Last updated: 2026-01-15

For most people in the U.S., the easiest way to record your screen and get it onto YouTube is to use StreamYard’s browser studio, then publish straight to your channel or download and upload manually. If you need heavy local-only capture or quick async clips, you can use tools like OBS or Loom alongside—or on top of—that core workflow.

Summary

• Record your screen, mic, and camera together in a StreamYard studio, then export or publish directly to YouTube.
• Use layouts, overlays, and presenter notes so your tutorial looks and feels like a produced show, not a raw screen dump.
• For long or multi-guest sessions, lean on cloud + local multi-track recordings, then edit and upload.
• Consider OBS for deep local control and Loom for quick async clips, but default to StreamYard when you want speed, reliability, and YouTube-ready output.

How do you record your screen in StreamYard?

Think of StreamYard as a live-style studio that you can use even when you’re not going live. You join from your browser, set up your scene, hit Record, and everything—screen, mic, and camera—is captured in one place.

Basic workflow:

1. Create a recording studio: Log in to StreamYard and create a new recording session (you don’t have to choose "live").
2. Choose inputs: Select your microphone and camera so your voice and face are ready alongside your screen.
3. Share your screen: Use the Share screen button, then pick a window, browser tab, or your entire display. Hosts and guests can both share their screens during a recording or live stream. (StreamYard Help Center)
4. Set your layout: Arrange your screen and camera with StreamYard’s layouts so viewers clearly see both the demo and the presenter.
5. Control audio: Adjust or mute system audio, mic audio, and decide when each is active for your recording.
6. Hit record: When you click Record, StreamYard captures your screen, camera, overlays, and audio together.

This all runs in the browser, which means you avoid the install-and-configure cycle typical of desktop tools, and it works well on typical laptops.

What makes StreamYard strong for YouTube-ready screen recordings?

StreamYard is built for presenter-led content, so it maps naturally to YouTube tutorials, walkthroughs, and product demos.

Key capabilities that matter for YouTube videos:

• Presenter-visible layouts: You can see exactly how your screen and camera will appear to viewers and switch layouts live, instead of fixing everything in post.
• Independent audio control: Screen audio and mic audio can be managed separately, so background music or app sounds don’t overwhelm your voice.
• Local multi-track recordings: On all plans, StreamYard supports local recording of each participant, giving you separate audio/video files for post-production and later upload to YouTube. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Landscape and portrait from one session: You can frame your scene for horizontal YouTube content and still capture assets suitable for Shorts or vertical clips.
• Live branding while you record: Add overlays, logos, and lower thirds as you go, so many YouTube-ready visuals are baked in before you ever hit the editor.
• Presenter notes and multi-participant sharing: Keep private notes visible only to you, and let multiple participants share their screens during a collaborative demo.

For most creators, this means you get a polished YouTube video in fewer steps—often skipping a heavy editing pass altogether.

How do you go from StreamYard recording to a published YouTube video?

Once you’ve recorded your screen in StreamYard, you have two main paths: publish directly to YouTube from StreamYard, or download and upload manually.

Option 1: Publish directly to YouTube (up to 2 hours)

StreamYard lets you edit recordings into horizontal videos up to 2 hours and publish them straight to your YouTube channels. (StreamYard Help Center)

Typical flow:

1. Open your recording in StreamYard.
2. Trim and polish: Cut off dead time at the start/end, adjust segments, and confirm your layout choices.
3. Select YouTube as destination: Connect your channel if you haven’t already; choose title, description, thumbnail, and visibility.
4. Publish: StreamYard handles the upload to your channel in the background.

This path is ideal when your screen-recorded tutorial is under two hours and you want to stay inside a single tool from capture through publish.

Option 2: Download and upload to YouTube

If your video is longer than two hours or you want deeper edits in an external editor, you can download your files instead. When a recording exceeds two hours, you simply download the file from StreamYard and upload it directly to YouTube via YouTube Studio. (StreamYard Help Center)

Because local recording provides separate tracks per participant, you can:

• Clean up audio in an editor like Audition or Audacity.
• Reframe or crop your screen capture.
• Export the final file and upload to YouTube as usual.

