30 vs 60 fps screen recording: which one to choose
Short answer: use 30 fps for slides, documents, code and most tutorials, where little moves on screen. Use 60 fps for scrolling, animations, dragging, fast cursor moves and zooms, because motion looks smoother. 60 fps makes bigger files and asks more of your PC, so if a 60 fps recording stutters, switch to 30 fps. In Director, set 60 or 30 fps before you record.
What fps means
Frame rate, or fps, is how many pictures the recording captures each second. At 30 fps, the video has 30 frames for every second of screen. At 60 fps, it has 60.
Frame rate does not change how much of the screen you see. It changes how often the picture updates, and that decides how smooth movement looks. A cursor that glides across the screen or a page that scrolls gets twice as many updates at 60 fps. When nothing moves, the extra frames change little, because each one looks like the one before it.
When 30 fps is enough
Most screen recordings show things that change slowly: a slide, a document, a line of code, a form you fill in, or a settings screen you walk through one step at a time. At 30 fps they look clean, and the file stays smaller.
Use 30 fps for:
- Presentations and slide decks
- Documents, spreadsheets and code
- Most tutorials, where you click, type and explain
A 30 fps recording is also lighter on the PC, which leaves more room for the app you are demonstrating.
When 60 fps is worth it
Use 60 fps when the screen moves a lot and viewers need to follow the motion:
- Scrolling through a long page or a feed
- Animations and transitions in your product
- Dragging windows, sliders or items
- Fast cursor moves and zooms, where the camera moves across the screen
A fast scroll is the easiest place to see the difference, so it is a good first test.
30 fps vs 60 fps at a glance
| Setting | 30 fps | 60 fps |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Slides, documents, code and most tutorials | Scrolling, animations, dragging, fast cursor moves and zooms |
| Motion | Fast movement can look choppy | Fast movement looks smooth |
| File size | Smaller | Bigger |
| Load on the PC | Lighter | Heavier |
What 60 fps costs you
A 60 fps recording holds twice as many frames as a 30 fps one, so the file gets bigger. The size also depends on resolution, quality and how much moves on screen, so the difference is not the same for every recording. To compare 30 and 60 fps for your own length and resolution, use the video file size calculator.
60 fps also asks more of the PC. Every second, the computer has to capture and encode more frames. Director saves with your graphics card’s hardware encoder (NVIDIA NVENC, Intel Quick Sync or AMD AMF), which keeps recording light on the PC.
Frame rate is not resolution
Frame rate and resolution are separate settings. Frame rate decides how smooth motion looks. Resolution decides how many pixels each frame has, so it decides how sharp small text looks.
Small text needs resolution. Record at your screen’s native resolution, or at 1440p if your screen is that size or larger, so the text stays sharp.
Smooth motion needs frame rate. A 60 fps recording at a low resolution still looks soft, and a sharp 30 fps recording can look choppy when a page scrolls fast.
Think about each setting on its own: resolution for the text on screen, frame rate for the motion.
Set the frame rate in Director
In Director, you choose 60 or 30 fps before you record, along with the resolution: native, 1440p, 1080p or 720p. Director saves an H.264 MP4.
- Click Choose what to record and pick a whole screen, so the zoom can follow your cursor.
- In Director, set the frame rate to 60 or 30 fps, and pick the resolution.
- Press CtrlAltP to start.
If you zoom a lot, 60 fps makes the camera glide more smoothly. Press CtrlAltZ to zoom in on the cursor, and the view follows it. Press CtrlAltX to zoom back out.
The MP4 is already saved in your Videos folder, under Director, when you stop. Play the moving parts at full screen to check them.
Test both before a long recording
Before a long session, record 30 seconds of the motion you plan to show, once at 60 fps and once at 30 fps. Play both at full screen. If the 30 fps version looks choppy when things move, use 60 fps for that kind of recording. If you cannot tell them apart, keep 30 fps, because the file is smaller.
If the recording stutters at 60 fps
A stuttering 60 fps recording means the PC is struggling to keep up with 60 frames every second. Switch to 30 fps and record a short test. For other causes, read how to record without lag on Windows.
Choose by where you upload
The frame rate also depends on where the video goes. YouTube accepts both 30 fps and 60 fps uploads, so a 60 fps take can go up as it was recorded, and so can a 30 fps take. Pick the frame rate by what moves on screen, not by the platform.
For the file type, see the best video format for screen recording.
Related guides
For more settings, read how to fix a blurry screen recording and how to screen record without lag on Windows. To estimate the file size, use the video file size calculator.