced features, like select region recording, recording desktop with audio, etc.

If you’re looking for even more options, to get a VLC alternative is a certainty.

Screen Recorder is a professional screen and video recorder for Windows and Mac computers. It can capture anything that is happening on your computer desktop, programs, browser, and webcam. Besides, it offers a wide range of recording modes to select or exclude windows and regions for recording.

Whether you want to record home movies or local actions on desktop, its user-friendly interface will direct you effortlessly.

• 1. Record screen, video, webcam, and audio together or separately.
• 2. Customize any recording window or region and audio source freely.
• 3. Support real-time editing while recording like add texts, draw a shape, take screenshots, etc.
• 4. Record screen without mouse via hotkeys, show mouse pointer, highlight or hide mouse clicks, and more.
• 5. Select from multi-monitors and set a timer recording to capture the screen automatically.

Now, let’s dive right into the detailed steps of using the VLC replacement.

Select Video Recorder

Free download the VLC substitute by clicking the download link above. Launch this program and select Video Recorder.

To record audio-only, you should select Audio Recorder.

Choose recording area and audio source

Here, you should make the simple settings for the screen capture.

Click Full or Custom to select the screen recording region as you wish.

Toggle on/off System Sound or Microphone to record screen and video with or without audio.

If you want to show the mouse pointer while recording, just click Preferences from the menu (three-dot) option in the toolbar to show or hide mouse clicks, colors, and more. The recording output format can be customized here.

Record a video

While everything is made well, just click the REC button to start recording your computer screen. The floating bar allows you to edit the recording file while capturing the screen.

Preview and save the video recording

To stop the recording, just click the stop button in the floating bar, and you are directed into the preview window. The preview feature allows you to see what your recording file will look like without encoding all of it.

Besides, the clip feature here can cut down unwanted parts from the video file.

Click Save to export the recording file on your computer.

That’s all it takes to make a quick recording of your screen with the VLC alternative.

Set Up the Screen Capture

Once you have VLC, there are two ways to set up a screen capture: use the point-and-click graphical VLC interface or a command line. The command line lets you specify more advanced capture settings, such as desktop crop size and index frames, to make a video that is easier to edit. Most of the time, though, this is more than you need. The graphical VLC interface is easier to use.

How Can VLC Record Audio on Windows PC 

VLC Media Player is a free and open-source media player. You are allowed to record computer sound and microphone voice as well as the desktop screen with this screen and audio recorder. After recording, you are allowed to edit the recorded audio and share it on your platform. Also, this software is compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile devices.

Pros:

• A simple and easy tool to record audio
• The interface is clean
• Various attractive customized skins are available

Cons:

• Capture the full screen only
• No video editing options

How to Record on VLC Media Player:

Step 1. Open VLC on your computer. Choose “View” > “Advanced Controls” from the drop-down menu. 

Step 2. Navigate to “Media” > “Open Capture Device”. Once the new window is showed, choose an audio source. Here you can select Microphone or Stereo Mix by your actual desire.

Step 3. Then click on the “Play” button. When everything is ready, click on the red circle button to start recording your audio on your computer.

Step 4. Click the record button again to end the recording. And you can find the audio recording file in the Windows “Music” folder.

Use VLC to Record Audio from Computer

To record audio from a video or music playing on VLC, you should make the record button visible first.

Launch VLC, go to "View" > " Advanced Controls" and the advanced toolbar is above the standard toolbar.

Click the red button to start recording.

The audio recording is stored in "My Documents/My Music/" as an MP3 file with the name beginning with "vlc-record".

iTop Screen Recorder, A Good VLC Competitor [Free With Sound]

For general screen recording tasks, I would personally strongly recommend you have a try to iTop Screen Recorder as the expert to assist you to record & capture the screen. it is compact & with all functions, you’ll need to record screen, clean (no addon, no malware), and most important point is, it is FREE, no time limitation, no feature restriction, plus no watermark on the captured video. And it capable for recording with by passing record restirction, like record Zoom meeting without permission.

Steps to record the screen with iTop Screen Recorder aren’t quite difficult. 

Step 1. Open up the iTop Screen Recorder, the UI design is intuitive enough, all general functions are presented directly and clearly.

Step 2. Click the “Select a Region” button. In the drop-down list, click the window/ screen you want to record, then hit the red “REC” button.

Step 3. Then the record will begin and the video of the screen (or select region) will be perfectly captured by iTop Screen Recorder with audio. I would strongly recommend you download & have a try of this wonderful freeware if you got trouble with VLC screen capturing.

Step 4. You may find your recorded videos in the “My creation” tab. Also, you can do some simple edits to your video here.

Additional. You may change the setting of iTop Screen Recorder in “Recording Settings”, for example, to save the video other than a .MP4 file or higher quality.

Part 3: Best Alternative to Record Audio as VLC Alternative

When you want to record all onscreen activities, such as gameplay video, online conferences, and more, VLC might not able to record audio on your computer. AnyMP4 Screen Recorder is a versatile audio recorder that enables to capture audio file on your computer without any restriction. Moreover, you can tweak the audio codec, audio quality and more to get the desired files with ease.

• 1. Record popular audio, microphone and any audio file from your computer.
• 2. Tweak the audio codec, audio quality, audio volume and more parameters.
• 3. Set recording schedule, hotkeys recording and countdown before recording.
• 4. Capture video with audio files with high quality without limitation as VLC.

