Your Mac’s built-in screen recorder

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Not sure when this feature got added, but since this was new to me, thought this was worth sharing.

Launch QuickTime Player (it’s in your Applications folder). Now select New Screen Recording from the File menu, or type control-command-N. A small screen recording window will appear, like so:

recorder

Click the little triangle on the right side of the window to adjust microphone and mouse click options. When ready, click the record button in the center of the window. Click and drag a section of the screen to record part of the screen or just click to record the entire screen. Once you do that, click to start recording. Click the stop button that appears in the menu bar to stop recording.

Pretty easy, and the end result is a QuickTime movie you can use anywhere you’d expect (iMovie, YouTube, etc.) Clearly not a method a pro would use, but if your needs are relatively simple, this is a great solution.



221 thoughts on “Your Mac’s built-in screen recorder”

  1. It’s been there since Snow Leopard. Well, that’s when I first found it! I admit, it is well hidden! Apple should document it more.

  2. It is nice; I’ve used it. However, if you need to edit, ScreenFlow can’t be beat.

  3. I’m using it to explain some InDesign trick for my friends. And I’m aware this feature since Snow Leopard. Maybe because not many people using Quicktime as their standard video player. I’m using MplayerX because it’s capable reading mkv container *cough cough.

  4. These guys just keep slipping stuff in that can have a MAJOR impact on the user and it goes fundamentally un-noticed – even for pros… Amazing…

  6. It was added to QuickTime X. It was well documented as one of the features of the new version of QuickTime

  7. If I’m not mistaken, it doesn’t add voice or sound to the screen recording. That might be why Apple doesn’t promote it too much.

  9. It’s always so lush to explain something to a new Mac user that I’m tutoring, then when he or she feels like it’s too much, you just re-explain it by recording it into a video. They’ll watch the video later on and remember how to do it.

    And they appreciate how easy it was to just launch QuickTime Player, select the microphone, record the screen and it’s saved to the Desktop.

    It’s cute stuff and more people should know about it. Now, if only they added “Default audio recording” without having to have Soundflower installed..

  14. Thank you Thank you so much for sharing this. i got a new web cam and I was able to make a movie with screen sharing but I couldn’t find any preferences for choosing how I was going to include audio recording. Duh – ciick the little down arrow.

    I am making some short training videos for my sales team and this has been very helpful

  19. only one problem no audio plus it acts funny when you play games that require you to use the keyboard only

  20. I have been searching for a MAC screen recording system. I’m on a PC right now and cannot check. So, I have a question for the community. If I am having a video chat (call) with someone will it record the livestream of both parties?

  26. Worst. Screen Recorder. Ever. IT RUINED MY LIFE! EVERY TIME IT IS MORE THAN 15 MINUTES LONG, WHEN I CUT PART OF IT IT TAKES A LOT MORE THEN I WANTED IT TO! ONCE, IT CUT THE WHOLE ENTIRE VIDEO! THEN WHEN I GOT A NEW RECORDER, IT WAS WORKING FINE UNTIL MY MICROPHONE STOPPED WORKING!

  27. How bizarre, I don’t have the option of ‘New Screen Recording’ there. There’s a few options, but all of them say you need the pro version. (Likewise control-command-N, the Mac just beeps at me – the error noise). Damn

  30. You can click on the arrow in the screen recording box and select built in microphone and it will record your voice

  31. LMFAO@Jinu!!!! Jinu I think we would be fast friends if we ever are lucky enough to cross paths. God Bless ya!

  32. i like this screen record but the problem is that this does not work on my macbook pro but it works on my mac

  33. This would be great if QuickTime were a good application, but it isn’t. It plays and records things jerky, skipping many frames.

  41. Wait, screen capture is amazing. So what is iMovie? Magical?

    It was on the front page of the Quicktime X release, which was on the front page of the Snow Leopard release. I fail to see how it was slipped in. They aren’t automagically being sneaky just because you didn’t notice.

  42. It was on the front page of the Quicktime X release, which was on the front page of the Snow Leopard release. I fail to see how it was slipped in. They aren’t automagically being sneaky just because you didn’t notice.

  43. It was on the front page of the Quicktime X release, which was on the front page of the Snow Leopard release. I fail to see how it was slipped in. They aren’t automagically hiding it just because you didn’t notice.

  48. why can’t i simply FRICKIN’ FIND THE APPLICATION FOLDER D:
    a mac PC is harder to use then i thought..

  49. I used this many times in the last year with great results. However, the past couple months QuickTime stops recording before I stop. Three times now it has even caused my Macbook to crash and restart. I’m not super happy with QT at the moment. During the times it starts recording and then stops itself, it won’t let me save the video either os close the program without Force Quit.

    Any thoughts on how to prevent this? Is there another way to record a short video based on screen capture?

  50. I used this many times in the last year with great results. However, the past couple months QuickTime stops recording before I stop. Three times now it has even caused my Macbook to crash and restart. I’m not super happy with QT at the moment. During the times it starts recording and then stops itself, it won’t let me save the video either os close the program without Force Quit.

