To screen record on a Mac, press ⇧⌘5, choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion (or, on macOS 26 Tahoe and later, Record Selected Window), and click Record. To stop, click the Stop button in the menu bar or press ⌃⌘Esc. The video is saved to your Desktop as a .mov file. Everything you need is built in, and it's free.
This guide covers the whole job: recording, sound, stopping, finding the file, trimming it and making it look good.
The quick answer
| You want to | Do this |
|---|---|
| Record the whole screen | ⇧⌘5 > Record Entire Screen > Record |
| Record part of the screen | ⇧⌘5 > Record Selected Portion, drag the frame, Record |
| Record one window | ⇧⌘5 > Record Selected Window (macOS 26 and later) |
| Record your voice too | ⇧⌘5 > Options > choose a microphone |
| Stop | Stop button in the menu bar, or ⌃⌘Esc |
| Find the video | Your Desktop, unless you chose another folder |
| Trim the ends | Click the thumbnail, or open it in QuickTime and press ⌘T |
How to screen record on Mac with ⇧⌘5
The Screenshot toolbar has been part of macOS since Mojave, and it's the fastest way to record.
- Press ⇧⌘5. A toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen.
- Choose what to record:
- Record Entire Screen: everything on one display. With more than one display, click the screen you want.
- Record Selected Portion: drag the frame around the area you want.
- Record Selected Window (macOS 26 Tahoe and later): click the window.
- Click Options to set the microphone, timer and save location (see below).
- Click Record.
- When you're done, click the Stop button in the menu bar, or press ⌃⌘Esc.
A thumbnail slides into the corner of the screen for a few seconds. Click it to trim or share the video. Leave it, and the recording is saved.
The options worth setting
Click Options in the toolbar before you record:
- Save to: the Desktop by default. Pick Documents, another folder, or open the video straight in QuickTime.
- Timer: none, 5 or 10 seconds, so you can get the right window in front first.
- Microphone: None records a silent video. Choose the built-in microphone or a USB mic to narrate.
- Show Floating Thumbnail: turn it off if you don't want the preview in the corner.
- Remember Last Selection: keeps the same area for next time.
- Show Mouse Clicks: draws a black circle around the pointer when you click, so viewers can follow along.
On macOS 26 and later, supported Macs also show Capture Format. SDR (Most Compatible) records H.264, which plays everywhere. Pick it if you're not sure.
How to screen record on Mac with QuickTime
Open QuickTime Player (in Applications) and choose File > New Screen Recording, or press ⌃⌘N. On current macOS versions this opens the same Screenshot toolbar as ⇧⌘5, so the choices are identical.
The difference comes after you stop: QuickTime opens the recording, ready to trim with Edit > Trim (⌘T). If you always trim, starting from QuickTime saves a step.
How to screen record on Mac with sound
The built-in recorder records your voice if you choose a microphone under Options. Recording your Mac's own sound, such as a video playing in a browser or an app's alerts, depends on your macOS version:
- macOS 27 Golden Gate and later: choose Include System Audio under Options.
- macOS 15 Sequoia and macOS 26 Tahoe: the built-in tools record a microphone only. You need a recorder app that captures system audio, or a free virtual audio device such as BlackHole.
We cover every option, including the BlackHole setup and fixes for silent videos, in how to screen record on Mac with audio.
How to screen record one window on Mac
On macOS 26 Tahoe and later, press ⇧⌘5, choose Record Selected Window and click the window. The video shows only that window, even if you move other windows over it.
On macOS 15 Sequoia there's no window option, so record a selected portion around the window instead, or use an app that records windows. Menus and popovers are separate windows in macOS, so they can go missing from a window recording. How to screen record a window on Mac explains why and how to avoid it.
How to stop a screen recording on Mac
Click the Stop button (a circle with a square) in the menu bar, or press ⌃⌘Esc. If you can't see the button, for example in a full-screen app or behind the notch, the keyboard shortcut still works, and so does pressing ⇧⌘5 and clicking Stop Screen Recording in the toolbar.
Don't close the lid or log out to stop. The recording may not be saved. More ways, and what to do when it won't stop: how to stop screen recording on Mac.
Where screen recordings are saved
By default, on your Desktop, named Screen Recording followed by the date and time, as a .mov file. If it isn't there:
- Press ⇧⌘5, click Options and check Save to. The last folder you picked is used every time.
- In Finder, search for Screen Recording and sort by date.
- If you click the thumbnail and then close it, the edit window decides where the file goes. Check Recents in Finder.
Trim, compress and share
- Trim the ends: click the thumbnail right after recording and drag the yellow handles, or open the file in QuickTime and press ⌘T. To cut something out of the middle, see how to trim a screen recording on Mac.
- Make it smaller: screen recordings are big .mov files. Finder's Encode Selected Video Files shrinks them in a few clicks. All the options are in how to compress a screen recording on Mac.
- Turn it into a GIF for docs and chat: how to record a GIF on Mac.
When the built-in recorder isn't enough
⇧⌘5 records exactly what's on screen, and for a quick clip that's all you need. It falls short when the video is for other people:
- Small details: a click on a small button is hard to see in a full-screen 1440p video. You have to zoom in afterward, by hand, in an editor.
- A jumpy cursor: every twitch of the mouse is recorded.
- No captions, and no system audio before macOS 27.
- Plain framing: the recording is the bare screen, with the menu bar, the Dock and your desktop.
That's the gap a screen recorder app fills. In Smooth Recorder, you press ⌥1, pick an area, a window or the screen and press R. It records your screen with your microphone and your Mac's sound, and you stop from the pill in the notch. Studio then opens the recording already edited: every click becomes a zoom on the timeline (each one can be adjusted or removed), the cursor is redrawn as one smooth glide, and there's a background, padding and rounded corners. Captions are transcribed on your Mac in one click, and you can cut the video by deleting words from the transcript.
Other good choices exist too. Screen Studio is a subscription with a similar automatic-zoom approach, and OBS Studio is free and powerful but has no automatic polish. We compare them all in the best screen recorders for Mac.
If screen recording doesn't work
The usual causes:
- The recording button does nothing, or you get a permission message: open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording and turn on the app you're recording with. Quit and reopen it.
- No sound: Microphone is set to None under Options, or the wrong input is chosen.
- A black window in the video: some apps and streaming sites block recording of protected video.
Ten fixes, step by step: screen recording not working on Mac.