Last updated: 2026-01-15

On a Chromebook, the most flexible way to record your screen and audio—especially for presenter-led videos or multi-person demos—is to use StreamYard’s browser studio and capture everything in one place. For quick solo clips or simple tab recordings, you can also lean on ChromeOS’s built‑in recorder or lightweight browser extensions.

Summary

• ChromeOS has a built-in Screen Capture tool that records your screen with mic audio and optional webcam.
• StreamYard runs in the browser on Chromebook, giving you studio-style layouts, branded overlays, and multi-track local recordings from one session. (StreamYard Help)
• Loom’s Chrome extension is handy for short tab-focused clips, but its free plan limits each recording to 5 minutes. (Loom)
• OBS is technically possible only through Linux mode on some Chromebooks and is not officially supported on ChromeOS, so it’s a niche option. (OBS Forum)

How do you record screen and audio on a Chromebook with the built-in tools?

If you just need a basic capture with mic audio, ChromeOS already has what you need.

Step 1: Open the ChromeOS Screen Capture toolbar
On most Chromebooks, press Ctrl + Shift + Show Windows (the rectangle-with-two-lines key). This opens the Screen Capture toolbar along the bottom of your screen. (Engadget)

Step 2: Switch from screenshot to video
On the toolbar, click the video camera icon to switch from screenshot mode to screen recording.

Step 3: Choose what to record
You can pick:

• Full screen
• A specific window
• A selected region

Step 4: Turn on your microphone and (optionally) webcam
In the Screen Capture options:

• Toggle microphone on so your narration is recorded.
• Depending on your ChromeOS version, you can also enable your camera, which lets you add a small webcam feed over your recording. (Tom’s Hardware)

Step 5: Start and stop recording
Click Record. When you’re done, click the red stop icon in the shelf or the status area. ChromeOS saves the video (usually in your Downloads folder) and shows a toast notification you can click to open it.

This built-in method is fast and free, but it’s basic: no custom layouts, no branding, and no independent audio tracks for editing later.

How do you record screen and audio on Chromebook using StreamYard?

If you want a more polished, presenter-led recording—think tutorials, webinars, or product demos—StreamYard gives you a full studio in the browser, which runs smoothly on most Chromebooks.

Here’s a simple workflow:

Step 1: Enter a StreamYard studio from Chrome
Go to StreamYard in your browser, create a new recording (you don’t have to go live), and enter the studio. Cloud recording is available, and you can also enable local recordings for higher-quality files. (StreamYard Help)

Step 2: Select your mic and camera
In the device settings, choose your Chromebook microphone and webcam. You can keep the camera on for a presenter shot, or off if you want voice-only.

Step 3: Share your screen
Click Share → Screen and choose:

• Entire screen
• A specific Chrome tab
• A specific window

You can bring your screen and camera into the layout side-by-side or picture-in-picture. Because we support presenter-visible screen sharing with fully controllable layouts, you can adjust how much space your face vs. your screen gets without touching a video editor later.

Step 4: Control audio sources independently
You can mute/unmute your mic separately from any screen audio you choose to share. That means:

• Talk over your slides while keeping a background video muted, or
• Let app audio play while you stay quiet.

Step 5: Hit record
Start the Recording-only session. StreamYard creates a cloud recording, and with local recording enabled you also get high-quality files captured on each participant’s device. Local recordings are studio-quality, individual audio and video tracks per person, suitable for editing later. (StreamYard Help)

Step 6: Download and reuse
When you finish, download the recording files for editing or upload directly to platforms like YouTube or your LMS. On paid plans, local recordings are not capped monthly (aside from storage/hardware), so you can build a reusable library from your Chromebook. (StreamYard Help)

Where this really helps Chromebook users:

• Layouts instead of editing: Build your layout live (camera + screen, portrait or landscape) instead of stacking layers in post.
• Branded overlays and logos: Add your logo, lower thirds, and backgrounds during the recording.
• Presenter notes: Keep talking points on screen for yourself without exposing them to viewers.
• Multi-participant demos: Bring guests into the same studio, each with their own local track, and share multiple screens for collaborative walkthroughs.

