Movavi Screen Recorder Studio review

Movavi Screen Recorder Studio is ideal for both beginners and pros.

Movavi Screen Recorder Studio review
(Image: © Movavi)

Top Ten Reviews Verdict

A hugely versatile program, Movavi Screen Recorder Studio is packed with features, easy to use, and comes at a good price.

Pros

  • +

    Easy to use

  • +

    All the features you need

  • +

    Records on smartphones and tablets as well as PCs

Cons

  • -

    Not the cheapest

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Movavi Screen Recorder Studio has a wide range of tools that easily make it one of the best video capture software packages available today. It's the ideal screen recording program for both casual and professional users, and it isn't too expensive either. With it, you can capture your entire desktop or a specific region, application, or window. It can record streamed video, video games, VoIP calls, and more. It even records the screens of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

This software's tools make it easy to create professional-quality videos. Of all the capture software we've reviewed, it's the easiest program to learn and use. So whether you need to make a software tutorial, a presentation for work, or a simple YouTube video, Movavi Screen Capture Studio should meet all your needs. There are PC and Mac versions, so it works on all the best home computers.

Movavi Screen Recorder Studio review: Features

Movavi Screen Recorder Studio is the only program in our lineup to have every recording and capture tool you could want. You can use these capturing tools to record anything that happens on your computer, whether it's an application, game, a Skype call, streaming video... it does it all.

When you launch this screen recorder, the welcome screen has three options: Capture Screen, Record Audio, and Edit Video. If you're using Movavi Screen Recorder Studio for the first time, tutorials pop up to help you get started. These tutorials are invaluable to the novice because they show you how to get the most out of your software. You can turn the pop-up off or simply skip the tutorials.

When you select the Capture Screen option, you can choose to record your entire screen, a custom portion of it, or a specific window or application. Recording is possible at 1080p (Full HD) at 60fps. You also have the option to capture your system's audio so your audience can hear what's going on. Additionally, you can record your voice through a microphone. You can even do both at the same time. The multiple options allow you to record exactly what you want from multiple sources, and this saves a lot of time and energy during the editing phase. It's a streamer's delight. It goes without saying that you can also snap static screenshots.

The Record Audio feature is exactly what it sounds like: you can record your system's audio or sound through a microphone (or other external sound device) without any video attached. This is useful for recording narrations and other voice work. Separately recorded audio clips also give you more control over the sound of more complex projects. It's also good for recording audio-only projects like podcasts or audiobooks.

You can control what you're recording either through the onscreen interface or with hotkeys, which are keyboard shortcuts that allow you to quickly start, stop and pause recordings with a simple keystroke. Hotkeys are quicker than using your mouse, plus you don't capture unnecessary cursor movement. If you’re completely new to this kind of thing, check out Debut Video Capture software, which is especially easy for beginners.

Movavi Screen Recorder Studio review

(Image credit: Movavi)

This screen recorder offers the most comprehensive array of editing tools we've seen. If the tools were sold as a separate application, it would give even the best video editing programs a run for its money. This is in stark contrast to most of the video recorder software we reviewed, in which the editing features are limited to trimming unwanted footage and adding text – and some have no editing tools at all. Movavi Screen Recorder Studio goes far beyond the basics.

This software allows you to pan and zoom across your footage to highlight important aspects of your screen. You can also fine-tune and enhance your audio, something only one other application on our lineup allows you to do. Additionally, you can add media that's on your computer to your project – outside video and sounds can easily be dropped in and edited just like the content you capture from your screen.

The editor also has a number of video and audio-enhancement tools. You can add effects, filters, transitions, titles, captions and more. You also get some advanced tools, such as the chroma key (green screen), slow motion and video stabilization. These features are generally found in stand-alone video-editing applications; none of the other programs we reviewed have these tools.

Movavi Screen Recorder Studio review

(Image credit: Movavi)

Movavi Screen Recorder Studio review: Editing options

The export options Movavi Screen Recorder Studio offers stands heads and shoulders above the competition. You can export your video to 11 of the most popular video formats. There are multiple options to fine-tune technical aspects of your final video such as resolution, FPS (frames per second) and sample rate. These controls are great for advanced users, and the default options will satisfy the needs of novice users.

You can also optimize your video for playback on more than 150 devices. So if you know your video is going to be watched on an iPhone 11, simply select that option from the 'Apple Devices' tab. The program will automatically tailor your video's setting for that device. It also has options for Android and Windows devices, as well gaming systems and other media players. No matter what device your video is displayed on, it's seen in the best quality possible.

And the quality is excellent. During testing, we created ten identical projects using each video capture application on our lineup. Our video experts inspected the results, searching for imperfections in the video such as pixelation, motion blur and hesitation in the video. In almost every case, they found noticeable flaws that detract from the viewing experience. But that was not the case with Movavi Screen Recorder: our experts found the video to be crisp, clear and nearly identical to the source material. There is an additional Movavi store where you can buy additional effects and transitions, to add flourishes to your videos.

You can optimize your video for YouTube and upload it direct, something that was absent in previous versions of Movavi. You can also upload to Google Drive, for easy sharing, and Movavi Cloud for storage. 

Movavi makes this software extremely easy to learn and use, but there may be times you need some guidance. Aside from the above-mentioned in-application tutorials, Movavi offers a wide selection of how-to articles, video guides and a knowledge base on their website. Almost any question you have can be answered by consulting these resources.

Movavi Screen Recorder Studio review

(Image credit: Movavi)

Should you buy Movavi Screen Recorder Studio?

Movavi Video Recorder Studio is one of the top-rated screen capture options for so many reasons. Chief among them is its wide array of recording, editing and exporting tools. It has everything we look for in the best applications plus several tools not found in other programs. It gives you an amazing amount of control over your video projects, and the end results are nearly perfect. Finding something to complain about is difficult with this program – it's simply the best application in this category in every respect.

J.D. Chadwick
Contributor

J.D. Chadwick started writing articles for Top Ten Reviews 2008 and, after filling the role of Multimedia Editor, the keen video creator and expert in software was one of the most prolific members of the TTR team, authoring articles on things like antivirus software, video editing apps, and more.