GPU Screen Recorder: High-Performance Screen Recording Without FPS Drop

Here’s a handy tool for recording your screen on Linux without overheating your CPU! It’s called GPU Screen Recorder, and it primarily uses your GPU’s power to record the screen, minimizing the impact on your system’s performance.

No more struggling with a processor overload when you start a video capture—whether you have a NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel graphics card, your trusty GPU will do all the work, similar to ShadowPlay on Windows for those familiar with it.

As for features and supported video/audio codecs, here’s what you get:

• H264 video codec (default for Intel)
• HEVC video codec (default for AMD and NVIDIA)
• AV1 video codec (except on NVIDIA with the Flatpak version)
• Opus (default) and AAC audio codecs
• Screen capture options: offline mode, live streaming, or ShadowPlay-style replay
• Wayland compatibility… but only for capturing full screens

There are still a few bugs and developing features, like HDR support (which is apparently a nightmare to implement), but the essential functions already work well on most configurations.

However, if you’re using the NVIDIA driver and want to capture your screen in Wayland, you’ll need to go “sudo” to give the program root access to the graphics pipeline. Otherwise, using a simple X11 window will let the program run in standard user mode.

Performance-wise, it’s impressive compared to OBS Studio + NVEnc on demanding 4K games. For example, on Zelda BoTW, OBS+NVEnc averages 7 FPS, while GPU Screen Recorder holds steady at 30 FPS on a high-end GTX 1080 GPU. Similarly, for GTA V in 4K, OBS+NVEnc drops to around 23 FPS, but with this tool, it’s nearly constant at 58 FPS, even when the GPU is maxed out at 100% load.

Ultimately, captured videos are smoother than those recorded with OBS, with high quality that holds up well if you stick to “High” or “Very High” settings. Only use “Ultra” if you have a high-end SSD and don’t mind storing massive 3-hour videos.

Alright, now that you’re excited, here’s how to get and install this gem:

1. Arch-based distros (like Manjaro, EndeavourOS, etc.): yay -S gpu-screen-recorder-git
2. Ubuntu and Debian users: Clone the git repo and run install.sh as root (don’t forget the dependencies).
3. Flatpak users (GPU Screen Recorder GTK): Just grab it from Flathub!

Once installed, run the program from the command line like a pro:

gpu-screen-recorder -w screen -f 60 -a "$(pactl info)" -o mavideo.mp4

This command captures all screens at 60 FPS, along with default audio (microphone + sound output), saving it all in mavideo.mp4. Easy, right? For more advanced uses, like window capture, replay, live streaming, etc., dive into the documentation.

In short, it’s a super handy tool for anyone wanting to record gaming sessions on Linux without sacrificing smoothness.