Media, Recording & Capture: what to install, and why
This is the largest category on the site, and almost every entry is open source. Media tools attract adware more than any other kind of free software: a…
What this category is for
This is the largest category on the site, and almost every entry is open source. Media tools attract adware more than any other kind of free software: a codec pack, a video converter or a screen recorder is a common wrapper for an installer nobody wanted. The filter here is therefore as much about distribution history as it is about features.
What we filter on
- Plays, captures or edits without asking for an account, an email address or a trial.
- Open source, or a publisher with a long, clean distribution record.
- No watermark on output, no export limit disguised as a free tier, no bundled codec pack.
- Still maintained. An unmaintained media tool becomes a security problem the first time it opens an untrusted file.
The 10 programs, compared
The table below is generated from the same directory data as the main list. Licence wording matters here: free for personal use is not the same as free for a work machine, and source-available is not the same as open source. Every link opens the publisher's own site.
| Program | Licence / price | Platforms | Why it is on the list |
|---|---|---|---|
| VLC Media Player Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | Plays the file Windows Media Player refuses to. No codec hunting, no third-party packs, no ads. It also handles DVD, network streams and screen capture, which is more than you will ever need. |
| mpv Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | For people who care about video quality: precise scaling, smooth playback of 4K and high frame rate files, and keyboard control of everything. There is no settings window, which is the point and also the problem. |
| OBS Studio Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | The standard for screen recording and live streaming, used by everyone from Twitch streamers to university lecturers. Expect one evening of setup before it clicks. |
| HandBrake Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Shrinks video files to a fraction of their size with no visible quality loss, and converts almost anything to MP4. Use the presets until you have a reason not to. |
| Audacity Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | A full multi-track audio editor for free: record, cut, remove noise, normalise, export. Ignore the 2021 ownership scare, the licence is settled and the software is fine. |
| Kdenlive Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | The best free video editor that can actually replace a paid one, with multi-track timelines, proxies and keyframes. Steeper than CapCut, and it will not watermark your export. |
| Shotcut Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | The gentler free editor: native format support, no importing step, and a flatter learning curve than Kdenlive. Pick it if you edit occasionally rather than daily. |
| ShareX Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows | Screenshot, annotate, record the screen, then upload and copy a link in one keystroke, with workflows you can script. Far more powerful than Snipping Tool and correspondingly more overwhelming at first. |
| Flameshot Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows, macOS, Linux | Blur, highlight and arrow on screen before saving, with a clean and quick interface. The best simple annotating screenshot tool on Windows and the natural choice on Linux. |
| Greenshot Publisher's site ↗ | Free · Open source | Windows | The lightweight option if you want one fixed hotkey that grabs a region, opens an editor and copies to clipboard. Older and quieter than ShareX, which for many people is exactly right. |
If you only install one
VLC Media Player. It opens essentially anything you throw at it without downloading a codec, and it does so without an account or a store. On a new machine, that removes an entire class of first-week problems. It is not the prettiest player here, but it is the one you will never have to troubleshoot.
Its Free · Open source licence and Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS support are listed in the table above. The rest of this category exists because the right answer changes with the job, not because the other entries are filler.
The trade-offs
| Instead | What changes |
|---|---|
| mpv | Lighter and far more configurable, but it expects you to be comfortable editing a config file. |
| OBS Studio | The serious answer for recording and streaming. Overkill if all you need is a screenshot. |
| ShareX | The fastest screenshot-to-file workflow on Windows, with none of the upload-by-default behaviour of hosted alternatives. |
Mistakes we see
- Downloading a codec pack to fix one file that will not play. Use a player with codecs included instead; a codec pack changes system-wide components.
- Installing a full video editor to trim a two-minute clip. HandBrake or the editor you already have will do it in a fraction of the setup time.
- Accepting a free recorder that adds a watermark only at export. Check the output terms before you record an hour of material.
Questions people ask
Do I need all ten of these?
Almost nobody does. A player, one capture tool and one editor cover most machines; the rest are here for specific jobs.
Are these safe to open untrusted files with?
Keeping them updated is the important part. Media parsers process complex input, which is exactly why an abandoned player is a bad idea.
Where to go next
These guides use tools from this category:
- Setting up a new Windows PC: the order that actually works
- When free software is enough, and when it is not
- Getting a few more years out of an older PC
- Why we link to publishers, and how to check a download yourself
Or continue through the other categories:
- Browsers — 4 programs
- Files & Organisation — 6 programs
- Graphics & Design — 7 programs
- Documents & Notes — 8 programs
- Communication — 6 programs
- Privacy & Security — 10 programs
- Developer Tools — 12 programs
- System & Hardware — 8 programs
- Backup & Sync — 5 programs
- Network & Remote — 6 programs
How to read this page. How to read this page. Platform, licence and publisher details come from our directory data. Where an independent review, audit or survey is mentioned, it is summarised in our own words with the source named and linked; our /sources page sets out that policy. The recommendation, the trade-offs and every 'skip it if' line are our editorial judgement. We do not run benchmarks, publish measured performance figures or host installers, and every download link goes to the publisher's own site. If a detail is out of date, our About page explains how to tell us.