Record your screen in QuickTime Player on Mac Using Screenshot in the QuickTime Player app, you can make a video recording of your computer screen. You can open the recording in the app and save it on.
When it launched the Mojave operating system in 2018, Apple introduced built-in screen recording for the macOS (and came down hard on other screen recording apps). The app, called Screenshot, is an easy-to-use, convenient way to save a video (and audio!) of whatever is happening on your screen. If you have macOS Mojave or a later version, you’ll be able to access this feature.
If you have an older Mac or just haven’t updated your operating system in ages, not to worry – you still have a fairly easy option to screen record with QuickTime. Here are your options.
If you have Mojave, Catalina, or a later MacOS, launching Screenshot is easy.
Press command, shift, and 5 on the keyboard simultaneously. Screenshot will open. At the bottom of your screen, you’ll see the Screenshot control bar. You have options for grabbing a still screenshot or for recording a video. You can tell which options are for video recording, because you’ll see a little circle recording icon on the logo.
Choose whether you want to “Record Entire Screen” or “Record Selected Portion.” If you choose to record only a portion of your screen, a box will show up allowing you to drag and resize the recording window.
Click on “Options” to see what other preferences you can choose. You can set a countdown timer, choose which microphone to use, and decide where to save your recording, for instance.
Once you’ve selected the options you want, it’s time to record. Click the “Record button.” Or, if you’re recording the entire screen, you can simply click anywhere on the screen to start recording. If you’ve chosen to set the timer, you’ll see the timer counting down until the recording begins. If not, recording will begin immediately.
To stop the recording, click on the little square stop button in the upper right corner of the menu bar from the top of your screen. You can also hit command, control, esc to stop recording. Or, hit command, shift, 5 and the screenshot bar will reappear with a stop button you can click. Or if you have a Touch Bar, you'll see a stop button in the upper left.
Once you stop recording, you’ll briefly see a thumbnail of the video in the lower-right corner of your screen. If you swipe the thumbnail to the right or do nothing, your recording will automatically save as a QuickTime movie (MOV) in the location you’ve set.
To move the recording to another location, drag the thumbnail to your desired folder. You can also insert it into an email or document by dragging it into an open window.
For even more options, hit control and click the thumbnail. You can change the location where it’s saved, open the recording in a specific app, or delete the recording.
If you click on the thumbnail when it appears, the recording will open, which will allow you to edit the video. If the thumbnail has already been saved to your desired location, you can open it by clicking on the file and hitting the spacebar. (You can also open it in Quicktime by double clicking on it or right clicking the file and selecting “Open With > QuickTime”)
From the top right of your screen, you’ll see a trim icon. Click that icon to — you guessed it — trim the video.
From the bottom of the screen, drag the editing bar to the desired frame where you want the video to start and end. Preview your edited clip by hitting the Play button.
Trimmed too much? Hit the “Revert” button on the top right of your window. Otherwise, click “Done” and the trimmed clip will either replace the existing clip or save as a new one, whichever you choose.
You can also use QuickTime Player to record your screen, which may be your only option if you have an earlier macOS. Here’s how to use it.
Open the QuickTime Player application.
From the top menu, click on “File.” You can also right click the QuickTime icon if it’s in your Dock. Select “New Screen Recording.”
The “Screen Recording” window will pop up. Next to the red record button, you’ll see an arrow for a dropdown menu list, where you can access options for showing your mouse clicks and choosing which microphone to use for audio. You’ll be able to choose where to save your video later.
To record only a portion of the screen, drag the cursor to resize or move the recording window. To record the entire screen, click anywhere on the screen.
Click the “Start Recording” button in the middle of the window.
Once you’re ready to stop recording, click on the small, square stop button in the top menu bar. You can also hit command, control, esc and recording will stop.
Once you’ve stopped recording, QuickTime will automatically open the video. Hit “File” from the menu to decide where to save the video. The screen recording will be saved as a MOV in that location. (In some operating systems, you may be able to trim or rotate your QuickTime video.)
Find its location, then click on the file to highlight it. Hit the spacebar to open a preview window where you’ll be able to rotate or trim the video using the icons in the top right menu in the window.
Hit the rotate button to rotate the video clip. To save it, simply close the window.
To trim the clip, hit the trim icon. From the bottom of the screen, drag the editing bar to the desired frame where you want the video to start and end. Preview your edited clip by hitting the Play button.
Edited too much? Hit the “Revert” button on the top right of your window. Otherwise, click “Done” and the trimmed clip will either replace the existing clip or save as a new one, whichever you choose.
Screen recording has become one of the best methods to create a footage of your desktop activity with ease. There might be several occasions when you want to capture your gameplay, record streaming videos, or either make some video tutorials or software reviews on your Mac. In case these circumstances arise, a good screen recorder is necessary. Actually, there are lots of screen recording software that are available online. However, most of these tools only offer paid version or have a poor recording quality. In this article, we will introduce the best free screen recorder for Mac.
Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder is a free but in the meantime very comprehensive program that you can use to create high-quality videos. With the help of this tool, you will have an easy access to the experience of using a brilliant screen activity recorder that doesn’t leave any watermark at all on your video after a successful registration. Moreover, this program can capture your desktop activity together with the audio coming from your system and microphone. Overall, there is surely no doubt that Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder is one of the best free screen recorders for Mac available on the market. To utilize this program, you can follow the step-by-step guide below.
Monosnap is another mentionable flexible program specifically developed for Mac OS. You can use this program not only to record your screen but also to take quick screenshots in case you need to use it as a powerful screen recording software. In addition, this tool can be used as a storage software. This program can also offer the option of capturing your webcam, microphone or system sound as you can just set it before you start recording according to your need. Aside from that, the mentioned program can record in 60 fps. This means that you can record smoothly even you are playing high framerate games. If you want to use this free video recording software for Mac, you may follow the steps below.
The next free screen recording tool for Mac that you can rely on according to our list is OBS Studio. This is a free and open source screen recorder that is available on both Windows, Mac, and Linux. The suggested program will allow you to capture real-time activities and create excellent live streaming videos. Moreover, this program has the ability to incorporate footage from your previous recordings or add exiting videos. On the other side, this program is to some degree complicated, in the sense that you can take certain time familiarizing its interface and configurations. Here are the steps on how to use this program.
Another free screen recording software for Mac is Jing by Techsmith that has been very popular on the market for a long time. This program is very simple and easy to use that are the pillars of its popularity. It comes with a movable sun icon that can be placed anywhere on your display, which enables you to easily utilize its function. Aside from screen recording, you can use this tool to take screenshots and edit it right after capturing. However, this program can only record up to 5 minutes. If you are still interested to use this program despite its time limitation, you can follow these steps.
The last recording program for Mac is the Quicktime Player. This is an extensible multimedia framework that can be used not only to record videos but also to play, edit and share videos on Mac. This tool can be characterized with that it has a very intuitive interface which makes it very easy to use even for beginners. This program can create footage of your Mac screen with a web camera or iPhone screen. You can follow the instructions below to capture your screen using this best free screen recorder for Mac.
As you can see, the aforementioned programs are the currently best free Mac screen recording software you can find on the market. You can decide which program you will use for your recording. I highly recommend Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder. Compared to the other programs above, this program can be used to quickly record your screen, audio, as well as a webcam as it is a web-based application. Aside from that, it has an easy interface and even beginners can use it.