Recording modes

Four sources, each one click away in the popup. Pick the one that matches what you're showing.

Screen

Captures your entire screen, a specific application window, or another browser window. Use this for desktop tutorials, app demos that span multiple windows, or anything happening outside Chrome.

If you have multiple monitors, Chrome will let you pick which one. The selected screen is captured at its native resolution up to the cap set in Settings (default 1080p; Pro unlocks 4K).

Tab

Captures just the current browser tab. This is the cleanest mode because it bypasses Chrome's screen-share dialog entirely - recording starts instantly.

Tab mode also captures the tab's audio at source quality. Perfect for recording online meetings, YouTube reactions, or web apps with sound effects.

Area

Drag a frame around any region of your screen. The recording crops to that area, ignoring everything else. Two ways to use it:

• Before recording: pick Area, draw your frame, hit start.
• During recording: the area frame can be redrawn at any point - useful when you switch focus to a different panel.

Area mode is the most under-used feature. It's the difference between "here's my screen" and "here's exactly the thing I want you to see."

Camera

Records your webcam either standalone (talking-head video) or as picture-in-picture overlay on another source. Pick your camera and resolution in Settings.

Camera bubble settings - shape (circle / square / rounded), size (S / M / L), mirror - all live under Settings -> Camera.

Which mode should I use?