Best MP4 Screen Recorder to Create .mp4 Screencast on Computer

No matter what reason you need to screen record your computer screen, or what OS your computer runs, the best MP4 screen recorders we picked below will help make screen video a snap.

MP4 is the No.1 mainstream video format and you can see it everywhere, YouTube streaming, iPhone camera roll, GoPro card, and many more! This is because compared to other container formats like AVI, FLV, WMV, and so forth, MP4 is compatible better with hardware & software and has a higher compression ratio while keeping the high still quality with a relatively small size (surely encoding method also matters a lot). So for screen recording customers like you, MP4 is still the top choice for screen video capture. In this way, you can play, edit, and upload the recorded file directly anywhere without conversion at all.

So what’s the best MP4 screen recorder? Is there any freeware to capture without a penny? Whether the software is accepted by your niche Linux/Chrome system? What if you’re a noob and not so familiar with recording stuff?

Given the different situations, we here summarized three MP4 screen recording representatives for different computer systems, along with some tips on desktop capture.

1 – RecMaster MP4 Screen Recorder Review

Supported OS: Windows XP/7/8/10, Mac OS X 10.11 or later
Video Codec for MP4: AVC/H.264 (GPU Accelerated H.264 for Mac)

Since Windows and macOS are two mainstream computer systems, a broad range of desktop screen recorders have built two versions for them, including the top software here – RecMaster. Then what makes RecMaster your go-to pick for creating MP4 screen video? There are briefly a dozen of reasons:

● RecMaster can record everything on a computer screen into MP4, including but not limited to capturing gameplay, streaming media on the web, browser content, software operation, file explorer, and desktop performance.
● Full screen or customized resolution with a desired aspect ratio, you decide where to grab.
● You are free to define the video quality and frame rate (up to 60fps).
● You can mix the system sound & microphone simultaneously.
● One-click add webcam overlay into screen video for picture-in-picture video.
● Annotation tool and mouse cursor effects to keep viewers’ attention.
● A built-in scheduler enables the software to catch any streaming events automatically.
● Easy edits and YouTube/Google Drive uploading after recording;
● Low CPU usage.
● No watermark or time limitation for full users.

From the list above, we can see that RecMaster is feature-rich software. It is.

Different from other general software, RecMaster sorts all recording needs into five types and that’s the five recording modes come in on the main interface. The left ones – Game Mode (Mac version will add this mode soon), Full Screen, Custom Area, and Webcam – are used for MP4 video recording. Only after you choose the capture mode can you see and set for output. Compared to many similar products with somewhat bewildering UI, like too much setting items consolidate in one window, the super-intuitive RecMaster will not take you much time on wondering “what should I do”, especially for the first time recording.

By choosing either of the video recording modes, you will access another window to set MP4 quality, frame rate and cursor/watermark effects for output MP4. Task schedule is the place to create and enable any future recording, which is such a great tool to keep the once-only live streaming when there’s a clash of date.

For most beginners, the top concerns for selecting a handy MP4 screen recorder should lie in ease-of-use, multi-function but little influence on machine’s performance and high-quality output of course. RecMaster meets all of these requirements. And as a piece of software that just starts its life at version 1.0, it will bring about lots of shining points in the near future.

A word of notice: RecMaster for Mac now has a little difference with Windows version. If you wish a 1:1 Mac recorder with RecMaster for Windows, you can get back to check our update or turn to some best alternatives like OBS Studio or ScreenFlow. Besides RecMaster, there are many solid MP4 screen recording tools for Windows and Mac, including OBS Studio, Movavi Screen Recorder, Wondershare Filmora Scrn, and ApowerREC.

>> How to Record H.264 Video, Even with Hardware Acceleration

2 – OBS Studio MP4 Screen Recorder Review

Supported OS: Windows 8/8.1/10, macOS 10.13 and newer, Linux (Ubuntu 18.04 and newer, FFmpeg is required)
Video Codec for MP4: X264, QuickSync H.264, Nvidia NVENC H.264

Compared to elder brother Windows and Mac, Linux, although with less user base, is gradually becoming one of the mainstream systems. Many tech companies are using the open-source and lightweight Linux in their data centers like Oracle, Google, Novell, IBM, Facebook, and Microsoft (yes, you didn’t hear it wrong). In view of its open-source nature, we here come up with an open-source screen recorder for MP4 screen recording on Linux, and its name is OBS Studio, the abbreviation of Open Broadcast Software (Studio).

OBS Studio is a freebie for recording and live streaming, which is notably sought after Twitch gaming streamers. Shortly before in September 2019, OBS owner JIM officially released a blog – “Twitch Becomes Premiere Sponsor of the OBS Project“- to confirm the relationship between them before and for the time to come.

OBS Studio is regarded as the most powerful tool among screen recording freeware. So you can see its name anywhere people are asking for recorder recommendation. When you take it as a good screen recorder on your computer, it can:
● Real-time capture any screen sources at an unlimited number – Window Capture, Browser, Display Capture, Game Capture, Image (Slide Show), Media Source, Text, Video Capture Device (e.g webcam), Audio Input/Output Capture and so on.
● Unlimited scenes, too. You can switch from one to anyone else with a transition effect.
● Mix audio from desktop, microphone or any external devices you deploy beforehand.
● Output MP4 recording with multiple (up to 6) audio tracks.
● Flexible control on MP4 resolution, bit rate, frame rate, video color etc.
● An option for automatically remuxing (video) to MP4 if the output video format is not MP4.

Common OBS Studio reviews usually come up with the steep learning curve of OBS. However, for most Linux geeks, it’s not a big deal. Maybe one or two YouTube tutorials are enough for the quick start of OBS Studio.

For those who are not so into OBS, there are a few easy alternatives to recommend: Kazam, Peek, ScreenStudio, SimpleScreenRecorder, VLC, etc.

3 – Screencastify MP4 Screen Recorder Review

Supported OS: Any systems running Chrome browser, including ChromeOS
Video Codec for MP4: AVC/H.264

This Linux kernel-based system developed by Google is used in all Chromebook devices. If you are a Chromebook owner or just turned your old computer into “a Chromebook” by installing the Chromium OS yourself, you can create an MP4 screen recording of it with this good bet for the web – Screencastify.

It is a screen recording plug-in for Chrome. After downloading and installing it on the browser, you can create an AVC MP4 screen recording by:
● Recording any webpage, application window, or the entire desktop screen;
● Embedding webcam on the browser, app, or full desktop shooting;
● Recording your webcam only;
● Enabling the microphone audio into the MP4 video;
● Setting resolution at up to 1080p HD and adjusting frame rate to 60fps;
● Recording and saving the file into disk or Google Drive.

Undoubtedly, extension tools are not as powerful and convenient as desktop software. If you are not satisfied with these web-centric services and are willing to run certain non-Chrome software here, you can run a Linux screen recorder on Chrome OS in developer mode, take advantage of remote control, or install a virtual machine to utilize an MP4 screen recorder for Windows.

Many other Chrome-based screen recorders are also worth your try, such as Loom, Hippo Video, Nimbus, Screen Recorder, and ShowMore.

Ending

With the right and easy-to-use MP4 screen recorder, regardless of the recording area or content, you can make high-quality MP4 screencasts on your machine as easy as ABC.

See Also:
AVI Screen Recorder: How to Capture AVI Video on Computer
How to Use Screencastify on to Record MP4
How to Download YouTube to MP4/MP3 Without Security Problem