RetroPie Recording System

Record RetroPie gameplay directly on a Raspberry Pi 4—video, game audio, and controller controls included. No capture card or other recording hardware is required.

The recorder was built for the official Raspberry Pi 4 RetroPie image based on Raspberry Pi OS Buster with the FKMS video driver. It records the full composed display at 720p and 30 FPS using the Pi's hardware H.264 encoder. This includes hardware-rendered libretro cores such as Flycast, which RetroArch's built-in recorder cannot reliably capture on this setup.

What you get

• 1280×720, 30 FPS H.264 video
• Clean stereo game audio
• Start and stop recording from the controller
• In-game recording started/stopped notifications
• Automatic folders and filenames based on the launched game
• Automatic finalization if you exit a game while recording
• A free-space safety check
• Fully offline operation after installation

Install

Download retropie-recording-system-v0.1.0.zip from the latest release and copy it to /home/pi on your RetroPie.

Connect over SSH and run:

cd /home/pi
unzip retropie-recording-system-v0.1.0.zip -d retropie-recording-system
cd retropie-recording-system
chmod +x install.sh
sudo ./install.sh
sudo rprec-audio-setup
sudo reboot

After the Pi restarts, reconnect over SSH and run:

sudo rprec-controller-setup

When prompted, hold L3 + R3 together and then release them. Other button combinations work too, but L3 + R3 avoids RetroPie's usual Select hotkeys.

Return to EmulationStation and launch a game. The recorder is ready.

Record a game

While playing:

1. Hold L3 + R3 for about one second.
2. Wait for [REC] Recording started to appear.
3. Play normally.
4. Hold L3 + R3 again.
5. Wait for [REC] Recording stopped to appear.

If you leave the game while recording, the video is stopped and saved automatically.

Recordings are stored here:

/home/pi/RetroPie/recordings-system/<system>/<game>_<date-and-time>.mkv

They can be copied to a PC with WinSCP, FileZilla, SCP, or another SFTP tool.

Check the recorder

rprec status

This shows the current game, controller, recording state, capture backend, and video encoder.

The controller service can be checked with:

systemctl status rprec-controller --no-pager

Change the controller shortcut

Run the setup again:

sudo rprec-controller-setup

Hold the new combination when prompted. The service restarts automatically.

Audio recovery

The audio setup backs up the previous ALSA configuration before changing it. If HDMI audio stops working or sounds wrong, restore it with:

sudo rprec-audio-restore
sudo reboot

If automatic HDMI detection chooses the wrong output, list the available devices with aplay -l, then run the setup with the desired device:

sudo RPREC_HDMI_PCM='hw:CARD=YOUR_CARD,DEV=0' rprec-audio-setup
sudo reboot

Uninstall

Restore the original audio configuration first, then remove the recorder:

sudo rprec-audio-restore
sudo rprec-uninstall
sudo reboot

Existing recordings are never deleted by the uninstaller.

Compatibility

Version 0.1.0 targets:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B
• RetroPie on Raspberry Pi OS 10 (Buster)
• Linux 5.10 Raspberry Pi kernel
• Legacy/FKMS graphics (dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d)
• HDMI audio through ALSA
• Libretro emulators, including Flycast

Other Raspberry Pi models, KMS-only installations, Bookworm, and standalone emulators have not yet been validated. The recording popup uses RetroArch's local command interface, so standalone emulators may record correctly without showing the popup.

Privacy

The recorder contains no telemetry, accounts, cloud services, or internet features. Recordings and configuration stay on the Raspberry Pi.

License

Released under the MIT License.