There are all kinds of different ripping ways if you want to access YouTube videos or audio and enjoy them offline. Screen recording is usually the last resort. However, it is a surefire way to save videos to your computer, especially when you just want to save a video or audio clip rather than the whole thing. The best YouTube recorder allows you to grab videos as well as audio from YouTube to MP4 or MP3 formats in high quality quickly and easily.
In addition to the basic capturing feature, many recording software also offers extra tools, such as trimming videos, automatically starting and stopping screen recording, adding subtitles and background music, and so on. With these programs, you can record activities on screen, make your own videos, upload them to YouTube, and even hold a live stream.
In this post, we've concluded the 7 best YouTube recorders for Windows and Mac. We hope you can find the one that suits your particular needs after reading this guide.
Overview of the Best YouTube Recording Software
| YouTube Recorder | Highlight Features |
| FonePaw Screen Recorder | Providing multiple recording modes and output formats to record YouTube videos |
| ApowerREC | Cross-platform video recorder for easy recording and quick uploading |
| Icecream Screen Recorder | Lightweight recorder, simple and intuitive user interface, good for basic recording |
| OBS | Open-source and professional video capturing and live streaming |
| Filmage Screen Recorder | Good to finish video recording, editing, and uploading within one program |
| Loom | Browser-based recording tool, and able to add music and captions to the recording |
| RecordCast | Video recording directly within Chrome browser and Cloud saving |
FonePaw Screen Recorder
💰 Price
- Free trial
- One-Month Plan: $19.56/ 1 PC
- One-Year Plan: $38.46/ 1 PC
- Lifetime Plan: $79.77/ 2 PCs
💻 Supported system
- Windows 7/8/8.1/10/11
- MacOS 10.10 or later
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FonePaw Screen Recorder is an all-in-one YouTube video recorder with which you can capture any screen activities on your computer such as YouTube shows, live streaming, and gameplay clips on your computer with no lag. It has more than six recording modes, including video recording, audio recording, webcam recording, windows recording, and more, so that's easy to record YouTube videos on Mac/Windows without distraction. Besides, it supports multiple videos and audio output formats with high quality. Audio capturing can be up to 320kbps.
With this multifunctional program, you're able to simultaneously record system sound and microphone with noise cancellation, which may help a lot while recording audio from YouTube. What's more, it is available for recording phone screens on computers directly through Wi-Fi. So, if you want to record your games on the phone, you can also record and edit your own videos with the game recording mode and upload them to YouTube.
👍 Pros
- Support multiple recording modes on the screen.
- Record webcam activities only or webcam with the screen.
- Support phone screen mirroring to PC and recording.
- Provide various video and audio output formats.
- Specialized in game recording.
- Available for ending the process automatically.
- Preview and edit the recording before exporting.
👎 Cons
- No automated captions with the speech-to-text feature.
- Low-quality scrolling Snapchat
ApowerREC
💰 Price
- Monthly plan: $19.95
- Annually plan: $39.95
- Lifetime plan: $69.95
💻 Supported system
- Windows 7/8/10
- MacOS X 10.10 or later
- iOS 7 or later
- Android 5.0 or later
ApowerREC is a reliable YouTube recorder that allows you to record desktop and webcam, with system sound and microphone in simple clicks. Aside from YouTube videos, it's also applicable on many occasions such as business conferences, teaching presentations, and online gaming. Besides, it provides extra features like zoom recording, spotlight recording, and following recording.
With the video editing function, you can also add highlight points or other real-time works during recording. After the recording, you are able to edit, compress and apply more advanced features to the video with the ApowerREC. By the way, it's also a cross-platform screen recorder so that it's convenient if you want to switch your devices to do the recording.
👍 Pros
- Record all screen activities on computers and mobile devices.
- Set task schedules to record the screen and stop it automatically.
- Zoom in on the area you want to emphasize and see it clearly.
- Lock the recording area to avoid being interrupted by other programs.
- Support game recording.
- Upload videos to YouTube easily with the video upload tool.
👎 Cons
- No built-in video browser
- No importing subtitle files feature.
- Not available for the speech-to-text function.
Movavi Screen Recorder
💰 Price
- Yearly plan: $42.95
💻 Supported system
- Windows 7/8/10/11
- MacOS X 10.13 or later
Movavi Screen Recorder is produced by the company-Movavi, which is famous for offering easy-to-use multimedia programs for people. Movavi Screen Recorders is a powerful video recorder for YouTube, enabling users to capture streaming videos as well as audio to MP4 or MP3 with ease.
Apart from being a YouTube video recorder, it also allows users to grab webinars and other online events. You can draw on the video and add annotations during the recording and make your viewers easier to understand.
👍 Pros
- Simple interface and user-friendly.
- Support recording webcam only, screen only, and webcam with screen.
- Support only audio recording.
- Available for schedule setting of recording video length.
- Record two streams simultaneously.
👎 Cons
- Registration and email confirmation are required for a free trial.
- Limited screen recording modes.
