Facebook has straightforward menus for how to share Oculus Quest 2 photos, videos, or live streams, as well as how to cast Quest 2 footage to your TV. What's not always clear is how to take screenshots or record clips on the Oculus Quest 2 without exiting the main menu, or how to share Quest 2 videos outside of Facebook. We'll quickly walk you through the controller shortcuts and steps you'll need to take.
How to take and share a screenshot on the Oculus Quest 2
There are three methods how to take a screenshot on the Oculus Quest 2: one straightforward, one slightly more involved, and one if you have Oculus Voice Commands activated.
In-game screenshot
1. Press and hold the Oculus Button and hold down the trigger on one of your Touch controllers. The Oculus logo will appear in the center of the screen, with a white circular progress bar circling the logo.
2. If you were successful, you'll see the message "Photo saved. You can view your photo now. Press the Oculus button to view notifications," along with a small thumbnail of the screenshot.
3. From the System Menu, choose either Sharing or Notifications. Either menu should show the most recent photos you've taken.
4. After selecting the photo you want to share, select the Sharing icon in the top right of the menu. You'll have the option to send it to Facebook News Feed, Facebook Groups, or Messenger.
From the system menu
In certain games, like The Climb 2, it's tricky to let go of the trigger to squeeze it for the screenshot shortcut (without falling to your death, for example). In those cases, there's a second method:
1. Tap the Oculus button to pull up the system menu while paused in-game.
2. Choose the Take Photo option. (Note: this option is blocked out in the above screenshot because we were casting. It's normally an option for Beat Saber and most other games.)
3. The menu will disappear and a small, rapidly blinking red light will appear briefly in your vision. The system will then automatically take a screenshot within just a few seconds, after which the light will disappear and a "Photo saved" notification will appear.
From there, you can repeat the above steps to share the photo to Facebook.
Turn on Oculus Voice Commands
If you haven't already done this, open the System Menu, select Settings, and then choose Voice Commands. You'll be taken through a quick tutorial on how to make the headset listen and some sample commands. From there, taking a screenshot in-game is easy:
1. Double-tap the Oculus button quickly. You should hear a chime sound.
2. Say "Take a photo". The voice assistant should respond, "Okay, taking a photo," followed by a rapidly blinking red light. You'll then see the confirmation thumbnail.
How to take and share a video clip on the Oculus Quest 2
Oculus doesn't have a user's manual for how to record video on Oculus Quest 2, but there are (again) multiple methods for doing so. The easiest way is to use the shortcuts in the headset itself, but people looking for more professional clips will have to rely on their PC or phone or change some settings on their headset to get the best quality. Here's what you need to know.
From the System menu
1. Tap the Oculus button to pull up the system menu while paused in-game.
2. Select the Sharing tab.
3. Choose Take Video. A blinking red light will appear to show that you're recording.
4. Once you are finished recording, go back to the Sharing menu and tap Take Video to end the recording.
So long as your Quest 2 has enough storage — depending on whether you picked the Oculus Quest 2 128GB vs 256GB — you should technically be able to record indefinitely. Keep in mind, however, that this recording feature won't pick up mic audio, only game audio. The video's also going to be somewhat low resolution unless you change the recording settings.
Changing your Quest's recording settings will allow you to capture high-quality videos straight from your headset. It allows you to toggle settings like eye view, resolution, and bitrate so you can best tailor your recording experience to your needs.
To change the recording settings on your headset, you'll need to do a few things.
Enable developer mode on your headset:
1. Open the Oculus app.
2. Select Devices on the bottom navigation bar.
3. Select Connect below the icon of your Oculus Quest headset.
4. Select developer mode from the list of options below the headset icon.
5. Toggle the developer mode switch to on.
If you've never enabled developer mode on an Oculus device that's registered with your account, you'll need to complete a few additional steps to ensure everything goes smoothly.
1. A website will automatically open so you can create a developer account.
2. Scroll down and select the link below to create an organization.
3. Login with your Oculus account.
4. Enter the name of your "organization" (this can be anything).
5. Select submit.
6. Agree to the terms of the agreement.
7. You'll need to enter a credit or debit card for identity verification. It's completely free to be an Oculus developer. However, Facebook's terms of service require you to verify your identity via this method.
