Recording in Wistia
Record your webcam and screen directly in your Wistia account.
Recording a Media
The recording functionality is available on our Free, Plus, Pro, Advanced, and Premium plans! You can create a new recording by clicking “New” on the All Content page and selecting “Recording” from the drop-down menu.
You’ll be taken to the pre-recording settings page in a new tab, where you’ll be prompted to adjust your video and audio settings and, optionally, add a teleprompter script to keep you on track while recording.
You can add a script by dragging and dropping a text file from your computer or typing in your script manually.
If you’ve got a general idea of what you want to say but aren’t sure how to say it, you can use our script generator to write it with AI. Click “Generate Script,” enter a short summary of your video, select a tone, and pick a distribution channel.
When you click “Generate,” we’ll use your selections to write an award-worthy script for your video. You can edit this script, or click “Regenerate” to go back to the drawing board. When you’re happy with your script, click “Save” to add it to the teleprompter.
Select your camera, screen, and microphone and click “Start Recording” to begin.
A three second countdown will appear before recording begins. You can pause your recording at any time by clicking on the pause icon at the bottom right of your screen. Simply click continue to pick up where you left off. If you’ve added a script, the teleprompter will automatically appear at the top of your screen.
When you’re finished, click on the stop icon to upload your recording to Wistia.
Saved recordings don’t count against your media limits until they are moved to a Project. You can access your recordings by selecting “Studio” in the left hand side menu of the All Content page and clicking “Recordings." Select a recording to edit it and move it to a Project, or click the three dot icon to download it, view your in-progress drafts, or delete it.
And that’s it! You’ve just recorded a video in Wistia.
Troubleshooting
Recording does not begin
If you’re recording on a Mac, Apple has added some additional security features when it comes to applications recording your screen. If your recording doesn’t start, you’ll want to make sure Chrome has permission to record your screen and access your webcam.
Navigate to your Privacy & Security settings within your System Settings:
Within this menu, make sure that Screen Recording permissions are enabled for Chrome:
While here, double check that Chrome has the proper permissions for your Camera and Microphone as well.
If you’re recording on Windows, you can enable access to your camera and microphone via the Settings app. Open Settings and select Privacy, then select Microphone. In Allow access to the microphone on this device, select Change and make sure Microphone access for this device is turned on. Then, in Microphone settings, go to Allow apps to access your microphone and make sure it’s turned on.
Once you’ve allowed microphone access to your apps, you can change the settings for each app. In Microphone settings, go to Choose which Microsoft apps can access your microphone, and turn on apps you want to use with it. For desktop apps, make sure that Allow desktop apps to access your microphone is turned on. Repeat this process for your camera by going back to Privacy and selecting Camera.
If you’ve granted Chrome permissions for Screen Recording, Camera, and Microphone and are still encountering issues, check your browser settings and confirm camera and microphone access are enabled for wistia.com.
No audio from built-in microphone
If you’re using the internal microphone on a laptop to record, make sure the lid is open and try again. Some laptops, including most MacBook Pros, disable microphone input when closed. If your laptop is open or you are using an external microphone and still encountering issues, check your browser settings and confirm camera and microphone access are enabled for wistia.com.
Wistia is unable to access your camera or microphone
If you’ve received an error message when starting a recording indicating that we’re unable to access your camera or microphone, it’s likely that another application like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or another browser is using them. Some of these applications can retain control of your camera and microphone even when they are not in active use (for example, if you have Microsoft Teams running in the background but aren’t in a meeting). To resolve these issues, close any open applications that use your camera or microphone and try your recording again.
If you’re still receiving this error after closing other applications, check your system settings and verify that your camera, microphone, and speakers are enabled.
On a Windows computer, open the Settings app, click on System, and select Sound from the left-hand navigation menu. Click Device properties for the microphone and speakers you want to use, then make sure the Disable box is unchecked.
To check your camera settings, open the Settings app, click on Devices, and select Cameras from the left-hand navigation menu. If the camera you want to use is disabled, you will see an Enable button below the camera name. Click Enable to enable your camera.
On a Mac, check the input volume for your microphone by opening the Settings app, selecting Sound, and clicking on Input. If the volume slider is set to 0, increase it by dragging it to the right.
Device is not connected to power
To save power, some laptops will throttle CPU or GPU performance when not connected to a charger. This can result in lag or other unexpected behavior when recording. For best results, we recommend plugging your device in when recording.
If you’re unable to connect to power, you can disable power saving settings on your device to improve performance. Keep in mind that this will likely reduce your battery life.
On a mac, click the Apple Menu > System Settings, then click Battery in the sidebar. Change the “Low Power Mode” toggle to “Never.”
On Windows, click the battery button on the right side of the Taskbar and select Battery settings. In the pop-up window, scroll down to the Battery saver section and uncheck the box labeled “Turn battery saver on automatically if my battery falls below.”
Some companies restrict access to these settings on employee devices. If you can’t change your battery settings, the best option is to plug in your laptop when you are recording.
Helpful details to send when you’re alerting us to an issue
Generally, it’s helpful for us to know as much about your viewing and recording environment as possible. The base level details that are helpful to send along if you’re seeing issues when recording include, but are not limited to:
- Specific version of Chrome
- Specific version of your Operating System
- General computer specs (such as CPU cores/speed, amount of RAM, etc.)
- If applicable, external cameras and drivers