A capture card is a device used for capturing video (and audio) and converting it into digital signals that allow it to be shared across internet platforms. It is used to record and stream any number of things, such as video from a DSLR camera, but it’s most commonly used to stream activity from gaming consoles and PC gaming computers. Capture cards make it possible to record content and then edit it later before posting to a streaming platform. They are also useful for more than just video games. For example, they make it easy to livestream other content from your desktop screen or from devices like cameras.

Capture cards come in two basic form factors: an external USB device that plugs into the PC via USB, or an internal PCIe expansion card. For the latter, youll need an available PCIe slot on your desktop PCs motherboard. A capture card is an essential tool if youre using an external device and recording or streaming on a PC. If, however, youre streaming gameplay directly from a PC, then a capture card isnt necessary. Thats because the source stream is coming from the PC itself, so theres no need for conversion or passthrough. In this case, all you need is software such as OBS, XSplit, or the streaming features of AMDs Radeon Software or Nvidias GeForce Experience.

Capture cards act as a receiver for input data. If you have two PCs, one to stream from and one to play games on, the signal goes from your GPU on your gaming PC to the capture card attached to your stream PC. The signal can then be captured and recorded, or encoded and sent to sites like Twitch. Some capture cards come with an encoder on them so they can theoretically do the work that the CPU does when streaming. Capture cards are for capturing external devices via video signals usually though HDMI. This allows capture of consoles like Xbox and Playstation.