- Game and phone recorders are not available
- Lack of audio output formats.
- No auto-stop recording feature.
OBS
💰 Price
- Free
💻 Supported system
- Windows 8.1/10/11
- MacOS 10.13 or later
- Linux
OBS stands for Open Broadcaster Software. It is a free screen capturing and live streaming tool for Windows, Mac, and Linux users. It supports users to record videos on YouTube and other platforms without a watermark and time limit. You can connect your YouTube or Facebook account to hold a live stream. Besides, OBS offers screen three recording modes, namely Display Capture, Game Capture, and Window Capture.
It supports multiple audio tracks. You can add "Audio Input Capture" to catch external with any microphone or "Audio Output Capture" to add audio from any other audio driver. Multiple sources can also be added to enrich your recording scene.
👍 Pros
- Specialized in audio recording and mixing.
- Remux the recorded videos from the MKV file to MP4 easily.
- Multiple Scenes and audios can be added to the recording video.
- Audio from different sources can be recorded.
- Available for holding live streaming on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, etc.
👎 Cons
- The software interface is too complicated for computer novices.
- Screen recording modes are limited.
- No mouse highlighting or annotation tools.
- No available editing tools.
FlashBack Express
💰 Price
- Basic plan: Free
- Pro version: $49/ 1 PC
- $74/ 2 PCS
- $111/ 3 PCs
💻 Supported system
- Windows 8.1/10
Another recommended YouTube video recorder is FlashBack Express. It is a powerful lag-free screen capturing tool that allows you to record YouTube shows to MP4 files. Compared with OBS, FlashBack Express is a much easier program with an intuitive user interface.
Besides, it offers many bread-and-butter features such as noise cancellation, adding captions, commentary, and music for the recordings. After the recording, you can also quickly upload the video to YouTube.
👍 Pros
- Record only from the webcam and not the screen.
- Set a schedule to start and end the recording automatically.
- Multiple screens recording simultaneously.
- Record the microphone in a separate track.
- Add commentary, music, and images to edit the recordings.
👎 Cons
- Available for Windows only.
- Audio recording only is not supported.
Screencast-O-Matic
💰 Price
- Basic plan: free
- Deluxe plan: $2/mo (paid annually)/ 1 PC
- Premier plan: $4/mo (paid annually)/ 1 PC
💻 Supported system
- Windows 10 or later
- MacOS 10.13: High Sierra or later
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Android 9 or later
- Chromebook
Screencast-O-Matic is a creative YouTube recorder that allows you to capture videos from YouTube or any events on screen for free. One of the highlight features of Screencast-O-Matic is that you can add music and captions to your recording, which can make your video more engaging.
With the basic plan, you can also zoom in on a certain area that you want to show specifically while recording or trim the recordings and upload them to YouTube with one click. It's quite a considerate software that you can apply to teaching and studying, workplace as well as personal daily moments. Therefore, you are allowed to post the recordings to Google Class or other social platforms with simple clicks.
👍 Pros
- Available for importing caption files
- Support automated speech-to-text feature.
- Record screen of mobile devices with the apps.
- The Gameplay recorder is available.
- Offer a built-in stock media library.
- Convenient for hosting and sharing content.
👎 Cons
- No audio-only recording mode.
- Limited video output quality.
Loom
💰 Price
- Basic plan: Free
- Business plan: $8/ mo (paid annually)
💻 Supported system
- Windows
- Mac
- iOS
- Android
Completing our top seven YouTube recorder list is Loom, which is not only a brilliant program that you can download to your desktop but also a free screen recorder extension available for Google Chrome. Therefore, it would be very convenient as you can directly get it from the chrome web store and use the browser version to do the free recording.
It is an easy-to-use program, so you can quickly capture the webcam and screen and save the recording to your computer in high quality. Loom is more than a screen recorder. It also shows hosting service since it allows users to share the recordings with other people with a link, and add timely comments to interact with clients.
👍 Pros
- Provide a Chrome extension version.
- The software layout is simple and straightforward.
- Add annotations to emphasize key points during the recording.
- Invite people to view the recording videos by link sharing.
- Record camera or screen only, or simultaneously.
- Available for closed captions.
👎 Cons
- The extension only works on Chrome.
- Limited video output formats.
- Unavailable for setting a schedule in advance and auto-stop function.
Conclusion
These are the 7 best YouTube recorders recommended for you. Each shows its pros and cons when being tested. Many factors should be considered when choosing a YouTube video recorder since there are all kinds of screen-capturing programs on the market. Before downloading and purchasing a subscription, ask yourself these questions: Is it user-friendly? Is the price affordable? Does it have features that I need? What are user reviews and experiences?
FonePaw Screen Recorder is the best option among the above-recommended recording programs. It is a versatile recording tool for YouTube on Windows, Mac, and mobile devices. FonePaw Screen Recorder provides multiple recording modes and various fantastic features that can suit your needs at an affordable and reasonable price. Therefore, you can grab videos from YouTube and even upload them with no hassles.
