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Screen Recording

How to screen record on a Mac

macOS can record your screen without any extra software, from the Screenshot toolbar or from QuickTime Player. Steps for both follow Apple's How to record the screen on Mac as of September 2026. A dedicated recorder adds what they leave out, such as transcript editing, captions, and a camera.

Option 1. The Screenshot toolbar (built in)

  1. Press Shift-Command-5.
  2. In the toolbar, choose Record Entire Screen, Record Selected Window, or Record Selected Portion.
  3. To capture your voice, click Options and select a microphone. In macOS 27 or later, also choose Include System Audio to capture the sound your Mac plays.
  4. Click Record.
  5. To stop, click the stop button in the menu bar, or press Command-Control-Esc.

The recording is saved to your desktop as a .mov file.

Option 2. QuickTime Player (built in)

  1. Open QuickTime Player.
  2. Choose File > New Screen Recording.
  3. The same Shift-Command-5 toolbar appears. Pick a screen or region and click Record.

QuickTime is the same recorder with a different entry point, and it also handles simple trims. Edit > Trim cuts the start and end of a clip.

What the built-in recorder does not do

The Screenshot toolbar covers quick captures. Its limits matter once you narrate or share.

  • No system audio before macOS 27. In macOS 26, it records your microphone, but not the sound your Mac plays. App audio, alerts, and video playback are silent in the recording.
  • No editing beyond trim. Cutting a mistake out of the middle of a recording means exporting to a video editor.
  • No camera. You cannot include yourself in the recording.
  • No captions or transcript. Accessibility and skimmability are manual work.
  • Sharing a file. You get a multi-hundred-megabyte .mov on your desktop, and converting it to an MP4 and delivering it are up to you.

Option 3. Screen Recording

Screen Recording is a native macOS recorder built for recordings you narrate and share.

  1. Pick full screen, one window, or draw an area. Start from the menu bar or with a keyboard shortcut you choose.
  2. Record with microphone and system audio, on separate tracks, at your display's full resolution and 60 fps. Pause and resume during the take. Add a camera bubble if you want to be on screen.
  3. The recording is transcribed on your Mac as you record. Delete a sentence from the transcript to cut it from the video, and review the suggested filler words and remove them together.
  4. Click Share and choose AirDrop, Messages, or Mail in the macOS share menu to send an MP4 that looks the way the editor shows it, or export an MP4 up to 4K.

Everything runs locally, with no upload, no watermark, and no time limit. Screen Recording requires a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26.4 or later, and it is free. See pricing.

Which recorder to use

  • For a quick clip you do not need to edit, use Shift-Command-5, which is free and already installed.
  • For system audio on its own track, narration you will want to edit, a camera, or captions, use a dedicated recorder. See Screen Recording vs. QuickTime for a direct comparison.