Best Recording Software for YouTube

Tech & Gaming
1
been making YouTube videos on the side for a while now and recording software was one of those things i had to actually test because everyone's setup is different. putting together what ive tried and what actually works.

What Matters for YouTube Recording

Output quality is the obvious one but there are a few other things: CPU usage during recording (especially if you’re also gaming), file format and size, and how much audio control you have. Some tools give you separate audio tracks for mic vs system sound. That’s a big deal for editing later.

What I’ve Tested

OBS Studio – Free, genuinely powerful, handles both recording and streaming. Steep learning curve at first but once it’s configured it’s the best option for anything serious. You can set separate audio tracks, control bitrate, choose encoder. The standard for a reason.

Bandicam – Good for game recording specifically. Captures at high frame rates with lower CPU overhead than some alternatives. The free version watermarks, paid is around $40. Better performance profile than OBS for some GPU-heavy games.

Action! – Similar to Bandicam, designed for gaming. Smooth frame capture, webcam overlay built in. A bit more polished UI than Bandicam in my experience.

Camtasia – Tutorial-focused. Comes with a built-in editor which is the main selling point. More expensive than the others but you’re paying for the editing workflow. Good for educational content, overkill for gaming.

Loom – Browser and desktop tool aimed at quick screen recordings. Not really suited for long-form YouTube content but worth knowing if you also need to record quick explanatory videos.

NVIDIA ShadowPlay / AMD ReLive – If you have a compatible GPU, these are worth knowing about. They record in the background with minimal performance impact. ShadowPlay in particular is really low overhead for the quality you get.

My Current Setup

OBS for anything planned. ShadowPlay running in the background for spontaneous gaming clips I want to save. Audacity separate for any voice-only audio that needs more control.

What are other people using?

2
shadowplay is slept on. runs in the background and you barely notice it. the instant replay feature where you can save the last 20 minutes retroactively is actually insane for gaming
3
the separate audio tracks thing in OBS is the feature that changed my editing workflow. being able to adjust mic vs game audio in post instead of during recording is huge. not obvious when you first set it up though.
4
from my experience OBS has the best long-term value because the community is massive. any problem you hit has a forum answer somewhere. that's worth a lot when you're troubleshooting at 11pm before an upload
5
camtasia is genuinely good if you're doing tutorial or explainer content where you want tight edit control. the all-in-one recording + editing thing works well for that format specifically.
6
the learning curve on OBS is real but it's a one-time investment. once you have a profile set up you barely touch the settings again. the initial configuration time is worth it.