---
name: "byzanz-record"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "byzanz"
version: "0.3.0+git20160312-5+b2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/byzanz-record"
---

# byzanz-record(1)

record your desktop session to an animated GIF

## NAME

byzanz-record - record your desktop session to an animated GIF

## SYNOPSIS

**byzanz-record** \[*options*\] *FILENAME*

## DESCRIPTION

Byzanz records your desktop session to an animated GIF.  You can record your entire screen, a single window, or an arbitrary region.  **byzanz-record** allows you to make recordings from the command line.  Graphical users may want to use the panel applet instead.

## OPTIONS

### Application Options:

- **-a**, **--audio**

  Record audio from the default input device. This only works if the output format supports it and will otherwise cause an error.

- **-c**, **--cursor**

  Record mouse cursor

- **-d**, **--duration**=*SECS*

  Duration of animation (default: 10 seconds)

- **-e**, **--exec**=*COMMAND*

  Instead of specifying the duration of the animation, execute the given **COMMAND** and record until the command exits. This is useful both for benchmarking and to use more complex ways to stop the recording, like writing scripts that listen on dbus.

- **--delay**=*SECS*

  Delay before start (default: 1 second)

- **--display**=*DISPLAY*

  X display to use

- **-h**, **--height**=*PIXEL*

  Height of recording rectangle

- **-v**, **--verbose**

  be verbose

- **-w**, **--width**=*PIXEL*

  Width of recording rectangle

- **-x**, **--x**=*PIXEL*

  X coordinate of rectangle to record

- **-y**, **--y**=*PIXEL*

  Y coordinate of rectangle to record

### Help Options:

- \-?, **--help**

  Show help options

- **--help-all**

  Show all help options

- **--help-gtk**

  Show GTK+ Options

## OUTPUT FILE

After **byzanz-record** is finished, the recording is written to FILENAME. The format is determined by the filename extension. The following formats are supported:

- **byzanz**

  Record to Byzanz' internal debugging format. This is useful for benchmarking Byzanz or if you want to convert the recording to multiple formats later. You can use [**byzanz-playback**(1)](/byzanz-playback/1.md) to convert the file.

- **flv**

  Record to a Flash Screen video. This recording method is lossless. Use it if you want to postprocess the file in other applications.

- **gif**

  Record to an animated GIF image. Use this if you want to record a mostly static screen with a limited amount of colors, such as using a file manager or an office application. This is the default and will be used if an unrecognized extension is used.

- **ogg**, **ogv**

  Record to an Ogg Theora video. This format supports audio. Use this if you want to record dynamic contents, such as video playback.

- **webm**

  Record to a WebM video. This format consists of VP8 video and Vorbis audio streams. Use this if you want to record dynamic contents, e.g. for a HTML5 video.

## SEE ALSO

[**byzanz-playback**(1)](/byzanz-playback/1.md)

## AUTHOR

Byzanz was written by Benjamin Otte \<otte@gnome.org\>.

This manual page was last updated for version 0.2.1.