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wl-screenrec vs OBS Studio: catalog facts
wl-screenrec	OBS Studio
Free Free to use, with source code published on GitHub.	Free Free and open source, funded by sponsors and contributors; no paid tier or watermark.
Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux
Hardware encoding keeps CPU load low dma-buf capture avoids copying frames through the CPU	Unlimited scenes built from window, display, camera, browser, image and text sources, with custom transitions Audio mixer with per-source noise gate, noise suppression and gain, plus VST plugin support
Only works on wlroots-based Wayland compositors Needs a GPU with hardware video encoding	There is a real learning curve before the first good recording Screen capture on Linux depends on the desktop: Wayland needs the PipeWire capture source
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License: GPL-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 20, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.