How to Record a Webinar or Live Online Event in Chrome

Live webinars, virtual conferences, and online training sessions often don’t offer a recording option — or they do, but behind a paywall or with a delay of several days. If you need to capture one while it’s happening, recording your own screen is the most reliable option.

Here is how to do it in Chrome with no software to install, no account required, and no watermark on the output.

What you need to decide before you start

Before hitting record, choose your capture source:

• A browser tab — captures only the webinar window, cleanly, with no risk of accidentally showing other apps or notifications.
• A window — captures your browser window including the tab bar. Useful if the webinar uses multiple tabs or opens pop-outs.
• The full screen — captures everything. Needed if the webinar uses a separate native app rather than the browser.

For most browser-based webinars (Zoom web, Teams web, Crowdcast, Livestorm, Hopin), tab capture is the cleanest option. It isolates exactly what you are watching and nothing else.

Audio: Decide whether you need the webinar audio, your own microphone, or both. For a webinar you are attending but not presenting at, you typically want system audio only — the webinar presenter’s voice — without your own microphone.

Step 1: Install ScreenKit

Add ScreenKit to Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. It is free, requires no account, and adds a small icon to your Chrome toolbar. There is nothing to configure; it works immediately after install.

Step 2: Set up the recording

1. Navigate to the webinar page and make sure it has loaded fully.
2. Click the ScreenKit icon in your toolbar.
3. Select Tab as your source (or Window/Screen if needed).
4. Under audio, enable System audio and disable your microphone — unless you are also presenting or plan to add commentary.
5. Leave camera off unless you want to record a reaction or face-cam alongside the session.

Step 3: Start recording before the webinar begins

Start recording 30–60 seconds before the scheduled start time. Most webinars begin with a host screen or countdown — capturing that confirms your recording is running before the actual content starts. It is much easier to trim a few seconds off the beginning in editing than to discover mid-webinar that recording never started.

ScreenKit shows a small recording indicator. Once you see it, the capture is live.

Step 4: Manage the session

During the webinar you do not need to interact with ScreenKit at all. A few things to keep in mind:

• Do not switch tabs unless your source is Window or Screen capture. Tab capture records the specific tab you selected — switching away from it will record the new tab, not the webinar.
• Avoid notifications. Put your phone on silent and consider enabling Do Not Disturb on your computer. Desktop notifications can appear on screen during a full-screen or window capture.
• Keep the browser window in focus. Some webinar platforms use the Page Visibility API to pause or lower video quality when the tab is in the background. Stay on the tab.

Step 5: Stop and export

When the webinar ends, click the ScreenKit icon and stop the recording. You will see a preview immediately.

From there:

• Trim the start and end if you started early or stopped late.
• Export as WebM for a video file you can store or share.
• Or copy to clipboard and paste directly into a note, doc, or chat.

No render queue, no upload, no watermark.

Keeping the recording private

ScreenKit processes everything locally — the recording never leaves your device. There is no server receiving your footage, no cloud backup, and no account to worry about. This matters for webinars that cover sensitive topics: internal company training, healthcare content, or legal proceedings. What you record stays on your machine.

Common issues

The webinar audio is not recording. Check that you selected System audio (not just Microphone) in the ScreenKit setup. Some platforms also require you to grant explicit audio permission in the browser — check for a prompt in the address bar.

The video is choppy or stuttering. Tab recording during a live stream is CPU-intensive. Close other tabs and applications while recording. If stuttering persists, switch to Window capture instead of Tab capture — it uses a slightly different capture path that some machines handle more smoothly.

The recording stops partway through. ScreenKit stores recordings locally. Make sure you have sufficient disk space before starting a long webinar.

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Ready to record your next session? Add ScreenKit to Chrome — it takes less than a minute to install, and the first recording requires zero configuration.