Recording in VRChat captures your adventures, performances, and interactions in a way that lets you relive moments or share them with a wider audience. Whether you are showcasing a complex avatar animation, a world-building project, or a chaotic chase scene, a reliable recording workflow is essential. This guide walks through the practical steps and settings required to capture high-quality footage directly inside the platform.
Preparing your computer and VRChat for recording
Before you hit record, your system needs to handle the extra load of capturing video without dropping frames in the virtual world. Start by closing unnecessary background applications, especially browsers, streaming software, and other games that compete for CPU and RAM. Verify that your graphics drivers are up to date, as driver updates often fix performance issues and improve compatibility with VRChat.
Within VRChat, run the built-in benchmark to establish a performance baseline and ensure you are stable in the green or yellow performance zones. Lowering settings such as shadow quality, reflection resolution, and anti-aliasing can free up resources for the recording process without dramatically affecting the look of your final video. If you plan to record in crowded social worlds, consider joining a less populated instance or private world to minimize visual noise and variability in frame rates.
Choosing between internal and external recording methods
VRChat offers an internal recorder that is convenient and easy to access, while external capture software provides more control and advanced features. The internal recorder is suitable for quick clips and straightforward captures, whereas external tools like OBS Studio, Bandicam, or NVIDIA ShadowPlay give you higher bitrates, multiple audio sources, and flexible output formats. Choosing the right method depends on your goals, hardware capabilities, and how polished you want your final footage to be.
Using the built-in VRChat recorder
To use the internal recorder, open the VRChat menu in-world or at the desktop launcher and navigate to the Capture section. You can start a recording with a single button press, and the game automatically saves the file to your specified capture folder. While this method integrates directly with the game, it lacks advanced audio mixing, scene switching, and live streaming options, making it best suited for quick captures and simple recordings.
Configuring internal recording settings
Before recording, open the Capture settings and choose your preferred resolution and frame rate, keeping in mind that higher resolutions demand more storage and processing power. Enable audio input if you want to capture in-game voice, and verify that your microphone and speakers are correctly selected in Windows sound settings. Test a short clip to check for sync issues, visual glitches, or unexpected audio dropouts, adjusting quality settings if the file size or performance feels unbalanced.
Recording with external software like OBS Studio
External recording software gives you greater flexibility by letting you manage audio sources, add overlays, and stream directly to platforms like YouTube or Twitch. In OBS Studio, create a new scene for VRChat and add a window or game source that captures the VRChat application. Configure audio sources separately for desktop and microphone so your voice and in-game audio are clean and balanced in the mix.
Fine-tune your encoder settings, such as bitrate and preset, based on your CPU or GPU capabilities to avoid dropped frames during long sessions. Use filters sparingly to reduce noise or stabilize footage, and set up hotkeys for starting and stopping recordings so you can react quickly to unscripted moments. Organizing your scenes and transitions ahead of time makes live captures smoother and reduces the chance of accidental interruptions.
Audio configuration and testing workflow
High-quality audio is just as important as video clarity when you record in VRChat, especially if you are capturing voice lines or ambient world sounds. In Windows Sound settings, set your microphone as the default input device and adjust levels so your voice peaks without clipping. In OBS, use audio filters to reduce background noise and ensure your microphone is monitored in real time so you can catch issues before they reach the recording.
