Game freezes when recording the screen

Added note. Everything freezes, main menu and in the game.

"I have the same issue. My phone is running Android 14 HyperOS. When I try to use the built-in screen recorder, my phone crashes. I have to press the physical buttons on my phone to restart it.”

This issue started with version 1.21.120 and is also present in the beta version (1.21.130).

Turns out this is internal audio bug

If you use mic only it doesn't freeze

I tested it now. Still freezes. I turn tried all the audio settings. Freeze when start recording and then unfreezes when I stop

1.21.121 The patch has arrived but the problem still persists

Minecraft freezes when screen recording due to RenderDragon Vulkan GPU capture conflict

Platform:

Minecraft Bedrock Edition (MCPE)

Android 13 / Android 14

All device brands confirmed (Infinix, Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Vivo, Oppo, Tecno, Motorola)

Game Version(s) Affected:

1.21.0 – 1.21.121 (current RenderDragon builds)

Game Version(s) Not Affected:

1.20.80 and below (OpenGL ES builds)

Graphics Engine Involved:

RenderDragon (Vulkan implementation)

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Issue Description:

When attempting to record Minecraft gameplay using any screen recorder, the gameplay rendering freezes completely, while the UI remains functional.

The game world stops updating frames (frozen image)

Touch controls still respond

The player can open menus and pause screen

The issue appears only when a screen recorder is active

This means the framebuffer used for rendering is blocked from screen capture, resulting in a GPU read-access conflict.

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Steps to Reproduce:

1. Open Minecraft Bedrock 1.21+ on an Android device.

2. Enter any world (Survival or Creative).

3. Start any screen recorder (built-in recorder or third-party):

XRecorder

Mobizen

AZ Recorder

Native System Recorder

4. Gameplay rendering freezes instantly.

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Expected Behavior:

Gameplay should continue rendering normally while screen recording is active, as it did in versions 1.20.80 and earlier when Minecraft used OpenGL ES.

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Actual Behavior:

Only UI renders.

Gameplay stops drawing new frames.

Game becomes visually frozen until the recorder is stopped.

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Root Cause Technical Explanation:

Minecraft 1.21+ uses RenderDragon with Vulkan, which does not allow shared GPU memory for screen capture, causing:

Vulkan Framebuffer → Non-read-accessible → Recorder cannot hook → Render Stall → Freeze

This issue does not occur in OpenGL ES builds (1.20.80 and below), where screen capture hooks are supported.

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Impact:

Minecraft content creators are unable to record gameplay on Android

Affected: Millions of mobile players, especially in India, Brazil, Middle East, Southeast Asia (largest mobile MCPE market)

YouTube & Twitch content production for Bedrock is being blocked

This bug directly harms Minecraft’s creator ecosystem.

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Suggested Fixes:

Any one of the following would resolve the issue:

1. Allow Minecraft on Android to manually switch between Vulkan and OpenGL ES Example setting:

Video Settings → Advanced → Renderer: Vulkan / OpenGL

2. Re-enable OpenGL fallback path for devices using screen recording APIs

3. Expose Vulkan Shared Mode / Screen Capture Support Flag

(VK_EXT_image_drm_format_modifier or VK_EXT_external_memory_host)

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Conclusion:

This is not hardware failure, not recorder issue, and not user error —

It is a RenderDragon Vulkan framebuffer capture conflict introduced after 1.21.

Reintroducing OpenGL ES option on

Android would: ✅ Restore recording compatibility

✅ Protect the Minecraft creator ecosystem

✅ Prevent widespread user frustration

You add Honor phone to the list too. I am supposed Minecraft Techs are not looking at this issue. The complaints are growing

Me too

Same. I am a Content Creator and it is making me lose a lot of time

Note: this issue is still NOT FIXED on the latest update, 1.21.130

Me too. :(

HyperOS, Android 14

Game version (1.21.130.3)

Whenever I try to use my phone’s built-in screen recording feature while gaming, my game freezes or crashes. This bug has been around for quite some time and still hasn’t been fixed, which is really frustrating.

Game version: BE v1.21.130

System: Android 14, HyperOS

Game freezes for me too and FPS drops whenever recording

I also submitted a separate complaint regarding this issue, but I was redirected to this existing report… Upon reviewing it, I found that the issue was already reported several months ago and is still unresolved.

Despite the time that has passed, the problem continues to affect us with no resolution provided.This is extremely frustrating and disappointing, especially given how long this issue has been known.

Soy creador de contenido y de verdad por culpa de este bug no puedo grabar, solo me pasa en las betas pero horita en la versión oficial también, ya es algo muy molesto donde espero que se solucione lo antes posible

I'm a content creator and really because of this bug I can't record, it only happens to me in the betas but now in the official version too, it's already something very annoying where I hope it will be solved as soon as possible

I really hope Minecraft content creators use their platforms and audiences on social media to bring more attention to this issue.

Please encourage as many people as possible to comment on this Bug Tracker report and vote on it, so we can actually pressure the company and the development team to take this problem seriously and put it on their priority list.

This issue has been around for a long time, yet the company has not taken real action.

All related reports have been marked as “Resolved”, which is simply not true, because the problem is still happening with no actual fix.

Note: My report is MCPE-234321 and it was also marked as resolved even though there has been absolutely no improvement.

el bug sigue presente en esta versión.26

The bug is still present in this version.26

Fix this please

Sometimes I test two Android phones. One is 4GB and another is 8GB.

8GB fine, no problem.

4GB still fine but if I turn on record audio, frame drops.

ATTENTION: THIS BUG IS OFFICIALLY NOT GETTING FIXED AS IT CLAIMED TO BE DEVICE ISSUE INSTEAD OF THE GAME ISSUE. THEREFORE, THIS IS NOT A BUG.

All of the Minecraft mobile community claiming that this is not a bug and it is just a device problem.

But for it to suddenly stop working is strange.

@EpikDuck Recording the screen causes the game to freeze after update 1.21.130.Why This problem didn't occur before the update. Content creators experiencing this issue have been waiting for a fix for about 6 months,Its very long Even though it's not a bug, this issue should be monitored and not ignored.

@RalphPagnos MCBug Detection I’m using a HONOR Pad 9 (8GB RAM).

When I start screen recording, the game just completely freezes.

If I turn on record audio, it starts recording, but the FPS drops

​Device models and processors may vary, but the screen recording issue is still negatively impacting most Android devices.

I’m suffering from the same case too. On my Tecno Camon 20 Pro 5G, after a few seconds, it starts to freeze.