Best NVIDIA ShadowPlay Settings for Recording Gameplay

Want crisp gameplay recordings without tanking your frame rate? NVIDIA's recording feature — long known as ShadowPlay and now built into the NVIDIA app overlay — is one of the easiest ways to capture clips, and with the right settings it barely touches performance.

Why ShadowPlay barely affects performance

The magic is NVENC, the dedicated hardware encoder built into your GeForce GPU. Instead of leaning on your CPU or the GPU's main graphics cores, NVENC handles video encoding on a separate block of silicon. That means recording runs alongside your game with minimal FPS impact — often just a few percent. This is exactly why ShadowPlay is so popular for capturing competitive moments where every frame matters.

Opening the overlay

Press Alt+Z by default to open the NVIDIA app (or GeForce Experience) in-game overlay. From there you can reach the recording, Instant Replay, and settings panels. If the overlay doesn't appear, make sure the in-game overlay is enabled in the NVIDIA app settings.

The settings that matter

Resolution

Record at your native display resolution — usually 1080p, 1440p, or 4K. The "In-game" option matches whatever your game outputs, which is the safest choice. Downscaling to a lower resolution only makes sense if you're tight on disk space or uploading to a platform that won't show the extra detail anyway.

Framerate

For most gameplay, 60 FPS is the sweet spot — smooth motion without doubling your file sizes. If you play fast-paced shooters and have a high-refresh monitor, some setups support higher capture rates, but 60 is plenty for sharing clips and keeps files manageable.

Bitrate

Bitrate is the single biggest lever for quality. Higher bitrate means more detail retained, especially during chaotic, high-motion scenes where compression artifacts show up most. The trade-off is larger files. The table below gives solid starting points.

Quality preset

The overlay offers presets like Low, Medium, and High. "High" raises the bitrate ceiling for cleaner footage. If you see blockiness in busy scenes, bump the preset or manually raise the bitrate.

Recommended settings table

Setting	1080p	1440p	4K
Resolution	1920x1080	2560x1440	3840x2160
Framerate	60 FPS	60 FPS	60 FPS
Bitrate	~30 Mbps	~50 Mbps	~80+ Mbps
Quality preset	High	High	High

Treat these as starting points. If your clips look soft during fast action, raise the bitrate; if files are too large, lower it a notch.

Audio and capture scope

In the recording settings you can choose whether to capture in-game audio only or include your microphone. For montage-ready clips, recording game audio and mic on separate tracks (where supported) gives you the most editing flexibility later.

Manual recording vs Instant Replay

By default, Alt+F9 starts and stops a manual recording, while Alt+F1 takes a screenshot. These hotkeys can be rebound in the overlay if they clash with your game's controls. For catching moments you didn't see coming, Instant Replay is the better tool — it keeps a rolling buffer you can save after the fact.

Where your clips go

Recordings save to the video folder configured in the overlay's recording settings. Once you've captured something worth showing off, head to the upload page on FragClips to share it. Browse the Explore feed to see what other players are clipping, and check the game pages to find clips from your favorite titles.

Ready to share your best moments?

Now that your settings are dialed in, your next great play deserves an audience. Capture it, then drop it on the upload page and let the FragClips community see what you've got.