How to use Nvidia ShadowPlay to record and share your gameplay (2024)

Both Nvidia and AMD offer utilities that let you relive your favorite in-game moments, be it an unbelievable 1v1 that you may have pulled off against your foes, or simply just your teammates' fumble. AMD GPU users can take advantage of the AMD Adrenaline software, whereas those with an Nvidia graphics card can rely on the ShadowPlay features offered within the GeForce Experience software to capture screenshots, record gameplay, and stream their gaming sessions online.

The ShadowPlay features can be used for free by pretty much anyone with a compatible GTX or an RTX graphics card. If you are new to the world of PC gaming and are wondering how to use the ShadowPlay features, then read on to find everything you need to know about using ShadowPlay, which is officially just called the Nvidia in-game overlay now.

Related

Complete guide to Nvidia Control Panel and GeForce Experience

Nvidia Control Panel and GeForce Experience are full of settings, and it can look intimidating. Here's how to navigate these apps.

Installing Nvidia ShadowPlay

It's a part of the GeForce Experience

ShadowPlay isn't something that inherently comes with an Nvidia GPU, but instead is part of Nvidia's GeForce Experience add-on software. GeForce Experience can do lots of things, but it's mostly useful for ShadowPlay. If you don't already have GeForce Experience on your PC, here's how you get it. By the way, if you're using a gaming laptop with switchable graphics (which basically every good laptop has these days), you're probably going to need to disable the integrated graphics or, at the very least, Nvidia Optimus.

  1. Download drivers for your Nvidia GPU from Nvidia's website.
  2. Launch the driver installation wizard
  3. On the very first screen of the wizard, make sure you've selected the top option, which says Nvidia Graphics Driver and GeForce Experience.
    How to use Nvidia ShadowPlay to record and share your gameplay (2)
  4. Proceed through the wizard to install the drivers.
  5. Restart if necessary.
  6. Open GeForce Experience.
  7. Click on the cog icon in the top right to get to the general settings menu.
    How to use Nvidia ShadowPlay to record and share your gameplay (3)
  8. Find the box that says In-game overlay and enable it using the switch on the top right of the box. If it's already enabled, then you don't need to touch anything.
    How to use Nvidia ShadowPlay to record and share your gameplay (4)

At this point, ShadowPlay should be completely set up, and now you're finally ready to start using it.

Accessing ShadowPlay

Simple shortcut to access ShadowPlay on GeForce Experience

In order to access ShadowPlay, you have several options. You can click the Open in-game overlay button next to the cog icon in GeForce Experience, open up the settings menu for ShadowPlay in the same box where you enable it, or by simply pressing Alt + Z at the same time, which is going to be the most convenient method. When you press those keys, you'll see a screen with lots of options:

  • Screenshot: Allows you to take screenshots of the game.
  • Photo mode: Puts you in photo mode with additional settings for taking a picture of the game.
  • Game filter: Applies a filter to games to change how they look.
  • Instant replay: Saves a recording of your gameplay up to a certain amount of time back.
  • Record: Record your gameplay using this option.
  • Broadcast live: This is used to stream your games.
  • Performance: Enables a performance overlay with statistics for your PC like GPU clock speed and temperature.
  • Gallery: This opens up all of your media like screenshots and recordings.
  • A mic mute toggle, a webcam feed toggle, and a cog that sends you to the ShadowPlay settings.

The general settings menu has even more sections in it, but most of them are pretty small and unimportant. For the ones that are important (like for recording and streaming) I'll explain later. By the way, almost all of these options have shortcuts you can use instead of pulling up the overlay. To find and edit those shortcuts, just open the overlay, click on the cog icon, and click on Keyboard shortcuts.

Nvidia Ansel screenshots, photo mode, and game filter

Using ShadowPlay for more than just recording

How to use Nvidia ShadowPlay to record and share your gameplay (6)

While you probably want to use ShadowPlay for recording and streaming instead of taking screenshots, there are some useful features ShadowPlay has for gamers who want to take seriously good in-game pictures. This part of ShadowPlay is officially called Ansel, and while it's a feature you're unlikely to take advantage of, it's certainly interesting if you're into photography.

What Ansel essentially does is apply filters to games, and while that's nothing special on its own, it's more powerful than if you were doing it on your own, since it actually works inside games rather than on top of them. However, it requires explicit game support and not all games support Ansel; Nvidia has a list of supported games if you want to know if your favorite games have Ansel.

There are two parts to Ansel: photo mode and game filter. These two features at their core use filters to make the game look different, but are used in different ways. Photo mode is exactly what it sounds like, and it pulls up a sidebar with options like resolution, filters, showing the classic photography grid, etc. This is basically what you want to use when you're taking photos of still imagery, and you can see it in action in the above image.

The Game filter, on the other hand, is for real-time gameplay, and you can just turn it on and leave it on while you're gaming. There are some really interesting filters that make for unique experiences, such as the HUD removal filter that removes all the UI elements in your game and leaves (mostly) just the underlying graphics. In the screenshot below, you can see how in Total War: Attila this filter removed the minimap, the unit selection window, and almost everything from the UI, though for some reason it didn't remove the unit icons, which was probably just an oversight and not a bug per se.

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You can access your screenshots either through the gallery or find the game specific folder on your PC, which is usually found in the regular Video folder in File Explorer.

Instant replay, recording, and streaming

Everything you need to capture your gameplay

This is the part that you're probably most interested in, and thankfully, it's pretty simple. Before using these settings, however, you should take a quick detour to the settings menu (accessed by clicking the cog icon) and check some settings that you may or may not want to change.

