How to smooth the cursor in a screen recording
Fix a shaky, jittery mouse pointer in a screen recording. How cursor smoothing works, and how to change the cursor’s size, look and colour after recording.
Updated · 2 minute read · By the Sceed team
Cursor smoothing only works if the recorder captured the screen without the pointer and saved the pointer’s path separately. The editor then draws a new cursor along a smoothed version of that path. Sceed records this way, so smoothing is on by default and the cursor can be resized, restyled, recoloured or hidden after the take.
Why a recorded cursor shakes
A hand on a mouse never moves in a straight line. It overshoots, corrects, hesitates and wanders while you think. On your own screen you do not notice. In a recording, especially one that zooms in, every wobble is magnified and the viewer’s eye follows it.
Why most recordings cannot be fixed
An ordinary screen recorder films the screen with the pointer in it. The cursor is now just pixels in the video, the same as everything else. There is nothing to smooth: you cannot move it without leaving a hole where it was.
How smoothing works
A recorder built for it captures the screen without the cursor and logs where the pointer was many times a second, along with every click. The editor draws its own cursor on top. Because the cursor is drawn, its path can be filtered: the small corrections are averaged away and the pointer travels in clean curves, still arriving at each click on time.
This is how Sceed records. It is also why the raw video file in the recording folder has no pointer in it. The export has the cursor drawn in.
What else a drawn cursor allows
Size. Make the pointer large enough to see in a small player.
Look. Arrow, dark, Mac-style, pointer, hand, or your own picture.
Colour. Change the fill and the outline.
Hiding. Hide the cursor entirely, or only when it stops moving.
Effects. A halo, a trail, a spotlight, a ripple on clicks (Pro).
Click sounds. A soft tick on each click, mixed into the export.
With Sceed, step by step
- 1
Record as usual
Record with Sceed. The pointer’s path and clicks are saved beside the video.
- 2
Open Cursor
In the editor, open the Cursor panel. Smoothing is already on.
- 3
Set the amount
Drag the smoothing slider. Higher values turn jitter into a glide.
- 4
Choose a look
Pick a cursor look and a size. Recolour its fill and outline if you want it to match your brand.
- 5
Hide it when idle
Switch on hide when idle so the pointer fades when it stops moving.
New to Sceed? Install to export in five steps.
Questions
Can I smooth the cursor in a video I already recorded with another tool?
No. Once the cursor is part of the picture it cannot be moved. Smoothing needs the pointer’s path recorded separately, which is how Sceed records.
Can I hide the mouse cursor in a screen recording?
In Sceed, yes: choose the hidden look, or switch on hide when idle. The recording itself contains no cursor.
Does smoothing make clicks miss their target?
No. The smoothed path still passes through the points where you clicked, at the time you clicked.
Is cursor smoothing free?
Yes. Smoothing, the cursor looks, size and colour are in the free plan. A custom cursor picture and cursor effects are Pro.
Keep reading
More guides on editing
- How to zoom in on a screen recordingAdd smooth zooms to a screen recording so viewers can read the small things: when to zoom, how far, and how to do it on Windows without keyframes.
- How to blur sensitive information in a screen recordingHide emails, names, API keys and account numbers in a screen recording. How to blur a region after recording on Windows, and how not to show it at all.
- How to add a background and a frame to a screen recordingPut a screen recording on a gradient background with padding, rounded corners, a shadow and a window frame, the look of modern product videos, on Windows.