wrec

Record one or more Windows windows into a single MP4 — from the command line or a small GUI.

wrec captures top-level windows (not the full desktop), composes them into one scene, draws the cursor once on the final frame, and encodes H.264 with Media Foundation. No admin rights required.

Features

• Window-targeted capture — select by title, PID, or HWND
• Multi-window scenes — grid, horizontal, vertical, focus, or custom layouts in one MP4
• Covered windows — Windows Graphics Capture when visible; PrintWindow when occluded
• CLI and GUI — run wrec for the GUI, or script with wrec record
• Quality presets — low through extreme; override FPS and bitrate anytime
• Global hotkeys — stop, pause, and quit while recording
• PATH install — wrec install copies to %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin and adds desktop + Start menu shortcuts named wrec

Installation

Windows x64 only.

Scoop

Add this repo as a bucket (one-time), then install:

scoop bucket add mew https://github.com/mewisme/wrec
scoop install wrec

Install adds wrec shortcuts on the desktop and in the Start menu.

Updates:

scoop update
scoop update wrec

Uninstall:

scoop uninstall wrec

Removes the app, shim, and wrec shortcuts. To drop the bucket: scoop bucket rm mew.

PowerShell

Latest release:

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mewisme/wrec/main/install.ps1 | iex

From cmd:

powershell -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mewisme/wrec/main/install.ps1 | iex"

Specific version:

& ([ScriptBlock]::Create((irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mewisme/wrec/main/install.ps1))) -Version v1.2.3

Or, with an environment variable:

$env:WREC_VERSION = 'v1.2.3'; irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mewisme/wrec/main/install.ps1 | iex

The PowerShell installer downloads from GitHub Releases and runs wrec install.

Uninstall:

wrec uninstall

Removes %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\wrec.exe, the PATH entry, and wrec shortcuts. Restart your terminal afterward.

Manual

1. Download the latest release ZIP (wrec-v<version>-windows-amd64.zip).
2. Extract wrec.exe.
3. Install:

.\wrec.exe install

Check version and how it was installed:

wrec -V

Installed via is detected from the running executable path (e.g. Scoop, manual PATH install, portable ZIP).

Uninstall:

wrec uninstall
wrec uninstall -d D:\tools\bin   # if you used a custom --dir

Or use Uninstall in the GUI. Restart your terminal afterward.

Portable (no install)

If you only extracted the ZIP and never ran wrec install:

1. Quit wrec (Exit from the tray menu if the GUI is running).
2. Delete the folder containing wrec.exe.
3. If you opened the GUI once, remove wrec shortcuts from the desktop and Start menu (wrec.lnk).

No PATH entry is added for portable use.

Quick start

Release (download zip) — Windows x64:

.\wrec.exe list
.\wrec.exe
.\wrec.exe gui
.\wrec.exe r -t "Notepad" -d .\captures

Running wrec with no command opens the GUI. Double-clicking wrec.exe shows the GUI only.

From source — see docs/build.md:

.\build.ps1
.\build\wrec.exe r -t "Notepad" -o demo.mp4

Requirements

• Windows 10 1903 (build 18362) or later
• To build: Visual Studio 2022+ with Desktop development with C++ and Windows 10 SDK 18362+

Documentation

Doc	Contents
Guide	Install on PATH, GUI walkthrough, hotkeys, graceful exit
CLI reference	Commands, options, layouts, presets, examples
Architecture	Pipeline, capture model, limitations
Build	Build from source, project layout

License

MIT — Copyright (c) 2026 Mew. See LICENSE.