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How to record League of Legends without lag
Recording shouldn't cost you a single frame. Done right, you can leave it on every game and never feel it. Here's why RiftRec stays smooth — and a short checklist if you ever do notice a dip.
TL;DR: RiftRec records with your GPU's hardware encoder and captures only the game window, so your in-game FPS stays the same. Keep the encoder on Auto and you're set.
In this guide
1. Why recording usually lags
Most FPS drops from recording come from software (CPU) encoding — the recorder pulls each frame back off the GPU and asks your processor to compress it, while your CPU is already busy running the game. Recording the whole desktop instead of just the game makes it worse. The result: stutters, exactly when the fight gets busy.
2. How RiftRec stays smooth
RiftRec avoids both problems:
- Hardware encoding — the video is compressed on your GPU's dedicated encoder (AMD AMF, NVIDIA NVENC or Intel QSV), not your CPU.
- GPU-direct capture — on AMD and NVIDIA it captures and encodes entirely on the GPU with no CPU readback, so it matches your in-game FPS the way OBS does.
- Game-only recording — it captures just the League window, not your whole screen, so there's less to process.
3. Settings that matter
The defaults are already tuned for smooth recording. If you want to double-check (see the best recording settings guide for detail):
- Encoder: Auto — keeps you on hardware encoding.
- FPS: 60 — plenty for review and light on your system.
- Resolution: match your monitor — recording higher than your screen wastes GPU for no benefit.
4. Streaming with OBS
⚠ Streaming with OBS? If OBS — or any app that uses your GPU's hardware encoder — is running, RiftRec automatically falls back to CPU encoding so it doesn't fight your streaming software for the GPU encoder (which would stutter your game). On a weak CPU that fallback can cost performance, so while you stream you may want to close RiftRec — or reach out to us and we'll help find a setup that works for your PC.
5. Still seeing lag? Quick checklist
- Confirm the encoder is on Auto (hardware), not a software/CPU encoder.
- Close other apps using the GPU encoder — OBS, Streamlabs, Medal, browser hardware acceleration.
- Drop FPS to 60 and set resolution to match your monitor.
- Update your GPU drivers — encoder performance improves with newer drivers.
- Still stuck? Tell us your GPU/CPU and we'll dial it in.
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