LICEcap

Pros

• Simple and straightforward screen recording program
• You can make the screen around as needed while recording
• You get some options for changing the quality of your recording

Cons

• The video output file might have to be converted for editing and uploading

LICEcap is a screen recording tool that is able to save images, GIFs and even short videos. This can be used for making tutorials or if you're having a hard time recording images and GIFs through more conventional means. This program uses a proprietary video file format and the program itself is lightweight.

Primary Features

LICEcap is made for recording your screen. While it can save static images, this is more commonly used for GIFs and videos. You can choose before recording whether you want to record this as a GIF or video from a handy drop-down menu. Once your selection is made you can then click the "Record" button and the program will record the screen for you.

You can also choose to record the whole screen or set a specific area for recording. You can also have the program follow your mouse or other areas of the screen while recording the video. This makes your video look more dynamic and it can help you focus on certain areas.

While there are no editing features, you can choose several options before recording like how long the title screen should be, whether it should display mouse clicks with a small animation and more. There is also a hotkey combination that allows you to pause the recording before picking back up.

Video Formats

LICEcap can record videos of whatever is occurring on your screen. Many people use this to make software tutorials or record other actions they are doing on their computer. The videos are saved as LCF files. These files do have some advantages in that they are highly compressed, are lossless so they won't lose quality at any size and they record color quite well. The issue though is that LCF files are rare and you might have a hard time finding a video editor or player that supports this. In fact, you may have to download a specific LCF video player just to watch your video.

If you download LICEcap, then you may also want to get a video converter as well so that you can change the LCF file into a more conventional file type for editing and uploading.

You can also record files as GIFs, but this is best used for short animations. This file type is conventional, but it can be very heavy and anything longer than a few seconds will be too large for many websites.

Customize Frames Per Second

Another selection that you can make prior to recording is the frames per second, or FPS. A higher FPS rating such as around 60 will look fantastic. At the same time, this also makes the file much larger and that might be a problem with longer videos. It's a good idea to strike a balance between size and quality. You don't want the video file so large that no one is willing to download it.

Depending on your video and audience, you will likely find that around 30 to 60 is fine for most videos. Anything higher than this will make the video very bloated.

Pros

• Simple and straightforward screen recording program
• You can make the screen around as needed while recording
• You get some options for changing the quality of your recording

Cons

• The video output file might have to be converted for editing and uploading