Answers

Can you stop screen recording of a video?
Not fully. Here is what you can do instead.

A web page cannot fully stop a visitor from recording their own screen, and nothing at all stops a phone pointed at a monitor. Anyone who promises otherwise is selling a feeling. What you can do is make a recording traceable to the buyer who made it, which changes whether people are willing to try.

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By uncompressed.io · Updated October 2026

Short answer

Can you stop someone from screen recording a video?

No. A website cannot fully stop a viewer from recording their screen, and nothing stops a camera pointed at the display. The practical answer is to make each viewer's copy carry an invisible mark unique to them, so a recording that leaks can be traced to the buyer. Protection reduces risk and makes leaks traceable; it cannot guarantee a film never leaks or that every leak can be traced.

A browser cannot fully stop screen recording
Nothing stops a camera filming the screen
DRM can block some capture on some devices only
A per-buyer mark is designed to carry into a recording
The mark names the buyer after you confirm a sighting
Vault: macOS app playback with a session watermark

The countermeasures

Every trick, judged
and what each one really does

What it does

What gets past it

Anti-recordingscripts

Detects a few known toolsor pauses on lost focus

Most recording software;any camera

Right-click andkey blocking

Stops casual savingand shortcuts

Recording entirely

DRM playback

May show a black picture to somecapture tools on some devices

Other devices and tools;any camera

Visible nameoverlay

Shows the viewer's nameon screen during playback

Cropping and blurring

Per-buyerinvisible mark

Carries the buyer's identityinto the recording

Very heavy edits or a cameracan weaken it

Native app withsession watermark

Plays only inside a dedicated app,with the session marked on the picture

A camera filmingthe screen

uncompressed.io offers per-buyer marks with Leak Shield (USD 99 a month or USD 1,188 a year) and the Vault's macOS app session watermark. It does not offer DRM and does not claim to block recording in a browser.

Why blocking fails

The screen is the leak
the analog hole

To watch a film, the picture has to reach the screen and the sound has to reach the speakers. At that point, anything that can see or hear them can copy them.

The industry calls this the analog hole. Encryption protects a stream on its way to the player, and DRM players can refuse to hand frames to some capture software. But the final picture is light on a display. A phone on a tripod records it, and no code running in a web page can reach that phone.

That is why serious protection moves from blocking to attribution. A forensic mark hidden in the picture is recorded along with the picture. When the recording appears online, the mark points to the account that played it.

What uncompressed.io does

Two honest tools
for sales and for review

Leak Shield, for films you sell

Every buyer gets their own invisibly marked copy. The open web and torrent indexes are searched weekly for the first month after release and monthly after. You review each sighting; on confirmation the buyer is identified and blocked, their membership cancelled, a takedown notice sent and a PDF case file kept. USD 99 a month or USD 1,188 a year, any paid plan.

Vault, for pre-release review

Films play in the compatible macOS app with a session watermark, rather than in a browser. It is built for sharing unreleased cuts with a few reviewers, and it has the same honest limit: a camera can still film the screen.

The Vault page lists its controls and their limits in detail. For the questions to ask any watermark provider, see forensic watermarks for video screeners.

The limit

Protection reduces risk and makes leaks traceable; it cannot guarantee a film never leaks or that every leak can be traced. Tell your buyers their copy is marked: the deterrent only works if they know.

Questions

Frequently asked

Can you prevent screen recording of a video on a website?

No. A website cannot fully control the recording tools on a visitor's computer or phone, and it cannot stop a camera filming the screen. Scripts that claim to block recording work, at best, against a few tools on a few systems.

Does DRM stop screen recording?

On some devices and players, protected playback can show a black picture to some capture software. It depends on the device, the operating system and the player, not on the website, and it never stops a camera. uncompressed.io does not offer DRM.

What is the best way to stop people recording my paid videos?

Make recording risky rather than impossible. A per-buyer invisible mark is part of the picture, so it is designed to carry into a recording and point back to the buyer. Tell buyers their copy is marked; most will not risk it.

Can a watermark survive a screen recording?

It is designed to, because the recording captures the marked picture. Heavy cropping, scaling, recompression or filming the screen with a camera can weaken a mark, so recovery is not guaranteed.

Does uncompressed.io block screen recording?

Not in the browser. On the web, uncompressed.io relies on Leak Shield's per-buyer marks, leak search and takedowns. For pre-release review, the Vault plays films in the compatible macOS app with a session watermark.

Can I stop screen recording on iPhone or Android?

A website cannot. Native apps can detect or restrict some capture on some systems, but a second device filming the screen still works. Treat any mobile restriction as a speed bump, not a wall.

Make every recording point back to its buyer.

Leak Shield gives each buyer their own invisibly marked copy and searches for leaks, for USD 99 a month or USD 1,188 a year on any paid plan. Protection reduces risk and makes leaks traceable; it cannot guarantee a film never leaks or that every leak can be traced.