To record a visible browser automation session, use Playwright’s screencast or video APIs when you control the browser workflow, or use Browserless’s hosted recording flow when you need a remote session. Neither documented approach, by itself, establishes a complete live-streaming interface for end users: capturing a video or frames is not the same as publishing an interactive live view.
What “headful” means—and what recording does
A headful browser runs with a visible graphical browser window rather than in headless mode. In automation, that distinction matters when you need a session whose visual activity can be captured or inspected. Recording produces an artifact or frames; a viewer-facing stream additionally needs a way to deliver those frames and, if viewers must interact, send input back to the browser. The documented capture options here do not specify that delivery layer.
There are two supported capture directions in the official documentation considered here: Playwright’s own screencast and page-video APIs, and Browserless’s hosted browser recording controlled over the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP). They are related, but their setup and output are not interchangeable.
Choose between Playwright capture and Browserless recording
| Approach | Where capture runs | Documented output | Important setup |
|---|---|---|---|
| Playwright screencast | Within a Playwright page workflow | Video at a path, or JPEG frames delivered to a callback with timestamps | Use the API supported by the project’s installed Playwright version. |
| Playwright page video | Within a Playwright browser context | A video object for each page | Create the browser context with the recordVideo option. |
| Browserless hosted recording | In a remote Browserless session controlled over CDP | WebM video; audio capture is supported | Current v2 documentation requires headless=false, stealth, and record=true; use /stealth, not /chrome. |
The documentation does not establish a speed, quality, reliability, or price/performance winner between these approaches. Browserless documents a paid-plan requirement for screen recording; the Playwright references cited for capture do not provide an equivalent commercial comparison.
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Record with Playwright
Use screencast when you need a file or frames
Playwright documents a page-level screencast API that can start and stop recording. It can save a video using a path and optional size, or send JPEG-encoded frames and timestamps to an onFrame callback. That callback can be useful when your application needs to process frames, but the callback is not itself a network stream or a finished viewer product.
Because the exact API surface can depend on the Playwright version and language binding, check the installed version’s official API reference before using a code sample. The available documentation summary establishes the operations and options above, but not enough signature detail to responsibly provide a version-independent runnable snippet. A useful implementation checklist is:
- Confirm the installed Playwright version supports the screencast operation you plan to call.
- Decide whether the output should be a saved video or callback-delivered JPEG frames.
- If using a callback, design frame transport, buffering, viewer synchronization, and error handling separately.
- Stop the recording explicitly and verify that the output is complete before making it available to another process.
Use page video when a context should record its pages
Playwright also documents a video object for each page when the browser context was created with the recordVideo option. This is a context-setup choice: do not assume that enabling recording after a page is already running will produce the same result. Consult the API reference for the installed Playwright version for the supported context option shape and the way that version finalizes or exposes its video.
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Record a hosted Browserless session
Browserless’s documented approach connects Puppeteer or Playwright to a hosted browser over CDP. Recording is enabled through the WebSocket URL, then started and stopped with CDP commands; the example workflow writes the returned base64 data as a .webm file. For current v2 documentation, the route and flags matter: set headless=false, stealth, and record=true, and connect through /stealth. Recording is not available through /chrome.
- Check the Browserless account plan. Its documentation says screen recording requires a paid plan.
- Set the endpoint options before connecting. Enable the documented recording and headful/stealth settings in the WebSocket endpoint.
- Set the viewport before recording begins. Browserless says the recording dimensions inherit the viewport at the moment capture starts; choose the intended dimensions as part of session setup.
- Reuse the connected context and page. When using Playwright with Browserless, continue with the context and page supplied by the existing connection. Creating new ones will not wire those objects to the recording.
- Start and stop through CDP. Follow the provider’s current CDP command sequence and save the returned base64 payload as a WebM file.
- Verify the result. Check that the file exists and can be decoded before treating the recording as complete.
Browserless also describes Session Replay, but that is distinct from a video file: it records DOM events for playback in its dashboard. Choose it only if event-based replay meets your need; it should not be described as the same artifact as the WebM recording.
Set dimensions and decide whether you need audio
For Browserless, choose the viewport before capture starts because the recorded video dimensions are inherited from that initial viewport. Changing the viewport mid-session is not a documented way to change the recording dimensions. If the session needs a different size, configure that size before starting a new recording.
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Browserless documents audio capture support. The Playwright capture references summarized here describe video or JPEG frames, but do not establish equivalent audio behavior. If audio is a requirement, verify the precise supported path in the relevant current API documentation rather than assuming both approaches handle it the same way.
What it takes to turn capture into a live viewer
A screencast callback can expose frames to your code, and a recording API can create a video file. Neither fact specifies how to serve a low-latency stream, manage multiple viewers, authenticate access, or relay viewer input. Those are application and deployment decisions beyond the capture APIs covered here.
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- For a saved recording: focus on capture lifecycle, output completion, storage, and access control.
- For a live visual feed: determine how frames are encoded and transported to clients, how clients stay synchronized, and how the application handles dropped frames or a disconnected browser.
- For remote interaction: plan input routing and session authorization in addition to image delivery.
The cited documentation does not provide a universal live-streaming architecture or quantitative latency guidance, so no particular transport or deployment topology can be recommended from it alone.
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Common setup failures and what to check
- Browserless recording does not start: check that the current v2 endpoint uses
/stealth, withheadless=false,stealth, andrecord=true; confirm the plan supports recording. - The recording is unavailable on a Chrome route: Browserless states that recording is unavailable through
/chrome; use the documented/stealthroute. - The file has unexpected dimensions: set the viewport before starting recording. Browserless derives video dimensions from the viewport at recording start.
- Playwright actions are not reflected in the hosted recording: verify that automation uses the existing connected context and page rather than creating new ones.
- A page-video artifact is missing: verify that the browser context was created with the
recordVideooption and check the API behavior for the installed Playwright version. - A frame callback is mistaken for a live stream: callback frames need an application-defined delivery and viewer layer; the callback alone does not publish them.
- Session Replay is mistaken for a video: Browserless describes Session Replay as DOM-event playback in its dashboard, separate from its WebM recording.
Or skip the browser setup
ScreenshotNeo is a screenshot API, not a headful-session recorder or live-streaming service. It is useful when the requirement is a single page image rather than a session video. One GET request captures a URL:
curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webpSee the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for the request options. Before capture, it accepts cookie/consent banners and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each cleanup step can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits are not billed, and response headers report the page verdict and billing status. Its MCP server offers take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf for AI agents. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000 shots.
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Practical cost and reliability considerations
For hosted Browserless recording, account for the documented paid-plan requirement and confirm the current plan and endpoint terms before implementation. For either method, validate capture completion and output usability in your own workflow; the cited documentation does not provide comparative reliability measurements, cost totals, or performance benchmarks. Avoid selecting an approach on claims of superior speed or quality that these references do not establish.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does Browserless Session Replay create a video file?
No. Browserless describes Session Replay as DOM-event playback in its dashboard; its screen recording feature produces WebM video.
Can Playwright’s frame callback be shown directly to end users?
It supplies JPEG frames and timestamps to application code. A viewer interface and frame-delivery mechanism are separate components.
Quick Recap
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