Webcam Recorder

No. The camera and microphone stream goes into this tab, the browser's own MediaRecorder turns it into a file there, and the page makes no network request with any of it. Takes are kept in the tab's memory until you download or delete them, and they are gone when you reload, close the tab, or leave the page.

It depends on the browser, and the format list shows what yours offers. Chrome and Edge record WebM, with VP9 listed first because it gives a sharper picture per megabyte, and recent versions also offer MP4 with H.264. Firefox records WebM with VP8. Safari records MP4 with H.264 and AAC. Choose MP4 where it is offered if the file is going to an iPhone, QuickTime, PowerPoint, or an editing app; WebM is fine for the web, Chrome, Firefox, and VLC.

Chrome writes a WebM as a stream while it records and never goes back to fill in the length, so the file has no duration in its header. Some players then show no running time and cannot seek, and QuickTime Player does not open WebM at all. VLC plays and seeks these files without trouble. To fix the file itself, run it through a converter that remuxes it, which rewrites the header without re-encoding; with ffmpeg that is a copy of the streams into a new WebM or MKV. Recording in MP4, where your browser offers it, avoids the problem.

A mirrored view is what people expect when they look at themselves, so the preview is mirrored by default and the Mirror preview toggle turns it off. The recording is never mirrored: it shows you the way anyone watching sees you, so writing on a shirt or a sign you hold up reads correctly in the file even though it looks backwards in the preview.

One take can run for up to 60 minutes or 2 GB, whichever comes first, and all takes in the tab together are capped at 4 GB. At the Standard preset a minute is about 18.8 MB, so an hour is about 1.1 GB; High is about 36.7 MB a minute and reaches 2 GB after about 56 minutes, and Maximum is about 58.6 MB a minute and reaches it after about 35 minutes. Those are targets, and a still scene usually comes in smaller. The recording is held in memory, so on a computer with 8 GB of RAM or less, download long takes as you go and close other heavy tabs.

Yes. Switch Record sound off before or after turning the camera on. The microphone is then never opened, the browser does not ask for it, and the file has no audio track at all rather than a silent one. If you leave sound on but the microphone cannot be opened, the camera still starts and the page says that takes will have no sound until the microphone is fixed.

Unless you pick one, the browser uses your system's default input, which is not always the headset or USB microphone you meant. Once access is allowed, the Microphone list shows every input by name; choose one and the preview restarts on it, and the level meter moves when you speak so you know it is the right one. Names stay hidden until you allow access, which is a browser privacy rule.

Yes, in Safari 14.1 or later on a Mac and on iOS and iPadOS 14.5 or later, where it records MP4. Keep Safari in front and the screen on while recording: switching apps or locking the phone pauses the camera, and the take freezes or stops. The front camera opens by default, and the camera list offers the back cameras once access is allowed. A download goes to the Files app, in Downloads, from where you can save it to Photos.

The light shows the camera is open, not that it is recording, and it stays on for as long as the preview is running. Press Turn off camera, or leave the page, and every track is stopped, so the light should go out within a second or two. If it stays on, another app or tab is using the camera; on a Mac, Control Center names it.

The quality preset sets the size, not the resolution: each preset is a bitrate, and the file grows by that much every second whatever the size of the picture. For a smaller file choose Compact or Standard, which suit a talking head at 720p or 1080p. For a sharper one choose High or Maximum, and request 1080p or more so there is detail to spend the bits on. Good light helps both ways, because a dim picture is grainy, and grain is expensive to encode.