How to make a silent software demo on an ultrawide screen

An ultrawide screen gives you room to show several panels at once, but a full-screen recording can be hard to follow on a regular laptop or phone. Small menus and controls may end up spread across a very wide video.

Use the Screen Recorder to capture a screen, app window, or browser tab. The steps below help you choose a useful frame, keep the software readable, and leave out audio.

Record a silent software demo

Open the Screen Recorder. Decide which part of the software the viewer needs to see, then close unrelated windows and panels.
Choose whether to capture the whole screen, a window, or a browser tab. If the demonstration happens in one app, capturing its window can avoid showing your desktop and other open programs.
Arrange the app before recording. Put the important controls near the center of the captured area and enlarge text or panels that would otherwise look small in the video.
Leave microphone, camera, and audio capture off in the recorder. If the browser's screen-sharing prompt offers an option to share tab or system audio, do not enable it.
Start a short test recording. Play it back and check that the pointer, menus, and important text are visible, and that the clip is silent. Adjust the window or screen layout before recording the full demo.

Screen sharing may require you to choose a screen, window, or tab in a browser prompt. If the prompt gives you a choice of audio to share, leave it unselected. You do not need to grant microphone or camera access for a demo that has no narration or webcam picture.

Choose the right capture area

Capture the whole ultrawide screen for a full workspace view

Choose the entire screen when the point of the demo is how several panels work together, such as a timeline beside a preview or a spreadsheet beside its controls. This preserves the overall layout, but the resulting video may look very wide on a 16:9 display. Keep important actions near the center so they are less likely to appear tiny or far apart.

Capture an app window for a focused walkthrough

Choose a window when you are showing one desktop program. If the app can be resized, make it narrower before selecting it. This can make the captured view easier to watch than recording the full ultrawide desktop, although the recording's shape depends on the window and browser capture behavior.

Capture a browser tab for a web app

Choose a tab when the demo is entirely inside one website. This keeps other tabs, desktop icons, and unrelated windows out of the recording. Keep the browser zoom and page layout at a level where labels remain readable. A tab capture may not show content that is outside the tab or hidden behind another interface.

Make the recording easier to follow

Keep the important content central. On a very wide screen, a control at the far edge can be hard to notice when someone watches the clip in a smaller player. Move the relevant app window toward the center, or close side panels that are not needed for that step.
Make text large enough to read. Increase the app's interface zoom or widen the area containing the key labels. On Windows 11, check Settings › System › Display › Scale and Display resolution. On macOS, open System Settings › Displays and choose a display setting that makes the app comfortable to read. Changing display settings can affect the size of everything on the screen, so make a short test first.
Use a narrower app layout when possible. Resize the application window or collapse sidebars before recording. For a web app, narrow the browser window to see whether its layout adapts cleanly. Avoid shrinking the whole desktop so far that text becomes difficult to read.
Hide personal and distracting items. Close private documents, turn off pop-up notifications, and move the pointer away from controls when it is not being used. This keeps the demo focused and reduces the chance of exposing information that does not belong in the clip.
Check the whole clip, not just the first frame. Record a short test while opening menus and moving between panels. Confirm that important controls do not disappear off-screen and that the audio is silent throughout.

What to expect from an ultrawide recording

Ultrawide displays often use a wider shape than the common 16:9 video frame. A 21:9 display, for example, can show more horizontal workspace, but that extra width does not make small interface elements larger. If a video player fits the whole recording inside a 16:9 area, it may leave empty space above and below the image. If the player fills the area by cropping the sides, some content may be cut off.

The Screen Recorder captures a screen, window, or tab. It is not a video editor for changing the frame after recording. If the demo must fit a specific 16:9 publishing format, plan the visible layout before you record: use a narrower app window where possible, or keep only the essential content in the central part of the screen. Do not assume a full ultrawide capture will automatically be cropped or reframed for you.

Your screen recording stays on your device. Nothing you record is uploaded.