Step 1: Download and install AnyMP4 Screen Recorder, launch the program on your computer. After that, you can choose the Audio Recorder button from the main interface to capture audio from online stream, DVD and even the gameplay video without restriction.

Step 2: Enable the System Sound option to record system sound. Of course, you can also enable the Microphone option to record the voice. You also can take photo by clicking the camera icon on the top right corner.

Step 3: After that, you can click the REC button to record audio as VLC alternative. When you get the desired audio file, you can click the red square on the left to finish recording. After clicking the Save option, it will remind you to set the save path and show all recorded files.

Part 2. A Better Alternative to VLC Stream Recorder

Those who know VLC will agree that the program can be annoying sometimes. Therefore, to enjoy a smooth video recording process on Mac/Win, use Wondershare UniConverter. Unlike VLC, this program is simple to use and comes with any file manipulation feature you can imagine. It features a screen recorder, audio recorder, webcam recorder, video editor, DVD burner, video downloader, multimedia player, and so on. When recording a video, you can insert a webcam to create a video overlay and voice narrations using a mic. Interestingly, users can add demos with annotations like lines, shapes, arrows, drawings, and texts. Plus, Wondershare UniConverter lets you preset the output format, frame rate, quality, and folder path.

Wondershare UniConverter – Best VLC Alternative

Wondershare UniConverter – Best Video Converter for Mac/Windows Record videos in multiple ways by choosing a capture area or setting the entire screen. Insert a webcam video to create a video overlay and voice narrations using a mic. Apply demos using annotations like lines, arrows, shapes, drawings, and texts. It allows you to easily preset the output quality, format, frame rate, and folder path. Convert the captured clip to MP4, AVI, WMV, WebM, MTS, DV, and more. Edit the recorded video by cropping, trimming, rotating, adding watermarks, and more. Best VLC record stream alternative for Mac OS X 10.9+ & Win 10/8/7. FREE DOWNLOAD FREE DOWNLOAD Security Verified. 5,481,347 people have downloaded it.

Step 1 Launch the Screen Recorder

After installing and running Wondershare UniConverter on your PC, click the Screen Recorder tab. Now proceed to hit the Screen recorder icon to open the screen capture tool.

Step 2 Customize the capture area

Start streaming the video you want to record using your favorite web browser. After that, drag the recording cropper to fit the browser tab that you want to record. You can set the recording mode to either full screen or custom screen.

Step 3 Choose input/output devices and adjust settings

To record the stream with all system sounds, choose an audio output device under the System Audio section. Now select a device for adding voice narrations under the Microphone menu, then select a camera for inserting a video overlay on the Webcam menu. Remember, you can disable these settings if you want.

Meanwhile, open the Settings menu, then choose a target file format. You can set it as MP4, FLV, or AVI. Users can also set the output quality, frame rate, folder path, and customize the start/stop keyboard shortcuts.

Step 4 Start recording the video

Last but not least, hit REC to begin streaming and recording video on Mac/Win. If you want to add annotations using texts, shapes, lines, arrows, and drawings, click the Annotation icon. You can even change the annotation color. Finally, tap Stop to finish the video recording process.

Part 2. FAQs and Troubleshooting of VLC Screen Capture

Though VLC can record screen, it is not the professional screen capture software. As a result, there are some problems when people use VLC as a screen recorder. Check the following FAQs and troubleshooting about VLC.

VLC Screen Recording Troubleshooting

1. VLC records screen without audio, how to fix?

There are 3 recording modes in VLC. When you choose to record desktop, it will capture the whole screen on your desktop, but it contains no audio, but the only screen.

2. VLC record button not working, and cannot generate a file. How to solve it?

VLC cannot generate a file until you tell where to save the recording file. Moreover, you can upgrade VLC to the latest version to solve this problem.

3. Why does VLC record screen with an invisible mouse pointer?

VLC can record screen, but it cannot capture the mouse click highlights or pointers. To show mouse pointer while recording, you should download the mouse pointer plug-in for VLC, or get a mouse recorder as VLC screen recording alternative.

4. VLC only records audio, instead of video, why does that happen?

Firstly, you should make sure the output recording file is set the video format, instead of audio format.

Secondly, the problem that VLC recording audio-only always happens to VLC with the older version. You are recommended to update VLC to the latest version.

Last but not least, the issue VLC recording audio only, not the video is reported to occur when users want to record DVD or MKV files. That is the bug from VLC, and there is no official solution currently.

5. VLC recording skips the first few seconds?

There are reports from users that say VLC will always skip the first few seconds when starting a screen recording. To solve this problem, you are recommended to use the command line, instead of the record button.

For more solutions to VLC not recording, you should jump it here.

FAQs of VLC Recording Screen

Where do VLC recordings save?

The screen recording file will be saved where you customized the location. Sometimes, you can find it from the default destination on C:UsersYou user nameVideos, if you have never customized the location.

What format does VLC record in?

The recording format is customized as MP4, WebM, TS, ASF, etc., as you like.

VLC screen recording is not enabled on Android?

The screen recording feature in VLC is available for desktop users. It only works on Windows, Mac,bel and Linux, not Android or iPhone.

How to Edit Your Screencast

When recording a screencast, you might not get everything right in one take. When this happens, use video editing software to polish your screencast. Not all video editors can open MP4 format video files, though.

For simple editing jobs, try the free, open-source application Avidemux. Use this program to cut sections of a video and apply filters such as crop.

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