Sound Recorder, Camera, and Windows Studio Effects

Windows 11 provides useful audio and video recording apps and a set of related features that can help the output from each look as good as possible. They are:

• Sound Recorder. This app is used to record audio using your PC’s microphones.
• Camera. This app is used to take photos, record videos, and scan items using your PC’s webcam.
• Windows Studio Effects. This set of AI-based camera and audio enhancements can help improve the quality of your audio and video calls.

Tip: Windows 11 also includes a full-featured video editor called Clipchamp that’s covered separately.

Sound Recorder

Sound Recorder helps you record your voice and other audio using your PC’s microphones.

The app features a navigation pane on the left for accessing your recordings, a large recording/playback area, and a toolbar at the bottom with recording and playback controls. And that’s pretty much it, though it’s worth configuring a few settings before using Sound Recorder.

Customize

There are two key places to customize how Sound Recorder works: The Settings app, where microphone and other audio input settings are configured, and the settings interface in the Sound Recorder app itself.

Customize audio input in Windows 11

You configure microphones and other audio inputs in the Windows 11 Settings app: Navigate to System > Sound and view the options in the “Input” section to see what’s available.

The “Choose a device for speaking or recording” item auto-expands to display the microphones and other audio inputs accessible through your computer. If there are two or more compatible devices, one of them will be selected, and you can choose a different default audio recording device by selecting it here.

You can also configure each audio input device that appears here by clicking it. When you do a Properties page for that device appears.

What you see can vary by device, but some key settings include:

• Format. This option provides a drop-down where you can choose between various device-specific quality options, usually with 1- and 2-channel choices and various quality levels that use terms like “CD quality,” “DVD quality,” and “Studio quality” to help you make a choice.

Tip: You can use the “Test” button next to this option to test the quality of your choice.

• Audio enhancements. Depending on your PC and the audio input hardware, you may be able to take advantage of software- or hardware-backed audio enhancements. The best of the lot is Windows Studio Effects Voice Clarity, which may also offer a “Voice focus” sub-option.

Customize Sound Recorder

Sound Recorder offers a minimal set of options, and just for the file format used for recordings and the audio quality. To configure Sound Recorder, click “More options for recordings” (“…”) in the upper-right of the app, and then “Settings.”

Here, you will find:

• Recording format. By default, Sound Recorder records its files using the AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) format, which is broadly compatible with audio and video applications. But you can change this to MP3, WMA (Windows Media Audio), FLAC (lossless), or WAV (lossless). Unless you know you need a specific format, most are best served by leaving this one as-is.
• Audio quality. Sound Recorder chooses the audio quality of its recordings automatically by default, though it’s not clear how it does so. (Presumably, this is based on some combination of the recording hardware capabilities and performance characteristics of your PC.) But you can change this setting to Best, High, or Medium. If your audio recordings are important to you, I recommend changing this to High or Best.

If your PC has multiple microphones or audio input devices, Sound Recorder will use the default choice you configured in the Settings app. But you can change it to use a different device at any time by clicking the drop-down in the lower left corner of the app.

Record your voice or other audio

To start a recording, click the big red “Start recording” button in the Sound Recorder toolbar.

Keyboard shortcut: Or, type Ctrl + R.

When you do, the app changes to a simple recording interface that displays waveforms and a small set of relevant controls.

The following options are available while recording.

• Stop recording. Click the “Stop recording” button to stop recording entirely. Doing so creates a new file that is accessible in the navigation pane and in your PC’s file system, in a Sound Recordings folder in your Documents folder.

Keyboard shortcut: You can also tap Esc to stop recording.

• Pause/Resume recording. To stop recording temporarily, press the “Pause recording” button. Doing so will not create a new recording file. Instead, Sound Recorder will wait for you to click the “Resume recording” button that replaces “Pause recording” in the toolbar.

Keyboard shortcut: You can also tap Space to pause or resume a recording.

