byzanz-record

Record the screen and write the recording to a file (by default, byzanz-record will only record for 10 seconds)

$ byzanz-record [path/to/file.[byzanz|flv|gif|ogg|ogv|webm]]

$ byzanz-record [[-v|--verbose]] [path/to/file.[byzanz|flv|gif|ogg|ogv|webm]]

$ byzanz-record [[-d|--duration]] 60 [path/to/file.[byzanz|flv|gif|ogg|ogv|webm]]

$ byzanz-record --delay 10 [path/to/file.[byzanz|flv|gif|ogg|ogv|webm]]

byzanz-record [OPTION...] [FILE]

-d, --delay=SECONDS
    Initial delay before recording starts (default: 0)

-D, --duration=SECONDS
    Recording length in seconds (default: infinite)

-v, --verbose
    Enable verbose output for debugging

-x, --x=X
    X coordinate of top-left recording corner

-y, --y=Y
    Y coordinate of top-left recording corner

-w, --width=WIDTH
    Width of recording area

-h, --height=HEIGHT
    Height of recording area

--help
    Display usage summary

--version
    Show version information

Byzanz-record is a lightweight command-line utility for capturing screenshots of an X11 desktop or a specified region and compiling them into an animated GIF file. Ideal for short screencasts, tutorials, or web demos, it uses ffmpeg for encoding, optimizing for small file sizes suitable for sharing online.

Invoke it simply with an output filename, and it records the full screen indefinitely until stopped (Ctrl+C). Customize with options for region selection, delay before starting, and fixed duration. Verbose mode aids troubleshooting.

Key strengths:
- Precise region capture via coordinates/ dimensions
- Automatic looping GIF output
- No GUI overhead, script-friendly

Limited to X11 (not Wayland), GIF's 256-color palette suits simple content but may dither complex visuals. Best for brief clips under 30 seconds to avoid large files. Install via apt install byzanz on Debian-based systems.

X11-only (fails on Wayland); GIFs grow large for long/detailed videos; 256-color limit causes dithering on gradients; rarely updated.

Full screen, 10s delay:
byzanz-record -d 10 output.gif

Region 400x300 at (100,100):
byzanz-record -x 100 -y 100 -w 400 -h 300 -D 20 output.gif

Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install byzanz
Fedora: sudo dnf install byzanz
Requires ffmpeg and ImageMagick.

Developed ~2010 by Philip Corbett for GNOME; last major release 0.3.0 in 2012. Merged into gnome-video-effects briefly; largely unmaintained, replaced by modern tools like peek or ffmpeg pipes.

ffmpeg(1), recordmydesktop(1), peek(1)