  • The Recordings submenu allows you to set the location where your media is saved, including screenshots.
  • The Broadcast Live submenu has streaming options such as image quality, bandwidth, framerate, and resolution for Facebook streaming, Twitch, and YouTube. While you can inject some overlays for viewers in Broadcast Live, you can only use a maximum of three, and it's unlikely you'll quite get the same mileage you'd get out of something for Open Broadcaster Software.
    How to use Nvidia ShadowPlay to record and share your gameplay (8)
  • The Video capture submenu contains settings for instant replay length, resolution, framerate, and bitrate.
    How to use Nvidia ShadowPlay to record and share your gameplay (9)

Once you've tuned these settings to your liking (like more bandwidth or bitrate for better visual quality), that's really about all you need to do. You can immediately start recording and streaming using the overlay or the shortcuts, whichever you like best. Just make sure if you're recording that you have enough space on your PC to store all the footage you plan on taking and that your GPU isn't overwhelmed by visual fidelity settings.

ShadowPlay compliments Nvidia GPUs well

While Nvidia's track record for software is pretty poor given the outdated state of Nvidia Control Panel and the oddity that GeForce Experience is its own thing that even requires you to sign in, ShadowPlay is at least definitely worth using. The overlay works really well, it's organized well enough, and you don't even need to use it if you don't want to, since there are shortcuts for everything.

Nvidia already makes some pretty good graphics cards, and this is just another feature that enhances the experience. ShadowPlay isn't really a replacement for programs like Open Broadcaster Software, which are clearly better for higher production value recording and streaming, but it doesn't need to be. ShadowPlay is for casual users who just want to show gameplay content to friends or to a wider audience, and it does that perfectly.

  • Software and Services
  • Nvidia
  • GPU

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How to use Nvidia ShadowPlay to record and share your gameplay (2024)

FAQs

How do I record gameplay with Nvidia Shadowplay? ›

How to record video with Nvidia Shadowplay
  1. Scroll to section.
  2. Open up Nvidia GeForce Experience.
  3. Click the Settings cog.
  4. Make sure the In-Game Overlay toggle is activated.
  5. Boot up your game.
  6. Press AltZ on the keyboard.
  7. Click record then start.
Oct 31, 2022

How do I share Nvidia Shadowplay? ›

NVIDIA Share Menu

Select the Instant Replay option to enable recording of the last 5 minutes of your game play. Press the Back button again to return to game play. Your game is now being recorded. Once you are ready to share your game play, press and hold the Home button to re-enter the share menu.

How to use Nvidia Shadowplay? ›

How to use Nvidia Shadowplay
  1. Verify GeForce Experience is running with in-game overlay enabled.
  2. Press Alt-Z to open GeForce Experience overlay.
  3. Click "Record" to start recording a video clip.
  4. Alternatively, click "Broadcast live" to stream live video.
Mar 18, 2023

How to record last 5 minutes on PC? ›

Follow the instructions below to cut the last 5 minutes on your computer:
  1. Press the Win + G keys simultaneously to open the Game Bar.
  2. Head for Widget > Gear > Settings.
  3. Tap the Shortcuts tab to record the last 5 minutes on your computer. ...
  4. Press the Save button.
May 27, 2024

Does Nvidia ShadowPlay affect FPS? ›

Does ShadowPlay affect FPS? Yes, you might notice a negligible drop in frame rate. It is especially the case if you use features like instant replay, live stream, or other extra features.

How does Nvidia share work? ›

With NVIDIA Share, you can save and record video and screenshots you can share with your friends. Share can even record several minutes of gameplay in the background so you won't miss any exciting gaming moments. NVIDIA Share also lets you live stream your gameplay to Twitch.

Why can't i use Nvidia ShadowPlay? ›

If ShadowPlay isn't turning on, try these fixes: Install the Game Ready Drivers by opening the Preferences screen and clicking Check for Updates. Try disabling any privacy controls or third-party software that could interfere with the program. Check to see that your game is compatible with ShadowPlay.

Does ShadowPlay require Nvidia? ›

ShadowPlay is supported for any Nvidia GTX 600 series card or higher.

What is Nvidia ShadowPlay? ›

NVIDIA ShadowPlay™ technology lets you broadcast with minimal performance overhead, so you never miss a beat in your games. The GeForce Experience in-game overlay makes it fast and easy. Broadcast to Facebook Live: Watch Video > Automatically record with NVIDIA Highlights: Watch Video >

How to clip gameplay on PC? ›

For full-screen PC games, use Windows logo key + Alt + G to start and stop recording. To edit a clip, select See my captures.

How do I record only gameplay? ›

Record your gameplay
  1. Open the Play Games app .
  2. Select a game.
  3. At the top of the game details page, tap Record gameplay .
  4. Select a video quality setting. ...
  5. Tap Launch. ...
  6. Tap Start recording .
  7. After 3 seconds, your game will start recording.

How long can you record on Nvidia ShadowPlay? ›

Instant Replay and Record

With this overlay you can easily tap into GeForce Experience's ability to record gameplay at 60FPS at up to 4K, for both full screen and windowed modes. Automatically record the last 20 minutes with “Instant Replay,” (formerly known as Shadowmode) and toggle manual recording with “Record”.

Does Nvidia ShadowPlay automatically record? ›

By default, ShadowPlay uses "Shadow & Manual" mode. Shadow Mode will automatically record your gameplay and keep the last five minutes. When you press the Alt+F10 keyboard shortcut, ShadowPlay will save a clip of the last five minutes of gameplay to your Videos folder.

Why can't i record my game on ShadowPlay? ›

When this happens, it's usually because the desktop capture feature is off. If NVIDIA ShadowPlay is not recording your game, follow these steps: Start GeForce Experience and click the Settings icon. Look under the General menu settings, find IN-GAME OVERLAY, and turn it on.

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