• Mark the current spot in the recording. If you are recording a meeting, lecture, or similar, you may occasionally wish to mark the point at which something important was said so that you can more easily find it later and go back to that point when you are listening to the recording. To do so and create a marker, click the “Mark recording” button on the right side of the toolbar.

Keyboard shortcut: You can also type Ctrl + M to mark an important point while recording.

Tip: Yes, you can mark multiple points while recording.

When you are done recording, you will return to the main Sound Recorder view, where you will find a new recording, cunningly named Recording, at the top of the Sound Recorder navigation pane, denoted with the time of its creation and its length.

Tip: If you don’t rename your recordings as described below, subsequent recordings will be named Recording (2), Recording (3), and so on.

Play a recording

To play a recording, click it in the navigation pane–a waveform representing the recording will appear in the recording/playback area–and then click the Play button. When you do, the recording will play and a play head will move across that area in time with the recording.

The following options are available during recording playback.

• Pause the playback. When you start playing a recording, the Play button turns into a Pause button so you can pause playback at any time.

Keyboard shortcut: Or, just tap Space.

• Move to any point in the recording. You can drag the playhead with your mouse to quickly move to any point in the recording.
• Zoom in and out of the recording visually. As with a web browser, you can type Ctrl + + (Plus) and Ctrl + – (Minus) to zoom in and out of the playback waveform. This can help you more easily find a specific point, especially in long recordings.

Keyboard shortcut: You can also type Ctrl + 0 to return to the default view in which the entire recording waveform can be seen in the app without needing to scroll.

• Jump to the start of the recording. To jump directly from the current place in the recording to its start, click the “Jump to start” button in the toolbar.

Keyboard shortcut: Or, tap the Home key.

• Change the playback speed. By default, Sound Recorder plays recordings at their native (“1X”) speed. But you can click the “Playback speed” control in the toolbar to select between several faster and slower playback speeds.
• Mark an important point in the recording. As is the case when recording, you can mark an important point in a recording while playing it back by clicking the “Mark recording” button (identified as “Marks”) in the toolbar.

Keyboard shortcut: Again, you can also type Ctrl + M to create a marker at a specific point during playback.

• Jump to a marker. In this view, the “Mark recording” button is a split button that offers a second function: it also lets you jump to any of the available markers. To do so, click the right side of the split button and then click one of the available markers.

Manage a recording

You can manage each recording you create with Sound Recorder in various ways. To see what’s possible, select a recording in the app’s navigation bar and then click the “More options for recording” (“…”) button, which displays a menu of choices. (You can also see these options by right-clicking a recording in the navigation pane.)

• Share. Click this item to invoke Windows 11’s rather limited Share pane and share the underlying file with contacts, via other apps, or with Nearby sharing.
• Rename. Click this item to give the recording a more descriptive name than Recording.

Keyboard shortcut: You can also type F2 to rename a recording.

• Show in folder. As noted previously, sound recordings are stored in a Sound Recordings folder in your Documents folder. But you can click this item to go directly to that folder in File Explorer.
• Delete. Select this item to delete the sound recording after a confirmation prompt.

Keyboard shortcut: You can also tap Delete to delete a recording.

Import a recording into Sound Recorder

You can also import compatible audio files that were created outside of Sound Recorder into this app. When you do so, a copy of the file is added to the Sound Recording folder in your Documents folder, and the audio item appears in the Sound Recorder navigation bar alongside the app’s recordings.

Camera

You can use the Camera take photos, videos, and scans with your PC’s webcam or other cameras. This app looks and works similarly to the camera apps we use on our smartphones, and it’s mostly straightforward.

Tip: If your PC has two or more cameras attached to it, a “Change camera” button will appear at the top right of the app. You can click this to toggle between the available cameras if so.

The Camera app interface is dominated by a large camera viewfinder in the center. Depending on your hardware, it also displays buttons on the right for switching between Photo, Video, and other capture modes, plus a Camera roll control. And you may see additional buttons on the left for options like HDR and a timer.

