Glossary
Screencast
A recording of a computer screen with narration, made to show somebody how something works. The word predates screen recording as a category and still means the same thing.
A screencast is a screen recording with a voice over it, made to show somebody else how something works. The word was coined in 2004, when recording a screen still needed dedicated software, and it has kept its meaning while the tools underneath it changed completely.
Screencast or screen recording
A screen recording is what the recorder produces: frames of the display, with or without audio. A screencast is the thing you send. In practice the two words are used for each other, but screencast still carries the sense of narration and of an audience. Nobody calls a silent clip of a bug a screencast.
What a good one looks like
Short. A viewer decides in the first ten seconds whether to keep watching, and a screencast that opens with the presenter finding the right window has lost them. Two to three minutes is a comfortable ceiling; anything longer is better as a few recordings a viewer can choose between.
Legible. The part of the screen being used should fill the frame, which is what zoom and pan is for, and the text should be sharp, which is what capturing at full pixel size is for.
Watchable with the sound off. A lot of screencasts are opened in a chat, on a phone, or in an office, and the first decision to keep watching is made before the sound is turned on. Captions are what carries the narration in those seconds.
The shape
A face in the corner, a background behind the screen, the pointer visible and the clicks emphasised. That shape is what Loom made familiar and Screen Studio made cinematic, and it is the one Prequel produces from a plain recording without the edit being done by hand.
Related terms
- Frame rateThe number of still pictures a video shows each second, written as fps. Screen recordings are usually made at 30 or 60.
- ResolutionThe size of a video's picture in pixels, width by height. 1080p is 1920 by 1080; 4K is 3840 by 2160.
- Retina and HiDPIA display that draws each point of the interface with four physical pixels, so text is sharp. A screen recording of one is twice the width and height it looks.
- Screen Recording permissionThe macOS grant an app needs before it can see the contents of your screen. Without it a recorder captures the wallpaper and nothing on top of it.
Questions people ask
- What is the difference between a screencast and a screen recording?
- A screen recording is the raw capture. A screencast is the finished thing: a recording with a voice over it, made to be watched by somebody else. The words are used interchangeably now, but screencast still implies narration.
- How long should a screencast be?
- As short as the task allows. Two to three minutes is a good ceiling for a demo or a how-to sent to a colleague; anything longer is better split into a few recordings a viewer can pick from.