How to Use Your Steam Deck’s New Built-in Recorder
On modern consoles like the PlayStation 5, recording gameplay is as easy as pressing the button . But on PC and Steam Deck it was always quite tedious. Previously, you had to resort to a third-party tool (or Windows Game Bar ), but now Steam finally has its own official screen recorder.
The tool, called Game Recording, is currently in beta and is capable of recording in the background, recording only on demand, and even replaying gameplay specifically for you so you can determine what went wrong when you died. It comes with a lightweight editor and timeline display for creating clips, and can also share footage directly to other devices or via a temporary URL. Users can also simply save an MP4 file of their recording for their own use.
Valve says this feature works with any game that supports the Steam overlay, even non-Steam games (that is, games that the player doesn’t own on Steam but still uses Steam to run). The company is also releasing tools that allow game developers to interact with Steam’s recording features, allowing them to automatically mark a timeline to show where key events occurred.
To try out Steam’s recording features, you’ll need to enable beta features. Here’s how:
How to try Steam Recording on PC
Enabling game recording on PC is very simple. Simply open Steam, click the Steam button in the top left corner next to the logo, and select Settings from the drop-down menu.
In the pop-up window, click Interface next to the computer display icon, then click the drop-down menu next to Customer Beta Participation . Select Steam Beta Update and restart Steam.
You’re almost there! From here, open any game that supports recording (most support recording) and press Shift+Tab to open the Steam overlay and get started.
Click the REC logo to open Steam Settings under the Game Recording tab. Choose whether you want to turn off game recording, whether you want to record only on demand, or whether you want the recording to run constantly in the background.
On-demand recording automatically saves recordings as clips. By clicking on it, you can choose where on your computer you want to save them and how high quality you want the footage to be. It is also possible to record sound from a microphone. And although recordings are saved as clips, you can still edit them later.
Instead, recording in the background will allow you to set the maximum length of your recordings before they turn off, as well as the quality you want. Together, this will allow you to set a limit on the amount of memory that automatic recording will use. Old gameplay will be overwritten as the limit is reached. As with on-demand recording, you can choose whether or not to record the microphone.
Once you’ve made your selection, recording your footage is a breeze. When recording on demand, simply click “Start Recording” in the Steam overlay to start recording a clip, or “Stop Recording” to end it. There is also a keyboard shortcut that allows you to do this during the game (by default Ctrl+F11 ). Once you save your recording, you can edit and share it using an overlay.
Meanwhile, pressing Shift+Tab at any time while background recording is active will allow you to scroll through the recording timeline in real time, allowing you to view saved gameplay even while recording. Click the Clip button next to the scissors icon to start editing the clip, and click the marker button (it looks like a pin) in the bottom left corner of the timeline to add a marker to help you edit. Alternatively, press Ctrl+F12 during playback to place a marker at the current point (this also works when recording on demand).
When you close a game, you will also see the recorded footage on that game’s page in your library, where you can also edit it.
Conveniently, turning off background recording at any time also opens a pop-up window where you can delete any previously recorded footage to save space.
How to Try Steam Recording on Steam Deck
Recording on a Steam Deck works almost exactly like recording on a PC, but you’ll have to take a few extra steps to get started.
From the main Steam Deck menu, click the Steam button on your device. Go to Settings next to the gear icon and click System . From here, click the drop-down menu under Beta Participation and next to System Update Channel . Click Beta and restart. Open the Settings menu again, then click Apply next to Software Updates . Restart again.
Now press the Steam button again and scroll down to “Game Recording” under Settings. You’ll see the same menu as on your PC and can make the same settings. To match the Steam Deck Controller, your keyboard shortcuts will now be set to Steam + A to start/stop recording and Steam + Y to place a marker. Just like on PC, you can customize them to your liking.
Open the game, click the Steam button again and scroll down to Record Game . Here you’ll be able to start/stop recording (if you’re not already recording in the background), place a marker, and view previously recorded material, where you’ll see the same interface as on the PC, right down to the Sharing Settings. And just like on PC, recorded footage will still appear on your game’s library page, so you can view and edit it even when the game is closed.
That’s all! Steam’s game recording feature is surprisingly reliable for a beta version. It’s definitely worth a try, if only because Valve makes it easy to limit storage and delete unnecessary frames. I also didn’t notice much of a performance hit during testing, and Valve says it designed the game recording feature to use your graphics card to “take as little computer resources as possible away from the game you’re playing.”