To stop a screen recording on a Mac, click the Stop button in the menu bar (a circle with a square inside) or press ⌃⌘Esc. Both work for recordings started with ⇧⌘5 or QuickTime Player. The video then appears as a thumbnail in the corner of the screen and is saved to your Desktop.
If you can't see the Stop button, the keyboard shortcut still works. The rest of this guide covers every way to stop, and what to do when a recording won't end.
3 ways to stop a screen recording on Mac
| Method | How | Works when the menu bar is hidden |
|---|---|---|
| Menu bar | Click the Stop button at the top of the screen | No |
| Keyboard | Press ⌃⌘Esc (Control-Command-Escape) | Yes |
| Toolbar | Press ⇧⌘5, then click Stop Screen Recording | Yes |
1. The Stop button in the menu bar
While you record, a Stop button appears in the menu bar, near the clock and the Control Center icon. Click it once. The recording ends and its thumbnail slides into the bottom-right corner.
2. The keyboard shortcut: ⌃⌘Esc
Press ⌃⌘Esc: hold Control and Command, then press Escape. This is the most reliable way, because it doesn't depend on seeing anything on screen. It's also clean: your pointer doesn't travel up to the menu bar at the end of the video.
3. The Screenshot toolbar
Press ⇧⌘5 while a recording is running. The toolbar opens with a Stop Screen Recording button. Click it.
Stopping a recording in QuickTime Player
If you started from QuickTime Player with File > New Screen Recording, stop the same way: the Stop button in the menu bar or ⌃⌘Esc. QuickTime then opens the recording in a window. Save it with File > Save, or close the window and choose where to keep it.
If you were recording audio or video only, with File > New Audio Recording or New Movie Recording, stop with the round button in QuickTime's own window instead.
When the Stop button is missing
The button lives in the menu bar, so it disappears whenever the menu bar does:
- A full-screen app: the menu bar hides. Move the pointer to the top edge of the screen to show it, or just press ⌃⌘Esc.
- The notch on MacBook Pro and Air: with many menu bar icons, some are pushed behind the notch and can't be seen. The shortcut still works. To get space back, hide some menu bar icons in System Settings > Control Center.
- Automatically hide the menu bar is turned on in System Settings > Control Center. Move the pointer to the top, or use the shortcut.
When a screen recording won't stop
Rare, but it happens, usually with a very long recording or a nearly full disk.
- Press ⌃⌘Esc and give it a few seconds. Long recordings take a moment to write to disk.
- Press ⇧⌘5 and click Stop Screen Recording.
- Check your free space in System Settings > General > Storage. A recording can't be saved to a full disk.
- As a last resort, open Activity Monitor, search for screencaptureui, select it and click Stop (the X button). This ends the Screenshot app, and the recording may be lost, so use it only when nothing else works.
If recordings fail often, screen recording not working on Mac walks through ten fixes, from permissions to storage.
Don't stop by closing the lid
Closing a MacBook's lid, logging out or shutting down doesn't stop a recording cleanly. The Mac goes to sleep first, and the file may be cut short or not saved at all. Stop the recording, wait for the thumbnail, then close the lid.
After you stop: find, trim and keep the recording
- Find it: the recording is on your Desktop, named Screen Recording with the date and time, unless you chose another folder under Options in the ⇧⌘5 toolbar.
- Trim the ends: click the thumbnail and drag the yellow handles, or open the file in QuickTime and press ⌘T. More in how to trim a screen recording on Mac.
- Start again: the full process, from choosing what to record to sharing it, is in how to screen record on Mac.
Stopping in Smooth Recorder
In Smooth Recorder, you stop from the pill in the notch at the top of the screen, and the menu bar icon shows a red dot and the elapsed time while you record, so you always know it's running. When you stop, the recording opens in Studio already edited, with zooms on your clicks and one smooth cursor glide.