How to Install and Use Kazam Screen Recorder on Ubuntu 22.04

Kazam is a feature-packed open source screen recorder for Linux that makes it easy to capture high-quality screencasts. In this comprehensive guide, we will cover how to install Kazam on Ubuntu 22.04 and detail the steps to set up and use its many powerful recording options.

An Introduction to Kazam

Kazam is an open source screen recording program created specifically for Linux systems. It is designed to be lightweight and easy to use, while still providing a wide range of configurable recording options.

Some key features of Kazam include:

Simultaneous video and audio capture
Support for recording the entire desktop or a selected region
Ability to record system audio and microphone
Annotation tools for adding text and drawings during recordings
Output to common video formats like WebM and MP4

Compared to other Linux screen recorders, Kazam stands out for having an intuitive interface that makes capturing screencasts a breeze for new users. Yet it still gives power users fine-grained control over video and audio parameters.

The project is under active development by a community of open source contributors. The latest release at the time of this writing is Kazam 1.7.1, which brought improved multi-monitor support, drawing performance enhancements, and other fixes.

Now let‘s go through the process of getting Kazam installed on an Ubuntu system.

Prerequisites

Before installing Kazam, you should ensure your Ubuntu 22.04 system meets the following requirements:

Ubuntu 22.04 – Other Ubuntu versions or Linux distributions may work but are unsupported.
GCC compiler tools – Needed for compiling dependencies from source code. Usually installed by default.
Python 3.6+ – Required for running Kazam‘s scripting engine. Again, typically present already.

That covers the basics you need. With those in place, let‘s move on to adding the Kazam PPA and package to our system.

Step-by-Step Installation Guide

Follow these steps to get Kazam installed on your Ubuntu 22.04 machine:

Update Package Repositories – Before installing any new software, it‘s best practice to refresh your system‘s package index so you download the most recent package versions:
```
 sudo apt update
```
Add Kazam PPA – Kazam is not included in the main Ubuntu repositories. But the developers provide an official PPA that makes installation easy:
```
 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kazam-team/stable-series
```
Confirm any prompts to add the new software source.
Install Kazam Package – With the PPA configured, simply use apt to install kazam:
```
 sudo apt install kazam
```
This will pull down Kazam along with any required dependencies.

With these three quick steps, Kazam is now installed and ready to launch on your Ubuntu 22.04 desktop!

Launching Kazam for the First Time

You can access Kazam through the Applications menu under Sound & Video, or run it directly by typing kazam into your terminal.

When opened for the first time, you should see a window similar to this:

This is the main Kazam interface where you control screen recording options and begin capturing your desktop. Let‘s briefly note the major components here from top to bottom:

Audio source – Dropdown to choose microphone, system audio, or both
Capture area – Buttons to record fullscreen or select an area
Video settings – Options like resolution, aspect ratio, frame rate
Timer – Delay start of recording by a set number of seconds
Output – Configure video file format, location, naming

The big red button initiates recording! We‘ll look at customizing all the preferences later. With the defaults, let‘s try a simple test capture.

Basic Screen Recording

With Kazam open, follow these steps to make your first desktop recording:

Under Capture area, click the Record Desktop button. This will record your full screen.

(Tip: you can choose Select area instead to pick a specific on-screen region to record)
Ensure Microphone is selected under Audio source to include commentary from your microphone.
Click the big Record button and your entire desktop will be captured in a video file.
To stop recording, click the Stop button or use the Ctrl+Alt+K keyboard shortcut.

After stopping the recording, a video preview window will display the screencast you just captured. From here you can play back the video or access the saved file location.

The default output location when first using Kazam is your Videos folder within your user‘s home directory. But you can configure a custom save location as we‘ll now see.

Configuring Recording Preferences

Kazam includes dozens of settings to control the audio, video, timing, annotations and output preferences for your screen recordings. Let‘s explore some of the most helpful options:

Video Settings

Under the Video tab you can dial in optimal resolution frame rate for your desktop recordings:

Resolution – Higher values like 1080p or 4K will be sharper but produce much larger files. 720p is a good middle ground.
Aspect ratio – Match your monitor‘s ratio; 16:9 is most common.
Frames/sec – Higher fps provides smoother motion. 30 fps is reasonably smooth in most cases.
Format – WebM and MP4 are most widely supported formats.

