Xbox Game Bar screen recording on Windows 10 and 11

How to record with Xbox Game Bar

1. Check Game Bar is on. Open Settings > Gaming > Xbox Game Bar and turn it on. On older Windows 10 versions the page is called Game bar, with the switch “Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using Game bar”.
2. Open what you want to record and click inside it, so it is the active window.
3. Press Windows + G to open Game Bar. If it asks, select Enable gaming features for this app.
4. In the Capture widget, select Start recording. (If you don’t see it, open the Widget menu and choose Capture.) Or skip steps 3 and 4 and press Windows + Alt + R.
5. Stop with the stop button in the small recording timer, or press Windows + Alt + R again.

In some full-screen games Game Bar doesn’t appear. The shortcut still works: the screen flashes when recording starts and stops (Xbox Support).

Xbox Game Bar shortcuts

You can change these: press Windows + G, then select Settings > More settings > Shortcuts. That also helps on a tablet without a keyboard, or a keyboard without a Windows key (Xbox Support).

Record with sound

Check what Game Bar records before an important take. Open Settings > Gaming > Captures. There you can:

• turn recording audio on or off,
• choose whether to include your microphone and other system sound, not only the game or app,
• set the microphone and system volume levels for recordings, and
• choose the audio quality (bitrate).

Game Bar’s own settings (Windows + G > Settings > More settings > Widgets > Captures) offer the same choice in three options: Game only, All (game, microphone, music and system sounds) or None (no game or system sound, but your microphone is still recorded). Changing a setting in one place changes it in the other (Xbox Support).

While you record, press Windows + Alt + M to mute or unmute your microphone. If Game Bar doesn’t pick up your microphone, open the Audio widget (Windows + G) and choose it under Input.

Where Game Bar saves recordings

Recordings are saved as MP4 files in the Captures folder inside Videos:

C:\Users\<your name>\Videos\Captures

Each file is named after the app or game and the date and time. Two quick ways to get there: Settings > Gaming > Captures > Open folder, or Windows + G > Widget menu > Gallery.

To save recordings somewhere else, move the whole Captures folder with File Explorer, for example to another drive. Windows keeps saving into it wherever you move it.

Recording length, quality and cursor

The rest of the settings are also under Settings > Gaming > Captures (Xbox Support):

• Max recording length: the clip saves automatically when it reaches this length. Set it higher before a long recording.
• Frame rate and video quality: higher settings make your PC work harder. Use 60 fps for fast motion; for a software tutorial, 30 fps is usually enough.
• Capture mouse cursor: turn this on for tutorials, or viewers can’t see what you click.
• Background recording (“Record what happened”): off by default. When it is on, Windows + Alt + G saves the last moments as a clip, up to 30 minutes. It uses some of your PC’s power, so leave it off unless you need it.

What Game Bar can’t record

• The desktop and File Explorer. Game Bar records one app or game window; on the desktop it says gaming features aren’t available.
• More than one monitor. Microsoft says Game Bar supports one monitor at a time.
• A region or several windows at once. It records the active app, not an area you choose.
• Some games and protected content. Some games block recording, so the clip comes out blank.
• Your webcam, zooms or edits. There is no webcam overlay, no zoom on what you click, and no editor beyond the Gallery.

When Game Bar won’t record

These fixes come from Xbox’s Game Bar troubleshooting page, in the order worth trying.

“Gaming features aren’t available” or the record button is greyed out

You are probably on the desktop or in File Explorer, which Game Bar doesn’t record. Click inside the app you want to record and press Windows + G again. If the app still isn’t recognised, select Enable gaming features for this app when Game Bar offers it. To record the desktop, use Snipping Tool on Windows 11 or another recorder.

The shortcuts do nothing

1. Check Game Bar is turned on in Settings > Gaming.
2. Install Windows updates, and update Game Bar from the Microsoft Store.
3. For a full-screen game, press Windows + G once; the screen flashes twice when the game is recognised. Then go back to full screen and use Windows + Alt + R. A borderless window mode also helps.
4. Some games block shortcuts. Set your own in Game Bar’s settings (see shortcuts).
5. Update your graphics driver.

Recording worked once or twice, then stopped

A recording may not have ended properly. Close the app, open Task Manager, end the bcastdvr.exe process (Xbox calls it the Broadcast bar server) if it is listed, then try again.

The clip is black or blank

Some games turn off recording, so their clips come out blank, and protected content (such as some video streaming apps) can come out blank too. Game Bar can’t get around that.

No sound in the recording

Check the audio options in Settings > Gaming > Captures, make sure the microphone wasn’t muted with Windows + Alt + M, and choose the right device in the Audio widget. On Windows N editions, install Microsoft’s free Media Feature Pack first. More fixes are in our screen recording no-sound guide.

Game Bar or Snipping Tool?

On Windows 11 you have both. Use Game Bar for a game or a single app window. Use Snipping Tool when you need the desktop, File Explorer or a part of the screen you choose: press Windows + Shift + R. Our Snipping Tool screen recording guide covers it step by step. On Windows 10, Game Bar is the only one built in, because Snipping Tool doesn’t record video there.