Recordcast - a simple free screen recorder and video editor

On TopBlogs, we sometimes review software and tools that we find useful for common users (not full-time professionals). All the tools reviewed by us are free or freemium tools.

In this edition, we introduce a free online tool for screen recording and video editing: Recordcast.

What we like about Recordcast is its simplicity: it is intuitive for most of its functions. If you have used any basic software relating to image viewing, audio/ video playing and experimented with their hidden features, you will find Recordcast very simple to use.

In addition, being web-based, the software is available to you all the time, and anywhere if internet is available.

At the same time, the software comes with video editing facility, with some useful frills.

So, if you need to regularly record your screen for making tutorials, video presentations, etc and do some minor but repetitive video editing (e.g. removing an unwanted scene from a video or joining videos or adding audio) you will find this software handy.

It is my duty as a reviewer to tell you in advance that this tool is NOT for advanced users. So, if you are looking for a feature-rich software tool, this is not for you.

Why is RecordCast a good video editor?

As said before, it is very easy and intuitive. You can carry out all editing on the timeline, usually in a few clicks.

The creators of video editors have a huge dilemma on what to keep and what to exclude: keeping more features makes the app heavy and difficult to use (especially when it is offered online) while removing features reduces its usefulness. Recordcast seems to be a good compromise.

If you sign up, which is free and a one-click affair, Recordcast stores your edited/ editable files as 'projects' and you can work on an existing project in a new session.

You can add shapes and other 'elements' such as emojis/ emoticons/ geometric figures/ arrows on top of the video. Adding text on video is very easy, and there are many choices of font type and size, placement, etc.

You can put a color background on top or behind the video and have a number of 'overlays' that animate on top of the video. This is especially handy when some video clips or pictures do not cover the entire screen OR you want to have a colorful border outside the video.

The most useful and common video editing tasks - split and copy- are there. Of course, you can overlay audio, two or more videos/ audios and join them.

Unlike some demo versions of free versions of professional video editing software, the exported video comes without a watermark.

You can save the video in MP4 format in three sizes.

I experimented with earlier recorded video and its own recordings, and found the resultant video very good in quality for the purpose of posting on a website/ blog and other social media accounts.

Why is Recordcast a good screen recorder?

Its recording facility is quite versatile. The screen recorder comes with options to image/ audio/ video from the full screen/ an active window / a webpage. In addition, it can record video from the webcam.

Webcam and screen can be used simultaneously. This feature can be handy for producing screen-based tutorials.

The best part of the app is that its recording and video editing functions are seamlessly integrated. I have found this on some high-end smartphone apps but editing video on a wider screen (tab/ laptop) is much easier. In addition, the app being online, one need not be bothered about the app's maintenance, updating, etc.

free screen recorder and online video editor

Other details about Recordcast

Let me repeat that this is not a professional screen recorder and video editor. But professional software is very costly and one needs to learn a lot of technical aspects to master the software.

The company behind Recordcast says, the videos/ projects created using the software or stored with it are private. However, if a video is shared 'in public mode', that can be visible to the user community of the software, search engines, etc.

As a completely free program, Recordcast cannot provide unlimited resources to a large number of users. So, it comes with some limitations. These should be OK for common users in most cases.

After signing up, you can save 8 projects. Each can be up to 30 minutes.
You can record videos of only 30-minute duration. I wish, it was slightly more, because those who make tutorials, etc need to record for more than 30 minutes.
After editing, you can export the video of up to 1 hour.
The files that you use in the video editor have to be below 1 GB in size
The video editor supports the following image formats: PNG, JPG, WEBP, SVG, GIF, BMP, ICO; audio formats: AAC, MP3, M4A, FLAC, OGG, WAV; video formats: MP4 (H264), MOV, WEBM, M4V.
The screen recorder can record a specific tab on a browser but that is available only for Chrome.