Record video of application window

I need to record the window of a long-running program and need to be able to use my computer for other things at the same time. There are lots of ways to get a screen capture video for Windows all but I've seen will capture a fixed area of the screen. Is there a way to capture for a particular window and to keep capturing it even if it's minimized or overlaid with other windows?

The Xbox app in Win 10 might do it but I don't have the hardware that the app requires.

1 Answer

Take a look at OBS.

It's a Free and Open Source program that allows you to record both your screen and specific windows. (Note: it cannot record minimized windows, as minimized windows will stop rendering completely).

Here's a step-by-step on how to go about recording a specific window:

1. Download and install OBS.
2. Open OBS and the Program you want to record.
3. In OBS, go to Settings -> Settings then go to Broadcast Settings and set Mode to File Output Only.
4. Set File Path to wherever you want the recording to be saved to.
5. Click OK to save and apply the settings you just changed.
6. In the main screen of OBS, right-click on the white box in the bottom left labeled Scenes, click Add Scene, then enter any name you want to identify the scene as.
7. Click on the scene name you just created in the same white box, then in the white box to the right labeled Sources, right-click and do Add -> Window Capture and enter any name you want to identify the window capture as.
8. In the Window dropdown, find your program window that you want to record and click it.
9. Click OK to save that window to be recorded.
10. Click Preview Stream and then click Edit Scene and position the window in the recording box to however you want it displayed in the final recording.
11. Click Stop Preview and you should be ready to record that window whenever you want.
12. To start the recording, click Start Recording and to stop recording, click Stop Recording.

This will record your program's window reguardless of whether it is in the foreground or background. Remember, since a window is not rendered when it is minimized, it will be unable to be recorded.