You may find that many issues with recording in Descript can be resolved with one of these solutions.

• You’ve run out of memory - Check the Recommended system requirements (You need at least 8GB of RAM).
  • Also, try closing other applications that might be using up system resources.
• Free up hard drive space - We don’t recommend using Descript with less than 20GB of free space on your hard drive.

Sometimes, you may encounter problems with specific devices, like virtual cameras/microphones. Here’s the list of devices that we know cause problems.

• Check your graphics card (Windows) - Make sure your GPU drivers are up-to-date.
  • If your GPU drivers are up-to-date and have not had any updates in more than two years, then you’ll probably still have issues, and we don’t recommend recording video with Descript.
• Switch your camera/mic recording device - If you’re using a third-party microphone or camera, or a virtual device, try switching to different devices and see if that helps.
• Update your audio drivers (Windows) - if you are using an external audio recording device, make sure the corresponding audio drivers are up to date.

If you see a message that your recording stopped or that Descript couldn’t capture system audio, open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Microphone and Screen Recording.

Make sure Descript is enabled for both Screen & System Audio Recording and System Audio Only at the bottom of the page. You may need to use the + option to add Descript to this list.

Learn more about configuring your recorder permissions

In the event that Screen Sharing has been enabled on computers running MacOS Sonoma, there is a known issue that will cause the recording to crash when clicking the Stop Sharing button. You may see the following error: Recording failed...StreamDidStopWithError(nil)

 

Steps for recovering a recording can be found in our article How do I recover a lost recording?

To prevent this from happening, try turning off Screen Capture Kit from the Debug menu:

You can run the Screen Recorder without opening the main Descript app. If you have the main app closed and are not seeing the icon, either:

• The run-in-background setting is disabled
  • Open up the main Descript app to access the Screen Recorder. Then, enable running in the background from the Screen Recorder settings. 
• There are too many other apps in the menu bar.
  • Quit out of other apps until the icon appears.

Although it's very uncommon, some Windows users may encounter an error when attempting to run the Screen Recorder application for the first time:

Missing required system files necessary to run the application. Please refer to the following link on how to download the necessary dlls and libraries: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/mediafeaturepack

In order for Screen Recorder to run, please visit the link to download and install the Media Feature Pack for N versions of Windows 10.

Once complete, please restart your computer and re-attempt the setup.

Descript users may experience a rare bug – usually after uninstalling and reinstalling the app – that prevents recording permissions from being granted. 

If you:

• Open the recorder configuration 
• See the permissions prompt instead of the device selection
• Click "Grant permission," and nothing happens

Here’s how to fix it:

• Quit and reopen Descript (Note: Please ensure you do a “full quit” from the Descript menu)

That should be enough. If the issue persists: 

• Open system preferences and manually set the permissions
• Quit and reopen Descript after updating

If you're noticing your video recording has a low frame rate, there are a few potential reasons for this:

• CPU and browser limitations: Descript automatically adjusts the frame rate based on your system’s performance. Lower FPS can occur if your computer’s CPU is overtaxed or unable to process the video encoding in real time. This is especially common with high-resolution recordings like 4K, which can be demanding on certain systems, particularly on Windows.
• Screen sharing: When sharing screens, the FPS of your screen share (not your video) may drop because screen sharing generally involves less motion compared to regular video recordings, reducing the need for higher frame rates.
• Power settings on Windows: If you're using a Windows device, the system’s power profile may affect recording performance. A power profile set to Best power efficiency or Balanced can significantly limit the CPU performance, leading to lower FPS. Ensure your power profile is set to Best performance to allow Descript to utilize the full capabilities of your system.

How to improve FPS in your recordings:

• Restart your computer: A simple reboot before you begin recording can free up system resources and reduce the load on your CPU.
• Close other applications: Make sure no other high-demand software is running during your recording to allow Descript to utilize more of your system's processing power. This includes ensuring your browser has access to the maximum available resources.
• Check your recording resolution: Higher resolutions like 4K demand more processing power. If possible, lower your resolution to improve frame rate performance. To adjust this, check the settings in your camera software and set it to a lower resolution, such as 1080p, for better performance during recordings.
• Adjust your power settings (Windows): On Windows, ensure your Power mode is set to Best performance. You can change this in your system’s power settings by navigating to Settings > System > Power & sleep, then selecting Best performance from the power mode dropdown.
  

If you're unsure about the quality of your recording setup or are facing consistent issues, we strongly recommend testing your setup by recording a short sample with lower resolutions and fewer background processes. This simple step can ensure optimal recording performance and help prevent any FPS drops in the future.

If you notice your recording volume adjusting automatically in Descript, it’s likely due to the Auto gain control setting in your Editor recorder settings. This feature is designed to automatically optimize your input levels during recording to ensure clear and balanced audio. 

If you prefer the input levels to remain unadjusted throughout your recording, you can toggle off Auto gain control in your recording settings before you start. Remember, you can always adjust your audio levels in your project after recording.

Descript does not currently support recording in 4K on Windows.

For non-Windows users, confirm if your device supports 4K recording with these steps:

• Open Chrome and go to: chrome://media-internals/
• Open Edge and go to: edge://media-internals/
• Look under the "Video Capture" tab to check your device’s supported resolutions.

If 4K is not listed, your device may not support 4K video capture with Descript.

It's normal to see a second or two of black frames at the start of a screen recording. This happens because Descript aligns your camera and screen inputs during recording. In most cases, the screen capture starts a fraction of a second after the camera, causing this short span of blank frames.

If you'd like to remove the black frames from your project, you can trim the start of the clip from the timeline.

You’ll see this message if you stop sharing your screen with your computer’s built-in controls instead of the options in Descript. When this happens, your audio (and camera, if enabled) will keep recording, but the screen recording will stop.