Recordly: Create Polished Demo Videos with Ease on Mac, Windows, and Linux

Introduction

Recordly is an open-source desktop application designed to simplify the creation of polished demo videos, walkthroughs, and product videos. Available for macOS, Windows, and Linux, it empowers users to produce high-quality content without requiring extensive video editing skills. Recordly integrates recording and editing functionalities, offering motion-driven presentation tools such as automatic zooms, cursor polish, dynamic webcam overlays, and customizable styled frames, all within a single, free application. It's built with TypeScript and Electron, licensed under AGPL 3.0, and backed by a vibrant community.

Installation

Recordly offers several ways to get started, from prebuilt releases to building from source.

Download a Build

Prebuilt releases for macOS, Windows, and Linux are available on the official GitHub releases page:
https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly/releases

Arch Linux / Manjaro (yay)

Users of Arch Linux or Manjaro can install Recordly from the AUR (recordly-bin):

yay -S recordly-bin

Build from Source

To build Recordly from its source code, follow these steps:

Prerequisites:

• macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).
• Linux (Ubuntu/Debian):

  sudo apt install build-essential cmake libx11-dev libxtst-dev libxrandr-dev libxt-dev
  

• Windows: Visual Studio 2022 (or Build Tools) with the C++ workload and CMake.

Steps:

git clone https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly.git recordly
cd recordly
npm install
npm run dev

For packaged builds, use:

npm run build

Target-specific build commands are also available:

• npm run build:mac
• npm run build:win
• npm run build:linux

macOS: "App cannot be opened"

If you encounter this issue with locally built apps, remove the quarantine flag using:

xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Recordly.app

Examples (Usage)

Recordly streamlines the process of creating and refining your screen recordings.

Record

1. Launch Recordly.
2. Select the screen or application window you wish to record.
3. Choose your microphone and system audio options.
4. Start recording your session.
5. Stop recording to automatically open the editor.

Edit

The integrated editor provides powerful tools to refine your recording:

• Add trims, manual zoom regions, and automatic zoom suggestions based on cursor activity.
• Implement speed-up and slow-down regions.
• Include text, image, and figure annotations.
• Manage cursor behavior, including size, smoothing, motion blur, and click effects.
• Add dynamic webcam overlay footage, with controls for position, size, roundness, and zoom reactivity.
• Style your video frame with built-in wallpapers, custom backgrounds, solid colors, gradients, blur, padding, and shadows.
• Add extra audio regions to the timeline.
• Crop the recorded frame and select an aspect ratio.
• Save your work at any time as a .recordly project file to resume editing later.

Export

Once your video is perfected, Recordly offers flexible export options:

• MP4 for standard video output.
• GIF for lightweight sharing and looping animations.

You can adjust format-specific settings such as export quality, GIF frame rate, GIF looping, and output dimensions before finalizing your video.

Why Use Recordly

Recordly stands out as an exceptional tool for anyone needing to create professional screen recordings and demo videos.

• Effortless Professionalism: Create polished videos with advanced visual effects like auto-zooms, cursor enhancements, and styled frames, all without needing traditional video editing expertise.
• Comprehensive All-in-One Solution: It combines recording, editing, and styling into a single, intuitive application, streamlining your workflow.
• Cross-Platform Compatibility: Fully supported on macOS, Windows, and Linux, ensuring accessibility for a wide range of users.
• Open-Source and Community-Driven: Benefit from a free, open-source application licensed under AGPL 3.0, with an active community contributing to its development and an extension marketplace for added functionalities.
• Dynamic Presentation Tools: Features like dynamic webcam bubble overlays and a robust timeline editor built specifically for demos provide unparalleled control over your narrative.

Links

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly
• Official Website: https://www.recordly.dev
• Releases Page: https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly/releases
• Recordly Marketplace: https://marketplace.recordly.dev/extensions
• Issue Tracker: https://github.com/webadderallorg/Recordly/issues