This is the workflow many teams use when they want both live-style capture and full post-production control.

How can you use pre-recorded videos in StreamYard for YouTube?

Sometimes you already have a screen recording—maybe from another app—or you want to schedule a polished video to "go live" on YouTube.

StreamYard supports pre-recorded streaming: you upload a file or select a past broadcast/recording inside StreamYard, then choose YouTube as a destination, and StreamYard plays it out as a live stream at the scheduled time. (StreamYard Help Center)

Key points for this workflow:

• You can pick a file from your computer or reuse a previous StreamYard recording.
• On paid plans, pre-recorded broadcasts stream at up to 1080p, which matches typical long-form YouTube quality. (StreamYard Help Center)
• Your audience sees it as a live stream, with chat and engagement, even though you recorded it earlier.

This is powerful when you want the reach and interaction of a live YouTube event without the risk of demo failures or live mistakes.

When would you use OBS or Loom instead of (or alongside) StreamYard?

There are valid reasons to bring another tool into your stack, depending on your workflow.

OBS for heavy local capture and technical control

OBS is free, open-source software for video recording and live streaming on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It supports multi-source scenes (screen, windows, images, webcams, capture cards) and gives you fine-grained control over encoding and formats. (OBS Studio)

Where OBS can be helpful:

• Intense gameplay or graphics-heavy demos where you want to tune bitrates and codecs closely.
• Complex scene setups with many layered sources.

Trade-offs:

• You must install and configure it on each machine, and the learning curve is steeper; even the docs recommend running an Auto-Configuration Wizard to optimize settings. (OBS Help)
• Quality and reliability depend entirely on your hardware and settings; there is no automatic cloud backup.

Many creators still record in OBS but pull those files into StreamYard for branded pre-recorded streams, multi-guest segments, or collaborative shows.

Loom for quick async clips and link sharing

Loom is focused on fast, async recording rather than full production. Its YouTube-oriented screen recorder lets you capture your screen with audio and optional camera, in up to 4K resolution depending on your plan. (Loom YouTube Screen Recorder)

Where Loom fits well:

• Short walkthroughs or feedback videos where you mainly need to send a link.
• Internal communication, not necessarily public YouTube channels.

Loom lets you share recordings instantly via a URL instead of uploading to YouTube first, though you can still download and upload manually to YouTube when needed. (Loom YouTube Screen Recorder)

Compared with StreamYard, Loom is lighter for one-off clips but not designed as a full studio with multi-participant layouts, live streaming, or built-in publishing to YouTube as a broadcast.

How does pricing compare when teams record a lot of YouTube content?

For teams in the U.S. who record screen content regularly, pricing structure matters as much as headline features.

• At StreamYard, plans are priced per workspace, not per user. This means multiple creators can record and produce YouTube-ready content under one subscription, which tends to be more economical for teams than paying per seat.
• Loom’s pricing is per user per month, with paid plans marketed around unlimited recordings and AI features for each individual. (Loom Pricing)

If you have several people recording screen tutorials, demos, or webinars for your channel, a workspace-based subscription usually scales better than paying individually for each recorder.

What we recommend

• Default path: Use StreamYard to record your screen, mic, and camera in a browser studio, then either publish directly to YouTube (for videos up to two hours) or download and upload.
• For live-style premieres: Record ahead in StreamYard, then use pre-recorded streaming to play the video as a live YouTube broadcast at a scheduled time.
• For niche needs: Add OBS when you truly need deep encoder control on powerful hardware, or Loom when you need quick link-based clips—not as your main YouTube production engine.
• Start simple: If you’re unsure where to begin, set up one StreamYard screen-recording session, ship a video to YouTube, and only add extra tools once you’ve outgrown that baseline workflow.