    Any thoughts on how to prevent this? Is there another way to record a short video based on screen capture?

  52. I feel your pain. I’ve had my MacBook for three years now and still don’t love it.

    To find the applications folder, hover over your bar that has internet browsers, iPages, iPhoto, etc.
    Go to the blue folder with a big A on it. Click on it and scroll down until you see the QuickTime logo which I believe is a bright blue Q. Click on that to open it so it appears in the above mentioned navigation bar.

    Once it’s open and active, go to FILE at the top of the page and choose SCREEN RECORDING (or whatever else you want it to do.)

    Good luck!

  53. You’re right andrewi, this thing is magic. It’s amazing that Apple continues to slip this great features in without being noticed.

  61. I can use it, but the problem is it records my voice as well!!! how can I capture a film on my screen while the ambiant noise is stopped?

  63. WHAT?! I SEARCHED FOR HOURS TO FIN SOMETHING LIKE THIS AND HERE IT WAS ALL ALONG!!?!?!?!?!??! Thanks for bringing this up!

  65. Does it record sound also? I am at work and can’t try it right now but need to do a screen recording with my voice over for a project.

  67. This is amazing! I searched for days, to be honest, because i wanted to make some videos on mine craft. <3

  68. Someone use this with Yosemite? Cuz i dont get any sound in it; tried to capture a you tube video and the image is great but there is no way i can get sound, so if some can help me out with this…

  74. Ok. im getting a macbook pro for christmas, and i was gonna do a christmas animal jam video. and i was thinking: “I do need a camera for recording, but itll turn out bad 🙁 ” untill i saw this. You have really helped me out. Thank you 😀 .

  88. Thanks for sharing this hidden gem! Just what I needed to make a simple demo to a friend. Dead simple – and free!

  97. Not sure if serious or trolling. I would disagree most of the time but here looks like a rare example.

  101. Hi there
    This is great and free BUT it records in 4:3 aspect ratio. And many of you will face an issue after your first upload to youtube (if thats what youre doing)
    If you are using iMovie 10.7/higher to edit that movie, you will have to use the crop tool to fill and live with 2 black bars on the side. Otherwise if you fit the screen, it will cut off the difference (top and bottom), since iMovie is now 16:9 aspect ratio. There is no known work around for this issue. This usually sucks if you are going to screen capture stuff from your ipad/iphone and post it to youtube.

  102. QuickTime is a convenient and nice screen
    recorder for Mac indeed. But I found that the video is in MOV file which couldn’t
    be played on my Samsung phone. I believe that there’re a number of people share
    the same problem with me. This post will be more instructive if the author can
    offer more choices for users. I happened to read an article which illustrates
    some other screen
    recorder for Mac. Maybe you will feel these
    tools workable as well. More info can be read here.

    http://www.apowersoft.com/record-video-on-imac.html

  103. Thanks for the nice explanation. Now does anyone know if it is possible to hide the mouse pointer from the recording? Best would be to see it while recording but not having it show up in the resulting video. In case anybody is wondering why I need this specific behaviour, it is for creating a gameplay video for an app that I am running on an emulator. And an app video with a mousepointer might look strange.

  107. You can easily use a free video converter like Handbrake or Miro to convert to other video formats.

  108. Great tool… however, it doesn’t record audio… it records audio from your speakers which is being picked up by your mic. It needs some work.

  111. where is it i can’t find it on my version of quicklime player 7? doesn’t show screen recorder and if i click on the others it says i have to buy the pro version

  112. Finally I
    found your amazing blog. It
    is truly a great and helpful piece of information. I am satisfied that you
    simply shared this useful information with us. Great job.!! recording app

  117. I would say if you are wanting to record things like long gameplay videos then it is not very good. the longer it records the more memory it takes up to run, slowly but surely crashing your mac! then when you restart it gives you the first 15 mins it autosaved. Cannot solve this issue as there are no options to do so, it’s ok for small videos I will give it that.

  120. Can u guys help me record on a PC mac recorder? Cuz I can’t find somewhere where I can!

  125. Okay question: does it just record your screen or can it record audio from external devices too?

  128. open quick time once its open it is blank yes but hover mouse over the quick time app in bottom dock an two finger click the options will show up for the app and screen record make new movie ect , click on screen record ,which will open the record box like in this post ,if want audio ,click the arrow for audio options,and it will show you there the options to capture audio ,even apps like ,boom2device will show up for audio capture if you have it installed

  136. yeah i agree, andrewi is a d-bag, people are expressing there shock it wasn’t there stop being a female body part beginning with T :’D

  139. I have tried using this recorder. What about sound, or is my system in need of some serious cleaning?

  140. go to Applications in your Finder window and look for QuickTime with the big blue “Q”

  143. Forgive me. This is a delayed response. Thank you Jimmy for trying to help me. Yes the livestream is on my screen. I demoed telestream and it seemed to work ok.

