I'm looking for a catchy and nice-sounding word. A really nice sounding phrase would although be better than nothing.
I record my computer screen a lot and never really found a nice word to describe it like a screenshot. I also searched the web a lot and found nothing about it.
Example:
My mom: How do I get to the settings on my phone?
Me: I'll send you a _____(recording of my screen) so you can see how I get there.
"screen recording" is my favorite, but I am still not really satisfied. (UPDATE: I found a video of someone famous saying screen recording, I would appreciate if you comment with links to more videos like this with your favorite choices)… I also found about 100 videos on YouTube of people using this term, which I have not found for any of the alternatives mentioned in the question.
That said I did not find it on Lexico.com.
Here is a "screen recording" showing that "screenshot" is on Lexico.com, but "screen recording" is not.
Options I found unsatisfying:
screencast, screencap, videoshot, screenshots, screenmotionpicture, screenselfie, Screengif.
screencap is not common and confusing on top of that – here are some videos showing how this is used wrongly.
screencast is commonly used in certain fields (tech, design, photography, media and probably more). Here are a lot of videos showing this. My issue with this word is that it is very misleading and it will definitely confuse many people. @jmbpiano put this very nicely in a comment on the answer screencast :
This usage seems rather niche and if I were to first encounter it in
another context, the suffix "-cast" would immediately evoke mental
comparisons to "broadcast" and "webcast" (forms that are decidedly not
static, playable on-demand video, but rather something that is being
presented once at a specific time, possibly live and/or interactive).
Best Answer
Screencast
Similarly to many commenters here, I actually don't like this word much. Personally, I would probably use video capture. Individual tastes aside, however, screencast is a term that is very well attested in dictionaries, books, and software, and if you look at the evidence below, seems to be preferred overall.
Let's start with the
Dictionaries
Collins Dictionary (with thanks to Edwin Ashworth):
Macmillan:
Wiktionary:
Lexico:
On the other hand, screencast is not recorded in the OED, Merriam-Webster, American Heritage, or Cambridge.
Wikipedia
Here is the lede of the Wikipedia article "Screencast":
True, in general, one should not take Wikipedia as a reputable source. However, my experience is that tech-related topics are usually treated quite authoritatively there, at least once the article has existed for a number of years (as this one has).
Use in published literature
Here are some books that use that terminology:
Screencasting for Libraries (source)
The Use of Screencasting in Higher Education: A Case Study (source)
iPad in Education For Dummies
Sixth Grade Technology Curriculum: 32-lesson Comprehensive Curriculum
Use in software applications
Here are some examples of video capturing applications that use that term.
Kazam on Linux:
An example from Adobe:
Some other examples of software that uses this term: Jing, Screencast-o-matic, Bandicam…
Facebook uses the term screencast a lot in its pages for developers, i.e. here
and here
and
(With thanks to Andrew Leach.)