Abstract: Innovations in adaptive encoding of screen content based on motion type are described. For example, a video encoder system receives a current picture of a video sequence. The video encoder system determines a current motion type for the video sequence and, based at least in part on the current motion type, sets one or more encoding parameters. Then, the video encoder system encodes the current picture according to the encoding parameter(s). The innovations can be used in real-time encoding scenarios when encoding screen content for a screen sharing application, desktop conferencing application, or other application. In some cases, the innovations allow a video encoder system to adapt compression to different characteristics of screen content at different times within the same video sequence.