  144. MplayerX is a primary source of malware on Mac by the way. Prepare yourself for many random and annoying pop-up tabs.

  148. Very useful, especially if one wants to use a camera (in my case a USB microscope) with audio. Photo Booth recognizes the camera, and QT can then record the the Photo Booth window together with the audio. Quick and easy. The result can then be saved and edited in iMovie. (It would certainly be preferable if iMovie would recognize the camera directly, but QT gives a workaround.)

  152. please someone help me
    i just got my mac today so I’m a newbie
    I’m on the quicktime player now what do i do?

  155. I want to say thanks for sharing. I have looked at googlechrome extensions, and other downloads, they all want something, be it money, or advertising, and I had it here hiding from me all along. Thanks for sharing, very much appreciated, and to all the smart asses that are commenting shit, like Andrewi. youre just looking like complete dickheads. or closer to f#ckwits.

  156. You seriously deserve an award for this! Been trying, for the past 2 days to get my PowerPoint slide to appear in iMovie with the animations to use as an intro for my YouTube vids. THIS SAVED ME! No sound, but that’s an easy fix with editing! THANKS SOOOO MUCH!!!

  166. The best thing about this screen capture to video is it fills disk space extremely efficiently. For example, I just made a 1 minute video and it used 15M of disk. The other video program on my computer only used 2M, lame.

  170. Thank you, thank you! I searched for a screen movie capture thingy for mac, for quite a while, then discovered you! If you had a one time option to contribute, I’d gladly send $5.

  179. Never knew about this, love it after first try. Great for people who don’t plan on keeping their computer for long. Thanks for telling us!

  180. Hi guys, using this for work at the moment and its nice and simple to use. Unfortunately this works both ways, I’m using a Saffire interface with one xlr input, it doesn’t seem like quicktime gives you an option for inputting in stereo or mono, and its defaulting to stereo, sending my microphone voiceover into the left channel only. Would anyone be able to suggest a quick fix for this in quicktime, or do I need some more sophisticated software? Its a shame if quicktime lacks this because its great otherwise! any input and advice would be awesome thanks guys.

  181. Not both at the same time, as far as I can see. And what a pity Apple didn’t think of allowing the recording to be stopped by pressing particular keys, rather than having to move the cursor to the menubar, which will be unnecessary included in the video as a result.

  182. anyway to do this without using your mic? Because the mic picks up on all the outside sounds as well.My only source of input is my internal mic…anyway to change that on a mac?

  183. I found this article on a search and I am grateful I did! I learned something new. Thank you!

  184. Normal comment that most people would make and stop there: “It was on the front page of the Quicktime X release, which was on the front page of the Snow Leopard release.”

    Being a dick: “I fail to see how it was slipped in. They aren’t automagically being sneaky just because you didn’t notice.”

    He’s being a dick because he’s being condescending.

  185. No he’s not. He was being blunt. There’s a huge difference.

    Just because people didn’t know, doesn’t mean they’re being sneaky.

    He’s absolutely right.

  186. No, he was being a dick. I’m not the only one who interpreted his response in this way. Several others commented feeling the same.

    “It was on the front page of the Quicktime X release, which was on the front page of the Snow Leopard release.”

    This is being blunt. Right to the point, and giving information. Being “blunt” means being “straightforward” which he did with his first sentence.

    “I fail to see how it was slipped in. They aren’t automagically being sneaky just because you didn’t notice.”

    This is editorializing. This wasn’t a necessary phrase. The original comment didn’t even say that Apple was being sneaky, just that Apple should make it more obvious.

  188. No, Quicktime require usb. All you need is Apowersoft iPhone Recorder and its free fully. No usb need. Just bluetooth and airplay will be ready. NICE! Try it!

  191. IKR THIS IS AMAZING
    MY FRIENDS WANT TO RECORD MINECRAFT AND I DON”T HAVE A RECORDING SOFTWARE THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH XDDDDDDD

  193. A little bit off track but is there a way I can record myself using the built in camera while watching something in iMovie. I would like to commentate on a scene from a film using sign language while watching the film so the timing is right. Any suggestions?

  200. OMG thank you for this article! I have been using mac for 2 years – well it’s time to discover it’s features, lol.

  201. so many ios 10 users are troubling to install airshou screen recorder app on iOS 10 latest version without jailbreak.. so one of my friends has written a step by step guide on Install AirShou iOS 10.1.1 No Jailbreak required.

  205. Hi Dave, When we swiped to the next screen (swipe between full screen apps), does the first screen still recording on the cropped section?

  209. Valuable information. Thanks for the sharing. It’s quick and easy to screencast with QuickTime, but it doesn’t offer any advanced features such as highlight effects and multiple recording formats with more advanced solutions like Acethinker Screen Grabber Pro does.

  210. Quicktime may be built-in but Acethinker Screen Grabber pro is much better for performance and it generates smaller file sizes.

  218. I’m triggered. Ive been trying to find something I can make speed paints with THEN HERE THIS IS JUST SETTING WAITING FOR ME TO SEE

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