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Adjust video quality for game clips windows

Adjust Video Quality for Game Clips in Windows: Optimize Your Recordings

Recording your gameplay is a great way to share your achievements or review your strategies. Windows, through its Xbox Game Bar functionality, allows you to capture game clips easily. However, the default video quality settings might not always be what you’re looking for. Whether you want higher fidelity recordings or need to save disk space, learning how to Adjust video quality for game clips windows is essential. This guide will walk you through the process in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Why Adjust Video Quality for Game Clips?

The quality of your game clips can significantly impact the viewing experience and your storage usage.

Higher Fidelity for Sharing

If you plan to share your clips on platforms like YouTube or Twitch, or with friends, a higher video quality will make them look more professional and engaging. This often means higher resolution and frame rate.

Saving Disk Space

High-quality video files can be very large. If you record frequently or have limited storage, reducing the video quality (e.g., lowering resolution or frame rate) can help you save a considerable amount of disk space.

Performance Considerations

Recording at very high quality, especially on less powerful PCs, can sometimes impact game performance. Adjusting settings downwards can lead to smoother gameplay while still capturing good footage.

Accessing Game Clip Quality Settings in Windows

The settings for game clip quality are managed within the main Windows Settings app, specifically under the Gaming section.

Navigating to Capture Settings

  1. Click the Start button.
  2. Select Settings (the gear icon ⚙️).
  3. In the Settings window, click on “Gaming”.
  4. From the Gaming sidebar, select “Captures”.[Зображення налаштувань Windows – Ігри – розділ Записи]

This “Captures” page is where you’ll find all the relevant options to adjust the quality and other parameters of your game clips and recordings.

How to Adjust Video Quality for Game Clips in Windows

Once you are on the “Captures” settings page, you can modify several options to control the video quality.

Recorded Video Frame Rate

This setting determines how many frames per second (fps) your game clips are recorded at. Higher fps results in smoother video but larger file sizes.

  1. On the “Captures” page, look for the “Recorded video” section.
  2. Under “Video frame rate”, you’ll find a dropdown menu.
  3. You can typically choose between:
    • 30 fps (recommended): Offers a good balance between smoothness and file size. Suitable for most recordings.
    • 60 fps: Provides much smoother video, ideal for fast-paced games, but results in significantly larger files and can be more demanding on your system.Select the frame rate that best suits your needs.

Video Quality

This setting allows you to choose between standard and high quality for your video recordings.

  1. Still on the “Captures” page, under the “Recorded video” section.
  2. Find the “Video quality” dropdown menu.
  3. You can select:
    • Standard quality: Results in smaller file sizes, good if storage space is a concern.
    • High quality: Produces better-looking videos with more detail, but files will be larger.

Record what happened (Background Recording Length)

While not directly a “quality” setting, the length of your “Record what happened” clips (also known as background recording or instant replay) affects file size and how much you capture.

  1. On the “Captures” page, ensure “Record in the background while I’m playing a game” is turned on if you want to use the “Record what happened” feature (Windows Key + Alt + G).
  2. Under “Record the last”, you can choose the duration from a dropdown menu (e.g., 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, up to 10 minutes or more depending on your system). Longer durations will use more disk space for the temporary recording buffer.

Maximum Recording Length

This setting determines the maximum duration for a single continuous recording initiated manually (Windows Key + Alt + R).

  1. On the “Captures” page, find “Record this” under the “Recording length” or a similar section.
  2. Choose the maximum recording length from the dropdown (e.g., 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours).

Audio Quality

You can also adjust the quality of the audio recorded with your game clips.

  1. On the “Captures” page, scroll down to the “Recorded audio” section.
  2. Under “Audio quality”, you can select from different bitrates (e.g., 96 kbps, 128 kbps, 160 kbps, 192 kbps). Higher bitrates generally mean better audio quality but slightly larger file sizes. The default is usually 128 kbps, which is a good balance.

Where are Game Clips Saved?

By default, Windows saves your game clips and screenshots in your user’s Videos folder, inside a subfolder named “Captures”.

  • You can change this location if needed:
    1. On the “Captures” page, under “Saving captures”, click the “Open folder” button to see the current location.
    2. To change it, you typically need to move the “Captures” folder itself. Right-click the “Captures” folder in File Explorer, select Properties, go to the Location tab, and click “Move…”. Choose a new location.

Tips for Optimizing Game Clip Quality and Performance

Consider Your Hardware

Higher quality settings (especially 60 fps and “High quality” video) require more processing power. If you notice game performance suffering, try lowering these settings.

Disk Space Management

Regularly review and delete old or unwanted clips from your “Captures” folder to free up disk space, especially if you record at high quality.

Use a Dedicated Recording Drive (Optional)

If you have multiple hard drives or an SSD and a separate HDD, consider setting your “Captures” folder to the HDD to avoid impacting game loading times or performance if your game is on the SSD.

Test Your Settings

After making changes, record a short test clip to ensure the quality and performance are to your liking.

Conclusion

Knowing how to Adjust video quality for game clips windows gives you the power to balance visual fidelity with storage space and system performance. By navigating to the “Captures” section in Windows Settings, you can easily fine-tune frame rate, video quality, and audio quality to create game clips that perfectly suit your needs, whether you’re sharing epic moments or just keeping a personal archive.