Vice
Loading your clips
Idle 0:00
Clips can’t play inside this window. The installed Qt WebEngine build has no H.264 decoder. Recording still works, and clips open fine in your system player. To fix in-app playback, install your distro’s WebEngine package and reinstall Vice: sudo apt install python3-pyqt6.qtwebengine (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint) · sudo dnf install python3-pyqt6-webengine (Fedora) · sudo zypper install python3-qt6-webengine (openSUSE).

# Welcome back

The last 20s of your gameplay are always in the buffer. Press F9 to keep them. Double-tap to start a session.

## Recent clips

## Playlists

## Most viewed

Microphone Include mic in new clips
Desktop audio Capture system sound
Public tunnel Share links beyond your LAN
Tunnel inactive

# All Clips

Loading…

Global hotkeys are unavailable. Vice can still save clips from this button, but keyboard hotkeys cannot read `/dev/input/event*` right now. Add yourself to the `input` group: `sudo usermod -aG input $USER`, then log out and back in.

### The reel is empty

Press F9 to save the last 20 seconds. Double-tap to start a session recording.

Drag a clip onto the timeline · double-click to append
Nothing at the playhead
Drag a clip from the library onto the timeline below.
Preparing H.265 preview…
TITLE
Font
Size
Color
H.264 · 60 fps
0:00.0 / 0:00.0
12 px/s

# Settings

Tune Vice to the way you play

Recording
Buffer duration Seconds of gameplay kept in the rolling buffer
2 min
Replay storage Where the rolling buffer lives (gpu-screen-recorder). Auto keeps short buffers in RAM and moves buffers over 10 minutes to disk.
Clip duration Seconds saved when you press the clip key
20 s
Frame rate Capture frames per second
Resolution Output resolution (auto = match your display)
Custom resolution Width×height, e.g. 1600x900
Container MKV survives crashes better and suits multi-track audio. Discord embeds and browsers need MP4.
Video encoder GPU encoders are faster with lower CPU usage
Recording backend Screen capture method
Display Choose which display to record (Auto = current display)
Audio
Capture desktop audio Include system sound in clips
Capture microphone Record your mic into clips. Same switch as the mic toggle on the Home page, saved immediately.
Desktop audio source Choose what gpu-screen-recorder captures
Microphone source Used when mic capture is on. Default input follows the system setting.
Desktop audio volume Balanced into new clips when they are saved (gpu-screen-recorder)
100%
Microphone volume Turn this down if your mic overpowers the game audio. Applies while mic capture is on.
100%
Separate audio tracks Each source becomes its own track for editing. Players, Discord, and shares play track 1. With mic capture on, your microphone gets its own track. Empty = one mixed track.
Combined first track Record an extra track 1 that mixes every source, so players and shared clips carry full audio. Your separate tracks start at 2.
wf-recorder microphone mode How wf-recorder handles desktop audio + microphone
Hotkeys
Clip key Click to rebind, then press a key or combo (e.g. Alt+F9). Escape cancels.
Additional clip hotkeys Each key saves its own clip duration. Double-tap any clip key to start or stop a session.
Storage
Save clips to Directory where clips are saved
Tag clips with game Append the detected game to clip filenames, e.g. Vice_Clip_4_Overwatch-2.mp4. Uses the same game list as Discord Rich Presence and the auto playlists.
Create a playlist per game When a known game is focused, file the clip into an auto playlist for that game with its own colour. Uses the same detection as the game tag above.
Clip filename Leave empty for the default Vice_Clip_4 naming. Use `$n` for the clip number, `$date`, `$time`, and `$game` (needs the toggle above). Clips are never overwritten.
Sharing
HTTP port Port for the local share server
Public tunnel Share links that work outside your local network. Needs the cloudflared binary installed, otherwise links only work on your own network.
Discord Rich Presence
Enable Rich Presence Show "Clipping <Game> with Vice" on your Discord profile while a known game is focused. On by default; turn it off here any time.
Custom games One game per line: `Display Name | match1, match2, match3`. Matches are case-insensitive substrings checked against the focused window's process name and class. Bundled list already covers ~100 popular games.
Client ID override Optional. Leave empty to use Vice's default Discord application. Provide your own Application ID for custom branding/icons.
Appearance
Accent colour Tints the highlight, controls, and the ambient background gradient
Advanced · gpu-screen-recorder
Extra args Optional flags appended to gpu-screen-recorder. Example: `-k hevc -bm cbr -q 20000 -fm cfr -a {default_sink_monitor}`
Check for updates Ask GitHub once a day whether a newer Vice is out, and show a notice when there is. Nothing about you or your clips is sent.
Check now Look for a new release straight away, ignoring the daily wait.
Saved

# About

Vice, the game clip recorder for Linux

## Vice

Linux-first FOSS game clipping.

__VICE_VERSION__
GPL-3.0
Wayland · X11
SYSTEM
Version__VICE_VERSION__
Backend auto
Buffer 120 s
Frame rate 60 fps
Clips on disk 0
Total footage 0s
CREDITS
A
Andrew Marin
Creator & maintainer
C
Community contributors
Bug reports, translations, patches
DANGER ZONE

Uninstalling removes Vice, its systemd units, and the udev rules. Your clips stay put.

vice uninstall
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QUICK START

## Start clipping, then let Vice run

Vice keeps the buffer live in the background and opens the UI only when you need it.

F9
Save the last 20s Press F9 after something worth keeping.
·F9·
Double-tap for a session Double-tap to start or stop a full recording. Tap once during a session to mark a highlight.
Clip
Review, trim, and share Open any clip to rename it, trim the best moment, share a link, or press H to add viewer highlights.
BG
Close the window safely Minimize or close the UI and Vice keeps recording. Discord Rich Presence is on by default and configurable in Settings.

## Playlists sort the reel

Every clip can live in any number of playlists, and they keep themselves in order.

Auto playlists Clips are filed under the game you were playing when you saved them. Vice builds these on its own.
＋
Custom playlists Create your own from the sidebar, pick an emoji and a colour, then add clips with the ＋ on any clip card.
Safe
Nothing goes stale Playlists follow clips through renames and trims, and tidy up after deletions.
Copy manually
Automatic clipboard access is unavailable on this system. Select the text below and press Ctrl-C.
A new version of Vice is out

Restart required
Some sharing settings need a Vice restart to take effect. Close and relaunch, or run:
killall vice-app
Microphone on wf-recorder
wf-recorder can only capture one audio source at a time. Pick how Vice should handle microphone clips going forward.

## New playlist

COLOUR
Trim
Preparing H.265 preview…
In 0s Duration 0s Out 0s
start 00:00:00.000 end 00:00:00.000
Loops the selection · cut bounds are lossless
Export video
Save as
Location
Custom path
Also add to Vice
Keep a copy in your library so it shows up with your clips
Recording is active. Rendering now shares the machine with the capture encoder.
Rendering…
0% · encoding H.264
Export complete
Reset editor?
This clears every clip, transition and title from the timeline. Your clips stay safe in the library, and Ctrl+Z can still bring the edit back until you close Vice.
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Preparing H.265 preview…
HIGHLIGHTS