Record your camera without sending anything anywhere

Also record sound

Your browser is going to ask for access to your camera

Your camera’s light will turn on, and it will stay on for as long as the recording lasts. It’s the most reliable sign there is: it’s controlled by the hardware, not by this page.

What happens to the recording: it’s built in your browser’s memory, piece by piece, and stays there until you download it. Nothing is transmitted, nothing is queued on a server; there is no server.

You stay in control: the permission can be withdrawn at any time from the icon to the left of the address bar, and closing the tab cuts the source immediately.

The fifty-seven other tools

popularCompress a PDFShrink the file without harming the text. Merge PDFsCombine several documents into one. Split a PDFCut a document into several files. Extract pages from a PDFKeep only the pages you want. Delete pages from a PDFRemove the pages you no longer want. Rearrange a PDFChange the page order with your mouse. Rotate a PDFStraighten pages scanned crooked. Number PDF pagesAdd continuous page numbers. Watermark a PDFLay a word across every page. Create a fillable PDFYour document becomes a form. Sign a PDFYour signature, placed wherever you want. Redact a PDFHidden text is destroyed, not covered. Crop a PDFCut the white margins off a scan. Multiple pages per sheetTwo, four or nine pages on one sheet. Remove PDF metadataAuthor, software and dates removed from the file. Unlock a PDFRemove a password you know. OCR: make a PDF searchableThe text of a scan becomes searchable. Edit a PDFText, shapes and images on your pages. Add a header and footer to a PDFNumbers, date and Bates in the margins. Compare two PDFsThe differences between two versions. Repair a PDFRecover a damaged PDF. PDF to imagesEach page becomes a JPG or a PNG. Images to PDFYour photos become one document. PDF to textA PDF’s text as .txt, .md or .html. Extract images from a PDFPull out the photos stored in a document. PowerPoint to PDFOne slide per page, text stays text. Word to PDFThe content comes through, and so does the page layout. EPUB to PDFAn e-book becomes a PDF. Create a zipGather your files into one archive. Password-protect a zipAn archive encrypted with AES-256. Excel to CSVOne .csv per sheet, accents preserved. Convert a 3D modelBetween .glb, .obj and .stl, losses stated up front. popularCompress an imageLighten your photos without spoiling them. Convert an imageSwitch to JPG, PNG or WebP. Resize an imageIn pixels or as a percentage. Rotate an imageStraighten or flip a photo. Crop an imageCrop to the frame and format you want. Watermark an imageA text repeated across the whole image. Remove EXIF from a photoGPS and camera removed, pixels untouched. HEIC to JPGThe iPhone photos Windows won’t open. WebP to JPGThe format everything opens. WebP to PNGTo keep transparency. PNG to JPGTo lighten it when size gets in the way. JPG to PNGUseful before editing, not after. JPG to WebP25 to 35% smaller. PNG to WebPMuch lighter, transparency kept. Open a Word fileRead a .docx without installing Word. Open an Excel fileRead a workbook sheet by sheet. Open a PowerPointFlip through a .pptx and its notes. Open an EPUB bookRead an .epub without an e-reader. Unzip a fileOne archive or a hundred, a single zip out. Open a 3D modelView a .glb, .gltf, .obj or .stl. QR code generatorA code computed on your device that never expires. Password generatorA verified draw, an exact entropy. Username generatorUsernames you can pronounce. Voice recorderYour voice, recorded on your device. Record your screenRecord your screen as MP4.

The camera light is your best signal

It’s controlled by the hardware, not by software: no web page can turn it off while recording. If it’s on, the camera is active; if it’s off, it isn’t. That’s more reliable than any written promise, including this page’s.

The live view shown here serves the same purpose: you see exactly what’s being recorded, all the time.

What others do with your face

An online webcam recorder that sends the video to its server sends your face, your voice and whatever is behind you: your home, your colleagues, what’s written on the whiteboard. The file then stays there for as long as the operator has decided, and is sometimes used for something else.

Here, the video is assembled in the browser’s memory. It isn’t transmitted, queued or kept after the tab is closed.

Two permissions, and you can give just one

The image and the sound are two separate sources. You can record a silent video by unticking sound before you start, which is useful for a silent demo or a framing test.

The format

The browser writes directly to MP4 when it can, which all recent browsers do. No conversion, so no library to download, and a file about a quarter lighter than the default format.

What to know before you start

Don’t close the tab before you’ve downloaded: nothing is kept waiting anywhere else.

Close other software that uses the camera. A device can only be opened by one program at a time, and the browser’s error message is often unclear about this.

Look at what’s behind you. This tip has nothing technical about it, and it’s the one that helps most often.

Frequently asked questions

Is my video sent anywhere? No, and there’s nothing to send: the file is made in your browser and stays there until you download it.

How can I be sure the camera is really off? The camera light is controlled by the hardware: no web page can turn it off while recording. If it’s off, the camera isn’t on.

Can I record without sound? Yes. Untick the box before you start: the browser will then only ask for access to the camera.

Why can’t my camera be accessed? A device can only be opened by one program at a time. Close the other apps using it, then try again.

Is there a watermark or a time limit? Neither. The only real constraint is your device’s memory.