Most people looking up how to record Zenless Zone Zero want one of three things: the animation from a pull that finally landed an S-Rank Agent, a clean Shiyu Defense or Deadly Assault run to post in a Discord server or on Reddit, or a few seconds of Perfect Dodge into Chain Attack to cut into a Short or a TikTok.
Start with the key fact: ZZZ on PC has no record button. The in-game camera is a photo tool for walking around the city, so every gameplay video you have seen was captured by something outside the game, whether that is Windows, your GPU software, OBS or DOR.
On PC you can install the game through the HoYoPlay launcher, the Epic Games Store and, since June 2026, Steam, and the recording steps are the same wherever you installed it.
Instead of ranking tools, this guide starts from the moment you want to keep, matches it with a way to record, then walks through the problems that come up most with ZZZ: black captures, missing audio and recordings that fill your drive. At the end you will see how to keep sessions without pressing record at all.
The short answer: Game Bar for quick moments, auto recording for boss runs, OBS for full control
For one or two pulls, Xbox Game Bar is already on your PC and is the fastest start. Press Win+Alt+R to start and stop, record ten seconds first and play the file back to make sure both the ZZZ picture and the sound are there. The full walkthrough is in Xbox Game Bar recording.
Boss runs are different. A Shiyu Defense or Deadly Assault attempt can last several minutes, and the worst outcome is the clear you forgot to record.
For those, use something that keeps recording for you: Instant Replay in the NVIDIA app saves the last few minutes after the fact, and an auto recorder starts the moment the game launches.
If you want scenes, bitrate control and separate audio tracks, OBS is the most flexible option, but it takes the most setup and you will probably meet a black Game Capture at least once. Run OBS as administrator first, then try Window Capture or Display Capture if Game Capture stays empty.
If the game stutters or the file comes out black only while recording, go through fixing game recording lag and black screens and check the encoder and output resolution. ZZZ combat is fast, with dodges and Agent swaps every few seconds, so dropped frames show up immediately; testing one step lower on recording resolution is a fair trade.
Set up ZZZ recording on PC in this order
- 1Pick one recorderUse Game Bar for quick clips, the NVIDIA app on a GeForce card (Alt+F9 to record by default, plus Instant Replay), AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition on Radeon, OBS if you want scenes and overlays, or DOR if you never want to press record. Run only one recorder at a time; two capture tools fighting over the same game is a common cause of lost frames and blank video.
- 2Test windowed modeExclusive fullscreen is widely reported to make recorders lose the picture. Switch the display mode in the ZZZ settings to windowed, record a few seconds, and once capture works, set the resolution to match your monitor. If the video is black only in fullscreen, continue with fullscreen recording not working.
- 3Give OBS admin rights and the right sourceRight click the OBS shortcut, open Properties, go to Compatibility and tick Run this program as an administrator. OBS's troubleshooting guide names this exact fix for Zenless Zone Zero. Add a Game Capture source, set the mode to capture a specific window and choose the ZZZ window (ZenlessZoneZero.exe). If it stays empty, compare Window Capture and Display Capture to see which one picks it up.
- 4Check the audio pathMake sure your recorder's desktop audio device is the same headset or speakers you actually hear the game through. Bluetooth headsets can switch to a call profile and turn the game audio down or drop it, so listen to a test file. If the picture is fine but the sound is missing, work through game recording has no sound.
- 5Record ten seconds, then go for realJump into a nearby fight, land one Perfect Dodge, stop and play the file. Check that the picture is smooth and that game audio, music and your mic are all there before you start recording pulls or a Shiyu Defense attempt.
Which way to record each kind of ZZZ moment
| Moment you want to keep | Best way to record it | What to check in ZZZ |
|---|---|---|
| S-Rank pull animation | Start recording before you pull, or keep NVIDIA Instant Replay on and save afterwards | The animation is short, so a late button press misses it. If replays never save, see NVIDIA Instant Replay not working. |
| Shiyu Defense or Deadly Assault run | Auto recording or OBS from the first room to the clear | Runs last minutes and files get large, so check free space on the drive you record to. |
| Perfect Dodge into Chain Attack | Cut a few seconds from a long recording and export 9:16 | Swaps and dodges are fast, so a higher recording frame rate keeps the motion sharp. |
| Story cutscenes | Start Game Bar or OBS before the cutscene begins | Voice and music matter here, so confirm the device you hear the game through is the one being recorded. |
| Playing on a Discord call | A recorder that captures game audio and your mic together | To keep your friends' voices, make sure the device Discord plays through is included in the recording. |
| City shots and Agent photos | The in-game camera | Photos only. Guides report it is not available in combat and that photos land in a ScreenShot folder inside the game's install folder. |
Before you record Zenless Zone Zero
- You picked one recorder, since ZZZ on PC has no video recorder of its own
- The drive you record to has room to spare (the Steam store page lists 75 GB just for the game, and recordings pile up on top of that)
- If you use OBS, it runs as administrator, and you tried Window Capture or Display Capture when Game Capture stayed empty
- On a laptop with a dedicated GPU, Windows graphics settings put ZZZ and your recorder on the same GPU
- If you want call audio too, you checked recording Discord call audio
- A ten-second test shows the picture, game audio and your mic
Record ZZZ without pressing record: using DOR
DOR is a free Windows app. With the latest version of DOR running, launch Zenless Zone Zero and your whole session is recorded until you quit, with every recording collected in My Clips in the app.
Check once that Zenless Zone Zero recording is switched on in DOR's settings, and when you only want a specific stretch, start and stop screen recording yourself (F7 by default). Game audio and your mic go into the same video, so your own callouts during a boss run stay in sync with the fight.
From a long session, trim just the S-Rank pull or the Shiyu Defense clear in the app and save it in 16:9, 9:16 or 1:1.
In DOR Studio you can join several clips, add effect templates such as shake zoom and punch zoom, text and background music, then download an mp4 or send a dor.gg link that plays right in a phone browser, which is handy for a Discord server or a group chat. The steps for posting vertical Shorts are in recording vertical game Shorts.
Recordings only start getting cleaned up, oldest first, once they pass the space set aside for Full gameplay recordings (5 GB by default), and your latest recording and anything you liked stay put.
