You can record games straight from Steam - here's how

Steam has become a central hub for all things PC gaming, but one feature has been missing until recently: the ability to record gameplay. Steam has been working on this feature for some time, and it has been available in beta since June 2024. Aptly called Steam Game Recording, the new capability came out of beta on November 5, 2024, and now it’s available to everyone. Let’s show you how to record a game on Steam!

Requirements

First things first, we need to make sure you can actually take advantage of Steam Game Recording. They actually aren’t many, which is pretty nice to see. Here they are:

• The game needs to support Steam Overlay.
• Some developers can expand Steam Game Recording features by supporting Steam Timeline. Here’s a list of the titles that support said feature.
• This update is no longer available for Windows 7, Windows 8, macOS 10.13, and macOS 10.14. You will need an OS version above these to get the update.
• You need to be running the latest Steam version. The software should be automatically updated for supported machines. If it isn’t, push the update manually by going to Steam > Check for Steam Client Updates. If the update is available, hit Download. You may be asked to Apply and restart Steam.

How to enable Steam Game Recording

Once you’re running the latest Steam client update, enabling Steam Game Recording is actually pretty straightforward. You just have to know where to look.

1. Launch Steam.
2. Click on the Steam option, in the top-left corner.
3. Go into Settings.
4. Click on the Game Recording tab.
5. If this is the first time you open this section, you will see a banner explaining Steam Game Recording. Close it when you are ready.
6. You will get three main options: Recording Off, Record in Background, and Record Manually.
   • Recording Off: This makes it impossible to use Steam Game Recording.
   • Record in Background: Starts recording automatically when you begin playing.
   • Record Manually: Steam will record when you choose to start a recording.

How to record a game on Steam using keyboard shortcuts

You can use keyboard shortcuts to begin recordings. To do this, you will have to enable Record Manually in the options listed in the previous instructions. Once playing, with this option enabled, press the Ctrl + F11 keys to start or stop recording. By the way, you can customize this shortcut, but the Ctrl + F11 combination is the default one.

If you pick Record in Background, by default, the system will store the last 120 minutes. You must remember to store clips. You can also use the Ctrl + F11 shortcut, or customize it. All these settings will show up when you pick either Record in Background or Record Manually.

Accessing the Steam Game Recording clips

Once you are ready to access your recordings, you can do so by following these steps:

1. Go back to the Steam Client.
2. Click on View.
3. Select Recordings & Screenshots.

You can also reach this section by using the keyboard combination Shift + Tab.

Once in the Recordings & Screenshots section, you can launch the recordings, customize them, edit markers, and manage export settings.

FAQs