Customize

There are two key places to customize how Camera works: The Settings app, where webcams and other camera settings are configured, and the settings interface in the Camera app itself.

Customize audio input in Windows 11

You configure your PC’s webcam and other cameras in the Windows 11 Settings app: Navigate to Bluetooth > Cameras to see which devices are available.

To configure a specific camera, select it in the list. A Properties page for that device appears.

The options you see here can vary by device. But some of the more common include:

• Windows Studio Effects. If your computer and camera hardware supports Windows Studio Effects, you can configure the set available features here.
• Basic settings. If available, this expandable set of options lets you manually configure camera features like brightness, contrast, sharpness, and saturation.
• Video rotation. If your camera supports it, you can use this option to configure the rotation of the hardware in 90 degree increments.
• Advanced camera options. If supported by your computer, you may be able to use multiple cameras simultaneously, toggle between basic and advanced camera features, configure the camera resolution, and more using an “Advanced camera options” window.

Customize Camera

To configure the Camera app, click the “Settings” (gear) button in the upper left of the app window. The settings interface has separate expandable sections for Camera settings, Photo settings, and Video settings.

Some key settings to consider include:

• Camera settings: Show advanced controls for photos and videos. By default, the Camera app only displays its basic options for photos and videos. But you can enable this feature to display more options to the left of the viewfinder in the main app display, like brightness controls and others. What you see will vary by camera.
• Camera settings: Default settings. By default, the Camera app uses the system-wide camera settings as configured in the Settings app, and any changes you make in this app will apply system-wide as well. But you can change this option to “Use custom in-app settings” so that any configuration changes you make here in the app won’t impact the global settings.
• Photo settings: Photo quality. This setting lets you choose from a selection of still photo resolutions that vary by hardware.
• Video settings: Video quality. This setting lets you choose from a selection of video recording resolutions that vary by hardware.

Take a photo

To take a still photo with the selected camera, make sure the Camera app is in Photo mode–it’s the default–and then frame and compose the object you’re capturing, and click the “Take photo” button.

As you do, the Camera app will flash and emit a camera shutter-like sound, and a thumbnail of the photo will appear in the Camera roll control in the bottom right. Both serve to indicate that the shot was successful.

Photos taken with the Camera app are stored in a Camera Roll folder in your Pictures folder. (This folder will be created the first time you take a picture or record a video.) You can view photos you’ve taken with this app by clicking the Camera roll control or by using File Explorer or the Photos app.

Make a video recording

To make a video recording, put the Camera app in Video mode using the buttons on the right, frame and compose the object you are recording, and then click the “Take video” button to begin. When you do, the Camera mode buttons disappear and are replaced by prominent “Pause video recording” and “Stop taking video” buttons. An elapsed time counter in the middle bottom of the viewfinder provides a live view of the recording time.

Click “Stop taking video” when you’re done recording. A thumbnail of the video will appear in the Camera roll control in the bottom right.

Tip: The “Pause video recording” button lets you pause the recording and then restart it without having to make a separate video file.

As with photos, videos taken with the Camera app are stored in a Camera Roll folder in your Pictures folder. You can also view these recordings directly in the Camera app and with the Photos app.

Scan a document, whiteboard, or barcode

In addition to taking photos and videos, the Camera app also supports scanning a document, a whiteboard, or a bar code using separate Camera modes for each.

Tip: Some of these capabilities are hardware-dependent, so you may only see a subset of these choices on your own PC.

The Document and Whiteboard modes work similarly: As you frame the subject, the Camera app will highlight the document or whiteboard to indicate that that is the part of the scene that it will scan. Click the “Take document” button to scan the image. Camera will scan the scene, crop it to the document, and straighten it so that it looks correct. Then, it will quickly display a preview of the final image.

Barcode mode works as it does on your smartphone: just point your PC’s camera at a QR code or other barcode, and the Camera app will translate it into human-readable text.

