Installing ShadePlay

Installing ShadePlay

ShadePlay guide › Getting started

How to download and install ShadePlay, what the installer does, and what a new install starts with.

Download and install

1. Download ShadePlay-Setup-<version>.exe from the latest release. If your browser says the file isn't commonly downloaded, choose Keep (in Edge: ... > Keep > Show more > Keep anyway).

2. Double-click it. The installer is not code-signed, so Windows may show "Windows protected your PC": click More info, then Run anyway.

   If Smart App Control is on (Windows Security > App & browser control > Smart App Control), Windows blocks apps that are not code-signed, such as ShadePlay, and offers no Run anyway. You can install ShadePlay only with Smart App Control turned off. On some versions of Windows it can't be turned back on without resetting Windows, so decide carefully.

3. The installer has a single screen: tick Create a desktop shortcut if you want one, then click Install. There are no other pages to click through.

ShadePlay starts as soon as its files are installed, in the notification area next to the clock, and from then on every time you sign in to Windows. The next page shows how to find its icon and save your first clip.

What the installer does

• It installs for your Windows account only, with no administrator prompt, into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ShadePlay. It needs 64-bit Windows on an Intel or AMD processor, and Windows 10 version 2004 or newer (What you need).

• It has one option, Create a desktop shortcut, which is not ticked unless you tick it.

• It always adds a ShadePlay entry to the Start menu. The Start menu entry and the desktop shortcut open the settings window; if ShadePlay is not running, they start it first.

• If ShadePlay is already running (an update or a reinstall), Setup closes it first and shows Closing ShadePlay: "Waiting for ShadePlay to finish saving and close...". A clip that is still being written is finished first, so this can take up to about 100 seconds. If ShadePlay is still running after that, Setup stops with:

  ShadePlay is still running (it may be finishing a clip). Right-click its icon in the taskbar corner, choose Exit, then run Setup again.

What Setup puts on your PC

ShadePlay-Setup-<version>.exe is the complete installer: it downloads nothing while it installs. It puts about 28 MB into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\ShadePlay (ShadePlay and FFmpeg about 23 MB, Setup's uninstaller about 5 MB):

• ShadePlay.exe (about 13 MB), the program. It also carries a built-in copy of FFmpeg and the licence texts, for when it runs on its own; the installed copy uses the files next to it and unpacks nothing.
• FFmpeg, four DLLs that drive the graphics card's encoder and write the clips: ShadePlay's own small build, under the LGPL 2.1 or later, with its complete source attached to every release. avcodec-62.dll (about 7 MB), avutil-60.dll (1.8 MB), avformat-62.dll (0.7 MB), swresample-6.dll (0.1 MB).
• Licence texts: LICENSE.txt, THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt and a licenses folder. Settings > About ShadePlay opens the licence and the notices.
• Setup's uninstaller (unins000.exe and unins000.dat).

It also adds:

• a ShadePlay entry in the Start menu, and a desktop shortcut only if you tick the box;
• an entry in Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps, for uninstalling.

ShadePlay itself, on its first start, adds:

• its Start with Windows entries: a Task Scheduler task and a value in HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, both named ShadePlay;
• %APPDATA%\ShadePlay, with its settings, logs and (after a crash) crash dumps;
• your clips, in Videos\ShadePlay unless you choose another folder.

Online, it only checks GitHub for a new version and downloads an update when you choose to (Privacy). Uninstalling removes all of the above except your clips and %APPDATA%\ShadePlay (settings, logs, crash dumps), which it deletes only if you answer Yes; a silent uninstall keeps it (Uninstalling).

There is no "Start with Windows" box

ShadePlay registers itself to start with Windows the first time it runs, so Setup has no box for it. To turn it off, untick Start with Windows in the settings. Details: Start with Windows.

Silent installs

A silent install (/SILENT or /VERYSILENT, as package managers run it) shows no window:

• a silent first install starts nothing: start ShadePlay once from the Start menu;
• a silent upgrade starts ShadePlay again, but only if it was running before.

