How to Screen Record With Webcam on Mac (Free and Paid Ways)

To screen record with your webcam on a Mac for free, open QuickTime Player, choose File > New Movie Recording to show your camera, choose View > Float on Top, and shrink that window into a corner. Then press ⇧⌘5 and record the screen as usual: your face is captured because its window is on screen. For a movable bubble, a proper picture-in-picture layout or a share link, use an app such as OBS Studio, Loom or Smooth Recorder.

The built-in ⇧⌘5 toolbar has no camera option of its own, on macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe or macOS 27 Golden Gate.

Ways to record your screen and webcam together

Prices as of September 2026, from Loom's pricing page and our own. Which one fits:

• A one-off recording: QuickTime is free and already on your Mac.
• Talking over slides on a live call: Presenter Overlay.
• A custom layout or a livestream: OBS.
• A quick message your team watches in the browser: Loom.
• A polished tutorial or demo you edit before sharing: a recorder with a separate camera track, such as Smooth Recorder.

The free way: QuickTime camera window + ⇧⌘5

This works on every recent macOS version. QuickTime shows a live camera preview, and you leave it floating over everything else while you record the screen.

1. Open QuickTime Player from your Applications folder.
2. Choose File > New Movie Recording. A window with your camera appears. Don't click its record button: you only need the preview.
3. Click the arrow next to the record button to choose the Camera, if you have more than one, such as an iPhone with Continuity Camera.
4. Choose View > Float on Top, so the camera stays above other windows while you click around.
5. Drag a corner of the window to make it small, then move it to a corner of the screen where it won't cover anything important.
6. Press ⇧⌘5, choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion, and include the camera window in the frame.
7. Click Options and choose your Microphone. Click Record.
8. Stop with the Stop button in the menu bar or ⌃⌘Esc.

Apple's QuickTime guide covers the camera and microphone menu, and the screen recording guide covers the rest.

The trade-offs: the camera is burned into the screen video, so you can't move it or take it out later. It's a rectangle, not a round bubble. QuickTime's controls appear over the camera when your pointer is on it, so keep the pointer away. And you get exactly one take, with no editing beyond a trim.

What about Photo Booth?

Photo Booth also shows a live camera, and you can record the screen with its window visible. But Photo Booth has no Float on Top, so the camera disappears behind whatever window you click. QuickTime is the better free option.

Presenter Overlay (Apple silicon, video calls)

Presenter Overlay is Apple's built-in way to put yourself in front of a shared screen. Apple says it requires macOS Sonoma 14 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon. There are two styles: Large keeps you prominent with the shared screen framed next to you, and Small shows your face in a movable bubble.

1. Start a call in a video app and share your screen.
2. Click the Video or screen-sharing menu in the menu bar.
3. Under Presenter Overlay, choose Small or Large.

It's built for video calls. Apple's Mac guide says that if you don't see Presenter Overlay as an option, the app you're using doesn't support it, and Apple doesn't list the Screenshot toolbar or QuickTime screen recording. So it's the right tool for presenting live in FaceTime or a meeting app, but not a way to make a recording file on its own. If you want a recording, use one of the other methods here.

OBS Studio: a free picture-in-picture layout

OBS Studio is free and open source. You build a scene from sources, so the camera can go anywhere, at any size, with any crop.

1. Click + under Sources and add macOS Screen Capture. Set Method to Display Capture for the whole screen, or Window Capture for one window.
2. Click + again and add Video Capture Device. Choose your camera.
3. Drag the camera source into a corner and resize it. Hold Option while dragging an edge to crop it.
4. Check your mic under Audio Mixer. Your Mac's own sound comes through the screen capture source on macOS 13 and later.
5. Click Start Recording, and Stop Recording when you're done.

OBS gives you the most control for free, and it's the usual choice if you also stream. The cost is setup time: there's no automatic polish, and the camera layout is decided before you record unless you set up separate recordings yourself.

Loom: a camera bubble and a share link

Loom's Mac app records your screen and camera together, with a bubble you can drag anywhere on screen. It snaps to corners and edges, comes in five sizes, and can be a squircle, a circle, or a landscape or portrait rectangle. When you stop, you get a link to copy and share.

It's built for quick video messages your team watches in a browser, with comments and reactions. As of September 2026, the free Starter plan allows 25 videos per person, up to 5 minutes each. Business is $18 a month or $180 a year per user. If you'd rather keep files on your Mac, see Loom alternatives for Mac and Smooth Recorder vs Loom.