Windows Studio Effects

Windows 11 includes a set of AI-based camera and audio enhancements called Windows Studio Effects that can help improve your audio and video calls regardless of which apps you use for that.

Tip: Most of these effects require a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), a special AI processor, and some require a very powerful NPU. Because these processors are only found in the latest PCs, and usually in premium models, it’s possible your PC doesn’t support at least some of these features.

Available enhancements include:

• Automatic framing. This video effect uses a set of hardware-dependent capabilities to zoom and crop the image sent from your webcam as you move around in front of the PC during a call.
• Background effects. This set of video effects is used to blur your background during video calls. You can set it to a Standard (heavy) or Portrait (light) blur.

• Creative filters. This set of filters applies one of three creative effects–Illustrated, Animated, or Watercolor–to the video image you transmit in real time for a truly unique effect.

• Eye contact. This video effect makes it appear that you are looking directly into the webcam even if you’re looking at the screen under the webcam. (Or, awkwardly, away from the PC entirely, which can look disturbing.)
• Portrait light. This effects adjusts the light on your face dynamically to give you a more natural appearance.

• Voice focus. This audio effect mutes background noises so that the other people on a call can hear your voice better. Because it is an audio effect, it is configured for your microphone, not your camera.

Tip: This may not be obvious, but you can enable multiple effects at the same time.

See whether your PC supports Windows Studio Effects

To quickly see whether your PC supports Windows Studio Effects and, if so, which effects, open Quick settings and see whether there is a “Studio effects” quick setting button.

If you see this quick setting button, then your PC supports at least some of these features.

If you don’t see this button, there’s one more place to look. Open the Settings app, navigate to Bluetooth & devices, Cameras and select a camera under “Connected cameras.” Then, select your webcam under “Connected cameras” to display its settings page.

If there is a “Windows Studio Effects” item, you’re good to go: Your PC supports at least some (video) effects. If not, locate the “Advanced camera options” item and click its “Edit” button to view the “Advanced camera options” dialog for this camera and see whether you can enable a “Use Windows Studio Effects” option.

You should step through this if necessary for each camera if you have more than one. And if none of that worked, sorry, your hardware doesn’t support Windows Studio Effects video effects.

It may, however, support Voice focus, the one audio effect. To find out, open Settings and navigate to System > Sound. There, click on a microphone or other audio input device under “Input” to display its Properties page. Then, scroll down to “Audio enhancements.”

Here, you can configure “Audio enhancements” to “Windows Studio Effects Voice Clarity” if available. And on some PCs, you will see a “Voice focus” sub-option that further reduces background noises using your PC’s NPU. I recommend enabling both.

Customize

You configure each of the Windows Studio Effects individually and can do so at a system level using the Settings app, impacting all camera-compatible apps (Slack, Teams, Zoom, and so on), or you can do so at any time in supported apps, or by using the Quick settings-based interface or a Taskbar-based button that appears when you’re using a camera in any app.

Settings app

As noted above, the video and audio effects settings are found in different locations in Settings. But since Voice focus is just a simple toggle as noted above, let’s focus on the video effects. These are configured by navigating to Bluetooth & devices > Cameras and selecting your webcam.

Each effect here has an obvious on/off toggle and most support sub-options so you can select whatever mode. For example, if you expand “Eye contact,” you can choose between “Standard” and “Teleprompter.”

Supported apps

Some apps, including the Camera app that comes with Windows 11, provide in-app controls for Windows Studio Effects, which can be especially handy. If not, you can use one of the other methods listed here to enable or customize the effects.

Quick settings

The “Studio effects” quick setting button in Quick settings changes the display to a handy pane with a way to switch the view between video and audio effects (if both are supported), a camera preview, toggles for the available effects, and a very useful “Reset Effects” button for when you go a little too far with the effects. You can make changes here and preview them in the camera preview.

Taskbar button

You can also display the Windows Studio Effects pane triggered by the “Studio effects” quick setting button in Quick settings using a special Taskbar button that appears when you’re using any effect.