Alternatives to wf-recorder
A command-line screen recorder for wlroots-based Wayland compositors, using ffmpeg for encoding. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
wf-recorder
A command-line screen recorder for wlroots-based Wayland compositors, using ffmpeg for encoding.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as wf-recorder.
wl-screenrec
A command-line screen recorder for wlroots Wayland compositors that encodes video on the GPU.
wl-screenrec also targets wlroots compositors from the command line but encodes on the GPU with dma-buf capture, needing hardware video encoding and not being open source.
OBS Studio
The standard free tool for recording a screen and for live streaming, built around scenes and sources.
OBS Studio is a full graphical recorder and streaming tool on Linux, Windows and macOS, using the PipeWire source on Wayland, with a steeper learning curve.
Kooha
A simple GTK screen recorder for Linux with a minimal interface, supporting Wayland and X11.
Kooha offers a graphical GTK interface for Linux and works on Wayland and X11 generally, rather than being limited to wlroots compositors and the command line.
Blue Recorder
A simple desktop screen recorder built with GTK4 and FFmpeg, with Wayland support on GNOME and KDE.
Blue Recorder offers a GTK4 graphical recorder with Wayland support on GNOME and KDE rather than wlroots, and it is not open source.
SimpleScreenRecorder
A Linux screen recorder for capturing programs and games, with live streaming and audio recording support.
SimpleScreenRecorder is a graphical Linux recorder with live streaming and custom codec options, though it is not described as supporting Wayland compositors.
vokoscreenNG
An open-source screencast recorder for Windows and Linux that captures the screen, an area or a window.
vokoscreenNG gives a graphical interface with webcam overlay and click highlighting on Linux and Windows, instead of a scriptable command-line tool for wlroots compositors.
Spectacle
KDE's screenshot and screen recording application for Linux desktops.
Spectacle is KDE's graphical screenshot and recording app, fitting best on Plasma rather than wlroots compositors, and it also takes screenshots.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
grim
A command-line tool that grabs screenshots from a Wayland compositor.
slurp
A command-line tool that lets you select a screen region on Wayland and prints its geometry.
wayshot
A native command-line screenshot tool for wlroots-based Wayland compositors, written in Rust.
swappy
A Wayland native screenshot editing tool for annotating captures, inspired by Snappy on macOS.
grimblast
A screenshot helper script for the Hyprland compositor, built on grim and slurp.
Hyprshot
A command-line screenshot utility for Hyprland that captures windows, monitors or regions with the mouse.