Running ShadePlay.exe on its own

ShadePlay.exe also works as a single file, without Setup: copy it into any folder and double-click it. It is the same program as the installed one. GitHub offers only Setup, not the program file on its own, and a copy run this way gets no updates.

• FFmpeg comes with it. ShadePlay.exe carries its own copies of the four FFmpeg DLLs. The tray app doesn't need them; the first time the recorder starts (or a YouTube copy or the encoder test runs), ShadePlay unpacks them, about 10 MB, into a folder under %LOCALAPPDATA%\ShadePlay\ffmpeg named after a checksum of its FFmpeg files (16 letters and digits), once per set of files. Every later start checks each DLL against the checksum built into ShadePlay.exe before it uses it, and unpacks it again if it differs. Each start removes the folders of other sets (another copy of ShadePlay unpacks its own again when it needs it). These folders are private to your Windows account; one there that ShadePlay can't trust (another account's, or one other accounts can change) is renamed to <name>.untrusted-… and never used, and ShadePlay removes it later when it is yours.
• DLLs next to the exe come first. When all four FFmpeg DLLs (avcodec-62.dll, avformat-62.dll, avutil-60.dll, swresample-6.dll) are next to ShadePlay.exe, as in the installed copy, it loads those and unpacks nothing. That is how to use your own FFmpeg build: put its four DLLs next to ShadePlay.exe (Using your own FFmpeg build). ShadePlay first checks that they have every function it uses; DLLs that don't (an older FFmpeg left in a folder when only ShadePlay.exe was replaced) are skipped, the log says why, and the built-in copies are used.
• Other DLLs in the folder are ignored. The Windows DLLs ShadePlay uses and the NVIDIA, AMD and Intel encoder DLLs are loaded from C:\Windows\System32 or the graphics driver's folder, never from the folder ShadePlay.exe is in, the current folder or PATH, so a stray DLL of that name in your Downloads folder is not run. One, two or three FFmpeg DLLs next to ShadePlay.exe are ignored too: the built-in set is used whole.
• If the files can't be unpacked (for example the drive is full), ShadePlay doesn't record and says so in the tray menu (⚠ ShadePlay can't record right now – it retries every 5 minutes); it tries again every 5 minutes. An antivirus that scans the new files first is waited for (up to about 10 seconds).
• Settings > About ShadePlay opens the licence and the third-party notices from the copies built into ShadePlay.exe (unpacked into the same folder when you click), also when another program's LICENSE.txt happens to be in the same folder. If they can't be unpacked, the settings window says why.
• Like the installed copy, it registers itself to start with Windows from where it is, except from a temporary, cloud-synced or build folder (copies that never register). Only the installed copy checks for updates.
• To remove such a copy, untick Start with Windows in its settings, exit it, delete ShadePlay.exe and the folder %LOCALAPPDATA%\ShadePlay\ffmpeg (Uninstalling).

What a new install starts with

Setting	Starts as
Save hotkey	F10
Buffer length	1 min (60 s)
Quality	Balanced (recommended)
Frame rate	240 fps
Codec	AV1 (HEVC by itself on a card without AV1)
HDR	HDR clips while Windows HDR is on
SDR clips	10-bit
Mouse pointer	recorded
Monitor	your primary (main) monitor
What you listen on	the Windows default output
Microphone	the Windows default microphone, Record my mic ticked
Sound tracks	all five: Mix, Desktop, Game, Discord, Mic
Audio format	AAC
Clips folder	Videos\ShadePlay
Start with Windows	on
Sounds and notifications	on
YouTube helper	off
Settings window	the simple page (advanced settings hidden)
Update check	on; automatic updates off (Updates)

Every one of these is explained in The settings window and the advanced settings.

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Next: Your first clip

See also: What you need · Start with Windows, updates and uninstalling · Troubleshooting