Smooth Recorder: Camera chip and a layout you can change later

Smooth Recorder is our Mac app, so we're biased. It treats the camera as its own track, which is the main difference from the methods above.

1. Press ⌥1 and pick an area, a window or the whole screen.
2. On the bar under your selection, click the Camera chip and choose a camera. It's off by default. Set the Microphone chip too; a level meter moves when it hears you. Mac sound is on by default. The bar shows which camera and microphone it will use, and says Not connected if one is unplugged.
3. Press R to record. A small round preview shows what your camera sees. That preview isn't captured in the screen video. The camera records at 1080p where your camera supports it.
4. Stop from the pill in the notch at the top of the screen.

Your camera is saved separately from the screen, so in Studio's Camera section you pick one of six layouts after the fact:

• Screen hides the camera and shows only the recording.
• Camera shows just your camera, filling the frame.
• Bubble floats a rounded square over the recording. Pick a corner and set the Size, or drag it anywhere on the video.
• Circle is a round bubble instead of a square one.
• Portrait is an upright 3:4 camera over the recording.
• Split puts the camera beside the recording instead of over it, with its own width and spacing and a choice of Fill or Fit.
• Mirror flips the camera left to right.

To cut to your face for an intro, an aside or a sign-off, move the playhead there and choose Show Only Camera at Playhead. Your camera fills the frame for that moment, then the screen comes back. Annotations and keystrokes stay visible over the camera while it fills the frame.

Studio also turns your clicks into zooms, smooths the cursor, adds captions transcribed on your Mac, and trims pauses. Export MP4 or MOV up to 60 fps, or reframe for 9:16, 1:1 or 4:5. It runs on macOS 15 and later and costs $19 once during early access (pricing).

Tips: look and sound better on camera

You don't need new gear. A few minutes of setup does most of the work.

Lighting

• Face your light. Sit facing a window or a lamp, not with one behind you. A bright window behind you turns your face into a silhouette.
• Soft beats bright. Daylight through a window, or a lamp bounced off a wall, is kinder than a bare bulb.
• Match your screen. If your face looks blue, your monitor is the main light. Add a lamp in front, or lower the screen brightness a little.

Framing

• Camera at eye level. Raise the laptop on a few books. Looking down into the camera is rarely flattering.
• Eyes about a third from the top of the camera frame, with a little space above your head.
• Keep the bubble out of the way. Put it in the corner your content uses least, usually bottom right. Check before you record that it doesn't cover a button you'll click.
• Look at the lens when you speak to the viewer, not at your own preview.
• Use your iPhone. Its camera is usually sharper than a laptop's. With Continuity Camera, an iPhone XR or later with iOS 16 or later works as a webcam for a Mac running macOS Ventura 13 or later.

Microphone

• Any external mic beats the laptop mic if it's close to your mouth. A USB mic or a wired headset mic is a big step up.
• Avoid recording through AirPods. When a Bluetooth headset's mic is in use, macOS lowers its playback quality, so pick the Mac's built-in mic or a USB mic as the input and keep the AirPods for listening.
• Wear headphones if your Mac's sound is playing, so your mic doesn't pick it up as echo.
• Do a 10-second test and play it back before the real take.

For everything on the sound side, see how to screen record on Mac with audio.

Troubleshooting

The webcam is black or says no camera. Open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera, turn the app on, and reopen it. Quit other apps that might be using the camera, such as a video call.

The camera window isn't in my recording. You probably used Record Selected Window, which records only one window. Record the full screen or a portion that includes the camera window.

The camera window disappears when I click another app. In QuickTime, check View > Float on Top. Photo Booth can't float, so switch to QuickTime.

The screen is recorded but not the camera, in an app. Check that the camera is selected in the app before you press record. In Smooth Recorder, that's the Camera chip, which is off by default.

My face looks mirrored, or text behind me reads backward. Many previews mirror you, like a mirror does. In Smooth Recorder, toggle Mirror in Studio's Camera section.

Presenter Overlay doesn't appear. It needs a Mac with Apple silicon, macOS Sonoma 14 or later, and an app that supports it, while you're sharing your screen.

The video has echo or no voice. Wear headphones, and check that the right microphone is chosen in Options in ⇧⌘5, or in your app.

Once you're happy with how you look and sound, the rest is the script. See how to make a product demo video, or how to record a presentation on Mac if you're talking over slides.