ScreenRecording xvfb

xvfb_screen_recording.py

from selenium import webdriver
import sys, getopt, time, subprocess, shlex
from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb


def run():
    print('Sreencast website animation')
    xvfb = Xvfb(width=1280, height=720, colordepth=24)
    xvfb.start()
    #browser = webdriver.Chrome()
    browser = webdriver.Firefox()

    url = 'https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/movefast-quickhost/web-animation-test/index.html'
    destination = 'movie.flv'
    browser.get(url)

    # normal quality, lagging in the first part on the video. filesize ~7MB
    # ffmpeg_stream = 'ffmpeg -f x11grab -s 1280x720 -r 24 -i :%d+nomouse -c:v libx264 -preset superfast -pix_fmt yuv420p -s 1280x720 -threads 0 -f flv "%s"' % (xvfb.new_display, destination)

    # high quality, no lagging but huge file size ~50MB
    ffmpeg_stream = 'ffmpeg -y -r 30 -f x11grab -s 1280x720 -i :%d+nomouse -c:v libx264rgb -crf 15 -preset:v ultrafast -c:a pcm_s16le -af aresample=async=1:first_pts=0 out.mkv'  % xvfb.new_display
    args = shlex.split(ffmpeg_stream)
    p = subprocess.Popen(args)
    print(p)

    time.sleep(30) # record for 30 secs
    browser.quit()
    xvfb.stop()



if __name__ == "__main__":
    run()

Hey, does your script support recording audio as well?

Does it work in a headless Linux environment?

Is it possible to add more code to automate some inputs in the browser before recording?

Hey @jzvi12,
this script was never intended to record audio, only video. It works indeed in a headless browser webdriver.Firefox() and the frames are recorded by xvfb.
Of course, it's possible to automate some inputs beforehand, check out selenium for browser automation.

@t-io

I have tried you code with

from selenium import webdriver
import sys, getopt, time, subprocess, shlex
from xvfbwrapper import Xvfb
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.options import Options


def run():
    print('Sreencast website animation')
    xvfb = Xvfb(width=1280, height=720, colordepth=24)
    xvfb.start()
    chrome_options = Options()
    chrome_options.add_argument("--headless")
    chrome_options.add_argument("--no-sandbox");
    chrome_options.add_argument("--disable-dev-shm-usage");
    browser = webdriver.Chrome(options=chrome_options)
    # browser = webdriver.Firefox()

    url = 'https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/movefast-quickhost/web-animation-test/index.html'
    destination = 'movie.flv'
    browser.get(url)

    # normal quality, lagging in the first part on the video. filesize ~7MB
    ffmpeg_stream = 'ffmpeg -f x11grab -s 1280x720 -r 24 -i :%d+nomouse -c:v libx264 -preset superfast -pix_fmt yuv420p -s 1280x720 -threads 0 -f flv "%s"' % (xvfb.new_display, destination)

    # high quality, no lagging but huge file size ~50MB
    ffmpeg_stream = 'ffmpeg -y -r 30 -f x11grab -s 1280x720 -i :%d+nomouse -c:v libx264rgb -crf 15 -preset:v ultrafast -c:a pcm_s16le -af aresample=async=1:first_pts=0 out.mkv'  % xvfb.new_display
    args = shlex.split(ffmpeg_stream)
    p = subprocess.Popen(args)
    print(p)

    time.sleep(10) # record for 30 secs
    print("DONE")
    p.kill()
    browser.quit()
    xvfb.stop()



if __name__ == "__main__":
    run()

but it won't record unless I set chrome not under headless mode.

" It works indeed in a headless browser webdriver.Firefox()" how can we know this firefox is working under headless mode? or the I misunderstand the headless meaning here.

thx