Every way to record a timelapse of your screen, webcam, or both on Windows — built-in tools, OBS, Chronolapse, ffmpeg and Tau — compared, with which to pick.
The best timelapse app for Windows depends on whether you want to pay. For free, Chronolapse is the only Windows tool that captures your screen and webcam at an interval, but it hasn't been updated since 2022. OBS is free and well maintained, but records full-speed video you have to speed up afterwards. If you want a timelapse recorder that's actively developed and handles screen and webcam together, that's what Tau is for (I make it, so weigh that).
Windows has no built-in timelapse recorder. Here's everything that works, what each is good at, and where each falls short.
The options at a glance
| App | Price | Screen | Webcam | Both at once | Captures at an interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snipping Tool (Windows 11) | Free, built in | Yes | No | No | No: full-speed video |
| Xbox Game Bar | Free, built in | Active app | No | No | No: full-speed video |
| OBS Studio | Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | No: full-speed video |
| Chronolapse | Free, open source | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| ffmpeg | Free | Yes | Yes | With effort | Yes |
| Tau | $16.99€14.99, one-time | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
"Captures at an interval" is the part that matters for long sessions. A normal recorder saves 30 or 60 frames every second, so three hours of work becomes a multi-gigabyte file that you then speed up and mostly throw away. A timelapse recorder saves one frame every few seconds, so the file is small and already a timelapse.
Snipping Tool and Xbox Game Bar (built in)
Windows 11's Snipping Tool can record a selected part of the screen: press Windows + Shift + R, drag an area and start recording (Microsoft's steps). Xbox Game Bar (Windows + G) records the app you're using.
Both record in real time, with no interval setting and no webcam, so a timelapse means recording the whole session and speeding it up in an editor. They're fine for a short clip; for a three-hour session they're the wrong tool.
OBS Studio (free)
OBS is the most-recommended free recorder on Windows, and it's the easiest free way to get screen and webcam in the same video: add a Display Capture source and a Video Capture Device source to one scene, then size the webcam into a corner.
What it doesn't do is record at an interval. It writes full-speed video, so you speed it up afterwards in an editor or with ffmpeg:
ffmpeg -i recording.mp4 -filter:v "setpts=PTS/60" -an timelapse.mp4
That's 60× faster. It works, but every session costs you the disk space of a full recording and an export. I went through the trade-offs in how to speed up a screen recording.
Chronolapse (free, open source)
Chronolapse is the closest free match for a timelapse recorder. It takes screenshots and webcam stills on a schedule, can combine them picture-in-picture, and encodes the result into a video. It's MIT-licensed.
The catch is age. The code was last changed in November 2022, there are no packaged releases on GitHub, and its site's Windows download still links to the old Google Code page; an open issue from 2020 asks for a Windows build of version 2.0. It's worth a try if you're comfortable with that, but expect some setup, and no help if it breaks.
ffmpeg (free, command line)
ffmpeg can capture the Windows desktop at a low frame rate directly, which is an interval timelapse with no GUI at all:
ffmpeg -f gdigrab -framerate 0.5 -i desktop -vf "setpts=N/(30*TB)" -r 30 timelapse.mp4
That grabs a frame every 2 seconds and plays them back at 30 fps; the setpts part is what makes it play fast rather than in real time. Press q to stop. Adding a webcam on top means building a filter graph by hand. It's powerful and free, and impractical unless you already live in a terminal.
Tau (paid, Windows and macOS)
Tau is a timelapse recorder, built for exactly this:
- Interval capture: one frame every few seconds, set before you start. The setup screen shows how long the finished video will be.
- Screen, webcam, or both at once: pick a display or a single window, plus any webcam or USB camera, and lay them out picture-in-picture, side by side, or stacked for vertical video.
- Built for long sessions: it runs in the background and stays out of the recording.
- Editing and export: trim, add timer or clock overlays, and export to MP4, WebM or GIF.
It's $16.99€14.99 once, with one licence for all your devices. The trade-off against the free options is the price; against Chronolapse, it's that Tau is actively maintained and needs no setup.
Which should you use?
- One short clip, no install: Snipping Tool, then speed it up.
- Free, and you want screen and webcam together: OBS, then speed it up. Or Chronolapse, if you're happy running older software.
- Free, comfortable in a terminal: ffmpeg.
- You record long sessions regularly (coding, design, art, study, devlogs): a timelapse recorder like Tau. It's the only option here that's maintained, interval-based and handles screen and webcam together without setup.
For step-by-step instructions, see how to record a timelapse on Windows, and for the camera side, the webcam timelapse recorder page.
Quick answers
Does Windows have a built-in timelapse feature?
No. Snipping Tool and Xbox Game Bar record the screen, but only in real time. To get a timelapse from them you speed the recording up afterwards.
How do I make a timelapse of my screen and webcam on Windows?
For free, put a Display Capture and a webcam source in one OBS scene, record, and speed the result up. Chronolapse can also capture both on a schedule. A timelapse recorder like Tau does it in one step: pick both sources, set the interval, and record.
Is there a free timelapse app for Windows?
Yes: Chronolapse is free and open source, though it hasn't been updated since 2022. OBS and ffmpeg are free too, but OBS needs a speed-up step afterwards and ffmpeg is command-line only.
Can OBS record a timelapse?
Not directly. OBS records full-speed video, so you speed it up afterwards in a video editor or with ffmpeg.