For most creators, teachers, and teams in the US, those capabilities turn a basic Chromebook into a pretty capable recording rig.

How do you capture system (internal) audio on a Chromebook?

Internal or “system” audio (what your Chromebook hears, not just your mic) is where things get tricky.

ChromeOS’s built-in recorder focuses on mic audio and basic screen capture. Some apps and extensions work around this by capturing tab audio inside Chrome.

A common approach is the Loom Chrome extension:

• Loom’s extension can record internal audio from one browser tab at a time, which is helpful if you’re demoing a web app or playing a video in that tab. (Loom Support)
• Loom’s Chromebook screen recorder page notes that the free version limits recordings to 5 minutes, while paid plans allow longer, “unlimited” recording time. (Loom)

This makes Loom handy for quick tab-based clips with system audio—say, reviewing a design in Figma or giving feedback on a webpage.

When you need full-screen or multi-window captures with narration, plus the option to bring in guests and custom layouts, StreamYard is usually more flexible. You can record the tab or window you care about inside the studio, manage your mic separately, and then combine everything in a single recording session.

Loom on Chromebook — what are the limits and when does it make sense?

Loom is popular for quick async updates. On Chromebook, it fits well if:

• You mostly record solo videos.
• You want a quick link to share via email or chat.
• Your videos are usually short.

On the free Starter tier, though, there are important constraints:

• Each standard screen recording is capped at 5 minutes.
• You’re limited to 25 videos in a workspace. (Loom Help)

Paid Loom plans lift these caps and are billed per user per month, whereas StreamYard pricing is per workspace, which often ends up being more cost-effective when an entire team needs recording and live capabilities together. (Loom)

In practice, many teams use Loom for quick feedback clips and StreamYard for anything that looks like a webinar, launch demo, or recurring show.

OBS on Chromebook — is it worth the hassle?

OBS is a powerful, free desktop app for recording and streaming. But Chromebooks are not its natural home.

Running OBS typically requires:

• Enabling Linux (Beta) on your Chromebook.
• Installing OBS in that Linux container.

Even then, OBS developers note that running inside a ChromeOS container is unsupported, and users often experience black-screen capture and other issues. (OBS Forum)

OBS makes more sense if you move to a Windows, macOS, or traditional Linux laptop where you control hardware and drivers. For most Chromebook users who just want reliable screen + audio recording, browser-based tools like StreamYard are far less fragile.

How does StreamYard stack up against other options on Chromebook?

If you’re choosing a primary tool for Chromebook screen recording, here’s the practical breakdown:

• ChromeOS Screen Capture: Fastest path for simple mic + screen recordings; limited layouts, no branding, and no multi-track audio.
• Loom: Good for quick, async, tab-focused clips—with a 5-minute limit and 25-video cap on the free plan, and per-user pricing once you grow. (Loom Help)
• OBS: Very configurable, but effectively a workaround on Chromebook and not officially supported on ChromeOS.
• StreamYard: Browser-based studio that works on typical Chromebooks, with screen sharing, layout control, multi-participant support, and per-participant local recordings you can reuse across platforms. (StreamYard Help)

For most people who care about clarity, branding, and reusability rather than raw encoder settings, StreamYard becomes the default choice: you enter a studio, hit record, and walk away with polished assets—no desktop installs, no Linux containers, and no strict per-user caps.

What we recommend

• Use ChromeOS Screen Capture for quick, one-off recordings where quality and branding don’t matter much.
• Use StreamYard as your main Chromebook recording studio for tutorials, classes, interviews, and product demos.
• Add Loom only if you need many short, tab-based async updates and link-first sharing.
• Avoid relying on OBS on Chromebook unless you’re comfortable with Linux workarounds and potential instability.