# wcap
**Repository Path**: ymfjly/wcap
## Basic Information
- **Project Name**: wcap
- **Description**: No description available
- **Primary Language**: Unknown
- **License**: Unlicense
- **Default Branch**: main
- **Homepage**: None
- **GVP Project**: No
## Statistics
- **Stars**: 0
- **Forks**: 0
- **Created**: 2024-06-04
- **Last Updated**: 2024-06-04
## Categories & Tags
**Categories**: Uncategorized
**Tags**: None
## README
wcap
====
Simple and efficient screen recording utility for Windows.
Get latest binary here: [wcap.exe][] (**WARNING**: Windows Defender or other AV software might report false positive detection)
Features
========
* press Ctrl + PrintScreen to start recording current monitor (where mouse cursor currently is positioned)
* press Ctrl + Win + PrintScreen to start recording currently active window
* press Ctrl + Shift + PrintScreen to select & record fixed position area on current monitor
* press any of previous combinations to stop recording
* right or double-click on tray icon to change settings
* video encoded using [H264/AVC][] or [H265/HEVC][], with 10-bit support for HEVC
* audio encoded using [AAC][] or [FLAC][]
* for window capture can capture full window area (including title bar/borders) or just the client area
* optionally exclude mouse cursor from capture
* can limit recording length in seconds or file size in MB's
* can limit max width, height or framerate - captured frames will be automatically downscaled
Details
=======
wcap uses [Windows.Graphics.Capture][wgc] API available since **Windows 10 version 1903, May 2019 Update (19H1)** to capture
contents of window or whole monitor. Captured texture is submitted to Media Foundation to encode video to mp4 file with
hardware accelerated codec. Using capture from compositor and hardware accelerated encoder allows it to consume very
little CPU and memory.
You can choose in settings to capture only client area or full size of window - client area will not include title bar and
borders for standard windows style. Recorded video size is determined by initial window size.
Make sure your GPU drivers are updated if something is not working with hardware video encoding - by default hardware encoder
is enabled, you can disable it in settings - then video will be encoded using [Microsoft Media Foundation H264][MSMFH264]
software encoder. You might want to explicitly use software encoder on older GPU's as their hardware encoder quality is not great.
H265 encoding might require installing HEVC package from Microsoft Store - copy following link into Explorer address bar,
or in Start->Run dialog:
```
windows-store://pdp/?ProductId=9n4wgh0z6vhq
```
Audio is captured using [WASAPI loopback recording][] and encoded using [Microsoft Media Foundation AAC][MSMFAAC] encoder, or
undocumented Media Foundation FLAC encoder (it seems it always is present in Windows 10).
Recorded mp4 file can be set to use fragmented mp4 format in settings (only for H264 codec). Fragmented mp4 file does not
require "finalizing" it. Which means that in case application or GPU driver crashes or if you run out of disk space then
the partial mp4 file will be valid for playback. The disadvantage of fragmented mp4 file is that it is a bit larger than
normal mp4 format, and seeking is slower.
You can use settings dialog to restrict max resolution of video - captured image will be scaled down to keep aspect ratio
if you set any of max width/height settings to non-zero value. Similarly framerate of capture can be reduced to limit
maximum amount of frames per second. Setting it to zero will use compositor framerate which is typically monitor refresh
rate. Lower video framerate will give higher quality video for same bitrate and reduced GPU usage. If you notice too many
dropped frames during recording, try reducing video resolution and framerate.
Capture of mouse cursor in video can be disabled only when using Windows 10 version 2004, May 2020 Update (20H1) or newer.
Creating gif from mp4
=====================
If you want to create gif file out of recorded mp4 file, you can use following .bat file:
ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -nostdin -loglevel fatal -stats -y -i %1 -filter_complex "[0]fps=15,split[v0][v1];[v0]palettegen=stats_mode=full[p];[v1][p]paletteuse" %~n1.gif
And to use new palette every frame to have more colors, but larger file size:
ffmpeg.exe -hide_banner -nostdin -loglevel fatal -stats -y -i %1 -filter_complex "[0]fps=15,split[v0][v1];[v0]palettegen=stats_mode=single[p];[v1][p]paletteuse=new=1" %~n1.gif
Put this line in `make_gif.bat` file, place [ffmpeg][] executable next to it and then simply drag & drop .mp4 file on top of it.
Change `fps=15` to desired gif fps (or remove to use original video fps). Check the [paletteuse][] filter arguments for
different dither methods.
Building
========
To build the binary from source code, have [Visual Studio][VS] installed, and simply run `build.cmd`.
Changelog
=========
##### 2022.11.06
* remove notifications on start & stop of capture
* remove Windows 10 version check on startup, code always assumes Windows 10
* support for 10-bit HEVC encoding
older entries
##### 2021.12.21
* allow to choose integrated vs discrete GPU to use for encoding
* keep proper encoded video stream time when no new frames are captured
##### 2021.12.18
* fixed wrong audio timestamps when encoding audio
* fixed wrong d3d11 calls to copy texture when size is odd
* fixed hanging when encoding audio & video with too many dropped frames
##### 2021.12.08
* fixed compute shaders to work on older D3D11 hardware
##### 2021.12.05
* allow to selected limited vs full range for YUV conversion
##### 2021.12.04
* improved resizing and YUV conversion quality
* improved performance for drawing background for rectangle selection
* fix crash when child window is in foreground for window capture
##### 2021.10.17
* allow to configure keyboad shortcuts
##### 2021.10.04
* option to encode video with HEVC codec
* option to encode audio with FLAC codec
* allow limit file length or size
* allow to choose output folder location
* customize audio codec channels & samplerate
##### 2021.09.25
* allow to capture fixed position rectangle area on screen
* prevent config dialog to be open multiple times
##### 2021.09.20
* added WASAPI loopback recording
* audio is encoded using AAC codec
* fix crash when capturing toolbar window
##### 2021.09.19
* initial release