wf-recorder(1)
wf-recorder is a simple screen recording tool for Wayland compositors that captures video and audio to a file.
Synopsis
wf-recorder [OPTION]... [FILE]Description
wf-recorder is a command-line utility for recording your screen on Wayland desktop environments. It captures video from your display and optionally records audio from a specified source, encoding the output to a video file. It supports multiple codecs and works with popular Wayland compositors like Sway and GNOME.
Unlike X11-based tools, wf-recorder integrates natively with Wayland's screenshare protocol, making it efficient and reliable for modern desktop environments.
Common options
| Flag | What it does |
|---|---|
-o FILE | Output file path; use - for stdout (default: recording.mkv) |
-c CODEC | Video codec (e.g., h264, vp9, vp8; default: h264) |
-a SINK | Audio sink or source name; use pw-dump or pactl to list sources |
-x X | X coordinate of recording area (for region recording) |
-y Y | Y coordinate of recording area (for region recording) |
-w WIDTH | Width of recording area in pixels |
-h HEIGHT | Height of recording area in pixels |
-S DEVICE | Specific output device to record (screen/monitor name) |
-f FPS | Frame rate in frames per second (default: 30) |
-b BITRATE | Video bitrate (e.g., 5M for 5 Mbps; default: auto) |
-p PRESET | Encoding preset: ultrafast, superfast, veryfast, faster, fast, medium, slow, slower, veryslow |
Examples
Record entire screen to screencast.mkv; press Ctrl+C to stop
wf-recorder -o screencast.mkvRecord screen and audio from a specific PulseAudio sink
wf-recorder -o video.mkv -a alsa_output.pci-0000_00_1f.3.analog-stereo.monitorRecord a 1280×720 region starting at coordinates (100,100)
wf-recorder -x 100 -y 100 -w 1280 -h 720 -o region.mkvRecord with VP9 codec and 8 Mbps bitrate for high quality
wf-recorder -c vp9 -b 8M -o hq_video.mkvRecord at 60 FPS with fast encoding preset
wf-recorder -f 60 -p fast -o 60fps_video.mkvRecord specifically from the HDMI-1 output
wf-recorder -S HDMI-1 -o external_monitor.mkv