Audio Configuration

To customize audio sources and quality for your narration tracks and system audio capture, use the Audio tab:

Source – To include microphone audio, ensure it is checked here.
System Audio – Also captures sounds playing on your desktop speakers.
Effects – Options like noise removal if you have a low-quality mic.

Output Settings

You can direct Kazam recordings to a particular file location instead of the default Videos folder via the Output tab:

Here you can specify:

Folder – Choose another save location like Documents or a shared network folder
File name – Set a custom base name using wildcards like %date% - %title%
Format – Override the default file type of WebM or MPEG-4

Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with all of Kazam‘s preferences to see what configuration will work best for capturing desktop video.

Recording Your Screen with Kazam

Once Kazam is tuned to your liking, screen recording is simple. Just remember these core recording tips:

Launch Kazam from your applications menu or Terminal
Choose your desired audio input sources
Click Record Desktop or Select Area to capture
Start the recording with the big red button
Press Stop when finished or use keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+K

The more you use Kazam the more comfortable you‘ll get with integrating it into your workflow. Here are some pro tips for leveling up:

Scheduling Recordings

To schedule a recording in advance, click the Timer button and choose your desired delay start time:

Kazam will prepare the recording and provide an on-screen countdown before capturing starts. Great for planning tutorials!

Annotating with Drawing Tools

Click the Draw icon during recording to open Kazam‘s annotation toolbox. Here you can add text captions or freehand drawings:

Sketch arrows, circles, boxes right over your desktop to highlight areas of interest for viewers.

Multi-Monitor Setups

By default Kazam will try to auto-detect all connected monitors. For complex multi-screen arrangements, you can manually pick which monitors to include/exclude.

Start by mapping your monitors under Preferences > Monitor configuration. Then when starting a recording, choose only the monitors you wish to capture with the new Monitor selection button next to Record desktop.

Troubleshooting Problems

Hopefully everything works smoothly with Kazam on the first try. But in case you run into any snags, here are some troubleshooting tips for common issues:

No audio in recordings – Double check audio sources are enabled in the Audio tab preferences. Try different sources.

Choppy video output – If desktop animations appear laggy, lower video resolution or frame rate settings.

Can‘t find recordings – Confirm configured output folder location exists and has write permissions for your user.

Black video preview – Some systems may need video driver tweaks to support video overlays used in preview player.

Be sure to check Kazam‘s official FAQ for other specialized troubleshooting tips. The developers are also active on Launchpad to field bug reports.

Uninstalling Kazam

If at any point you wish to remove Kazam from your Ubuntu desktop, run this apt command:

sudo apt remove kazam

This will uninstall Kazam and delete all associated packages, while keeping your existing screen recordings in place.

To do a complete wipe including purging configuration files, use:

sudo apt purge kazam

Either of those will cleanly take Kazam off your system if you decide to move on to alternate screen recording software.

Final Thoughts

Installing and using Kazam screen recorder on Ubuntu 22.04 offers an easy avenue to start producing professional screencasts on the Linux desktop. With this detailed walkthrough guiding you through configuration, setup and recording, you now have the tools to chronicle workflows, develop video guides, and expand your content creation toolkit.

The lightweight yet feature-packed Kazam delivers possibly the smoothest open source recording experience on Linux. Its customizable preferences give you extensive control to craft high fidelity screencasts matching your use case needs. While staying focused on simplifying what should always be a straightforward task – documenting your on-screen activity.

Give Kazam‘s smart defaults a spin on an upcoming desktop recording session. Or dive into its advanced settings to mold a custom capture experience. Either way, integrating this Linux-optimized recorder can elevate both quick bursts of activity into shareable clips, or extensive video tutorials you craft from the comfort of Ubuntu 22.04.