I’ve used Windows’ Snipping Tool for screen recording for years and never felt the need to switch, because it just works. A screen recorder isn’t something you expect much out of anyway.

But Recordly changed my mind. It’s a free, open-source screen recorder that also edits your recordings for you. It automatically adds zoom-in effects and transitions, which makes the final clip look like it was edited in a video editor. I’m currently using Recordly on my Windows PC, but it’s also available on Linux and Mac too.

Screen recordings can look boring, but Recordly changes that

It edits my recordings while I do nothing

Most screen recordings are a snooze-fest. You hit a record, do your thing, hit stop, and end up with a flat, lifeless clip. The recording itself is actually the easy part. The difficult part is making it engaging, especially if you’re recording an app demo or a walkthrough for a presentation. In that case, you typically have to switch to a decent video editor, trim unwanted sections, apply transitions, and do everything possible to make your recording as engaging as possible. And doing all of this can obviously take time and energy.

Recordly is a free, open-source screen recorder that can help you skip the whole editing bit. It automatically edits your screen recording. As you move your cursor, it automatically zooms in on the important part and adds smooth transitions between actions. As soon as you stop recording, the app applies all the visual effects on its own, and it barely takes more than a couple of seconds to do it.

It then drops your recording into a timeline view where you can crop, trim, split, and move clips around as usual. The effects aren’t set in stone either. You can remove effects you don’t like and pile on more if needed. From my experience, though, the app does a brilliant job of applying the effects, so you’ll barely have to touch anything.

Recordly also adds a stylish frame around your actual clip, which makes the video look even more polished. And if you don’t like it, you can remove it or change its style, color, and size. My favorite bit, though, is the cursor customization. You can swap the default cursor for a different style or size, and even add click effects to make every click look smooth.

Recordly also has webcam overlay, captions, and presets

Automatic editing is only part of the appeal

The automatic editing isn’t the only trick. Recordly can also do other things. If you want to record yourself while recording the screen, for instance, the app lets you overlay your webcam feed right on top of the clip. You can pick the shape, size, and position of the webcam bubble after you’ve recorded the whole thing. And yes, the webcam overlay also reacts to the zoom effects, so it doesn’t look out of place.

Recordly has automatic captions too, though it does require you to download a local model first. Once you have it, it can automatically detect the language you’re speaking, be it English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, or Japanese. It then adds captions to your recording and lets you tweak the text color, font size, positioning, background opacity, and everything else.

Presets are a big deal too. If you need to stick to a specific style across multiple recordings, you can apply the edits to one video and save it as a preset. After that, you can apply the same effects to every future recording with a click, which is a massive time-saver if you record often.

And if you’re a fan of keyboard shortcuts, Recordly supports plenty of them for things like adding zoom effects, splitting the clips, deleting items, and zooming in the timeline. They are all customizable too, in case the defaults don’t work out for you.

Once you’re done editing, you can export the recording in your preferred resolution, frame rate, and encoding quality. There’s even an option to export the clip as a GIF, which is handy for sharing short clips. And if you’re not ready to export just yet, you can save the project for later. Recordly also lets you open clips you’ve recorded using Snipping Tool, though those won’t be edited automatically.

I’m surprised it’s free

I’ve been using Recordly for a few weeks now, and it honestly feels like something you’d have to pay for. It’s rare for an app like this to be completely free and without any ads. It works as advertised and looks beautiful too. At this point, it has replaced both Snipping Tool and Canva in my workflow for creating walkthroughs. So yes, if you make any kind of screen recording content, even occasionally, this is definitely worth the shot.