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Record your screen with your webcam in the corner

This guide shows you how to record your screen with your face in a small box over it, the way most tutorials and demos look. You will pick what to film, put the camera where you want it, choose its size, and end up with one MP4 file in a folder on your own computer.

Before you start

  • Google Chrome on a computer. The recorder runs in Chrome on Mac, Windows and Linux. Phone and tablet browsers cannot record the screen, so on a phone Cheap Recorder is an Android app instead.
  • A webcam and a microphone. A built-in laptop camera and microphone are fine.
  • A free account. You create it on the recorder page. No card is needed for the Free plan.
  • A folder for your recordings. Each recording is saved straight into a folder you choose, not uploaded unless you use Convert.

Step by step

  1. Open the recorder and Sign in, or choose Create account if you are new. The recorder appears once you are signed in.
  2. When Chrome asks, allow the microphone and the camera. The recorder turns both on by itself, so you do not need to look for them. If you said no by mistake, press Allow microphone and camera in the Microphone box.
  3. Under 1 Where to save, press Choose folder… and pick a folder. Chrome will ask for permission to save files there. Every recording gets its own folder inside it, named with the date and the name you give the recording.
  4. Under 2 What to capture, choose Whole screen, A window or A browser tab. Chrome opens its own sharing box; pick the screen, window or tab there and press Share. The preview appears at the bottom of the page.
  5. Check that the Webcam switch, labelled Record my webcam, is on. Your camera now sits over the screen in the Preview.
  6. In the Preview heading, open the Layout menu. The standard choices are Picture in picture, bottom right (the camera in the corner, which is the default), Side by side, Screen only and Camera only.
  7. With picture in picture chosen, drag the camera to any spot. If you let go close to an edge, it settles a little way in from that edge so it lines up neatly. When the camera has keyboard focus, the arrow keys nudge it too; hold Shift for bigger steps.
  8. Set the size with the Size slider in the Webcam box, from 12% to 50% of the width of the picture. You can also drag the small grip on the camera's corner.
  9. Type a name into Name this recording at the bottom of the page, then press Start recording.
  10. When you are done, press Stop and finish. The Your recording card opens with a player and a Download MP4 button. The file is already in your folder.

The preview is the recording. What you see in the Preview box, including where the camera sits and how big it is, is exactly what the file will hold. If you move or resize the camera while recording, the file follows.

Things worth knowing

  • Where the camera goes is remembered. Chrome keeps your camera position and size for next time. Picking a different layout starts the camera from that layout's own corner again.
  • Dragging only works in picture in picture. In Side by side the screen takes the left part of the picture and the camera has a fixed place on the right, so the drag handle and the Size slider are hidden.
  • The camera is never stretched. If the camera's shape does not match its box, it is trimmed evenly from both sides, so a face in the middle stays in the middle.
  • Just you, no screen. Choose Webcam only beside the screen choices to record only your camera and microphone. No screen is shared, and the Layout menu is hidden because there is only one picture.
  • Your plan decides the rest. Open your name in the top right and look under What you can do on this plan to see what is switched on for you, such as Screen and camera layouts and Webcam backgrounds and green screen.

Common problems

  • The webcam box says "no camera found". Chrome could not open a camera. Check that no other app, such as a video call, is using it, and that Chrome is allowed to use the camera in your computer's privacy settings. Then turn Record my webcam off and on again.
  • The camera is not in the preview. Make sure the layout is not Screen only, and that you have picked a screen, window or tab. Until you do, the preview only shows the camera on its own.
  • The recording stopped by itself. If you press Chrome's own "Stop sharing" bar, the recorder takes that as the end and finishes the recording. Use Stop and finish instead.
  • Start recording is greyed out. Read the short note beside it. It tells you what is missing, for example "choose a folder first".
  • There is no sound from the shared screen. See the guide on missing sound below; tab sound and call audio have their own rules.

Want a softer look behind you, or a different picture entirely? The Background choices sit right under the camera switch. The green screen guide explains each one.

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