Camtasia Studio is a screen capture application. It allows you to take still images or video of your computer screen, which you can then optimize with the program's capable video editor.

There are quite a few video capture applications available on the Internet, but Camtasia Studio sets itself apart from the competition with a streamlined, user-friendly interface and a multi-stage editing process. The program helps you capture the desired images or video, then brings you to an editing screen where you can split, delete or merge your recordings.

You can then add effects with the program's production studio. You've got dozens of available tools, including some really neat annotation and highlight options that are optimized for screen captures. You can repair damaged audio with the program's built-in editor, although the audio tools are hit or miss.

When you're ready to mix down your video, you can choose from a number of profiles to optimize your video for the Internet, mobile devices or other desktop computers. The program encodes your video quickly, leaving you with a professional, high-quality final product. We appreciated that Camtasia Stuido's isn't built as a simple video editing application, it's specifically built for screen captures, and that makes a big difference in the presentation.

Camtasia's a large program at over 240 megabytes, so it's not ideal for casual users. However, its advanced feature set and gorgeous, intuitive interface make it a must-have application for anyone who needs a consistent, powerful screen capture utility. Overall, Camtasia Studio is simply one of the best programs of its kind thanks to its stability and elegant, efficient editing process.