Now that developer mode's enabled, you'll need to install the Oculus Developer Hub onto a Windows PC in order to change your Quest's recording settings. You can install the Oculus Developer Hub from this site. Install it on your PC and log in to your Oculus account. Before you complete the next steps, please make sure you plug a USB to USB type-C cable into your PC and your headset.
To change your video recording settings:
1. On the "Device Actions" window on the main menu, click on the settings icon next to where it says "Record Video."
2. A window will pop up that allows you to modify your Quest's recording settings.
Now you're free to record video from your Quest 2 at your desired settings! From this point, you need only go to the Notifications or Sharing menus to find your video and share it on Facebook sites. We'll get to how you can share elsewhere.
Using Oculus Voice Commands
Once you make sure that your headset is listening for commands (see above), you can quickly start and stop a video clip in-game.
1. Double-tap the Oculus button quickly. You should hear a chime sound.
2. "Start recording." The voice assistant should respond, followed by a blinking red light.
3. Once you've finished recording, double-tap the Oculus button again and say "Stop recording."
Using Casting
It's much more straightforward to record directly to your headset, but an alternative option is to cast to another device and record the footage there. That way, you avoid using up headset storage if it's limited, and can also theoretically capture higher-resolution footage.
1. Go to the Sharing menu from the System menu.
2. Select Cast.
3. Select the Device that you want to cast to. You can choose your Oculus App, Computer, or Chromecast.
4. You'll now have video footage that can be uploaded to any social media site, not just Facebook.
5. If you don't want to give Facebook access to your photos but still want to record from your phone, see how to use screen recorder on Android phones.
6. On your computer, Go to oculus.com/casting and log into your Oculus/Facebook account.
7. Put your headset back on and select Cast, then choose Computer.
8. You should see a pop-up that you have 60 seconds to go to that webpage, but in theory, your browser should already show the livestream.
1. Open the feed to fullscreen, then use your favorite screen recording software to capture the footage! We recommend trying out the best Windows 10 screen recorder apps, how to record a Chromebook screen, or how to record a screen on a Mac, depending on which computer you own.
2. Once you're finished, go back to the Sharing menu and untoggle Cast.
How to capture mic audio for Oculus Quest 2 video recordings
Unfortunately, Oculus has prevented mic audio from appearing in recordings ever since the original Oculus Quest, and this hasn't changed. Your best bet is to separately record audio using a mic connected to your nearby PC, then sync the audio and video during edits.
Depending on your price range, we've gathered the best microphones for Twitch that will give you excellent recording quality, or the best cheap USB microphones for more frugal Questers. You could also consider clipping a lapel mic to your shirt from your phone if you usually play VR games far from your PC. We suspect this will get jostled around during more active games, though.
How to transfer Quest 2 photos and videos to your computer
You can easily share your Quest 2 content on Facebook, but what about YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, or other sites? To share Oculus Quest 2 videos outside of Facebook, you'll need to connect your headset to your computer and download them manually.
1. If your computer doesn't have a USB-C port, you'll need a USB-C-to-USB-A adapter.
2. If you don't see the message, unplug and replug the cable into the charging port while still wearing the headset. It should reappear.
3. Remove your headset and go to your computer. If you have a Windows computer, you should see the disk appear. (For Mac users, skip to Step 6)
4. Open the Oculus Quest 2 disk, then open Oculus > VideoShots. You should be able to see and download all videos that you've taken (and delete them afterward).
5. The screenshots appear to be slightly larger in size than the thumbnails, but otherwise appear to be identical.
6. Mac users will need the Android File Transfer app for the headset to be recognized. You can download it here.
7. Plug in your headset, allow access to data, and then Android File Transfer should automatically open with the same file structure as on Windows.
8. Open Oculus > VideoShots to find, download, and delete your video recordings, or Oculus > Screenshots to find your photos.
You can also sync screenshots and videos from your Quest directly to your phone. To enable syncing, you need the Oculus companion app, which is free and available on all mobile devices. If you didn't already have it, be sure that you've logged into your Oculus account and have synced your phone and headset before proceeding.
To enable media syncing between your Quest 2 and smartphone:
1. Open the Files application on your Quest.
2. Open the Media tab.
3. Click on the cloud icon in the top-right section of the Media tab.
4. Wait for your screenshots and media to upload. They will appear in your Oculus companion app under the gallery tab.
From here, you should have no trouble capturing and sharing footage of the best Oculus Quest 2 games wherever you so choose!
