How to Record Your Screen on a Mac: Every Method (2026)

Recording your screen on a Mac, or making a screencast, takes two clicks with the tools Apple ships. Here are the steps, per Apple's guide:

1. Press Shift+Command+5.
2. Click Record Entire Screen, Record Selected Window (macOS Tahoe 26 or later), or Record Selected Portion.
3. Optional: click Options to pick a microphone, turn on Include System Audio (macOS 27 or later), set a timer, or choose where to save.
4. Click Record.
5. To stop, click the Stop button in the menu bar or press Command+Control+Esc. The .mov file lands on your desktop.

TL;DR

• Quick clip or bug report: Cmd+Shift+5. Nothing to install.
• Demos and tutorials that need to look finished (zooms, cursor, background, webcam, captions): ZoomCap, $29 once or free to try in the browser.
• Scripted raw capture: screencapture -v in Terminal.
• If you stream or need multi-source scenes: OBS Studio, free.
• System audio is built in only on macOS 27 and later; older versions need a workaround.

Who this is for

Anyone recording a Mac screen in 2026: a developer attaching a clip to a bug report, a support agent showing a customer where a setting lives, a teacher recording a lesson, a founder recording a product demo. We cover the built-in tools first, because for most jobs they are enough, then the free and paid apps for when they aren't.

Where this comes from: the built-in steps follow Apple's own guide and the OBS steps follow OBS's documentation. ZoomCap details come from our own product. Details for the other apps (prices, platforms, auto zoom) come from each vendor's own site or GitHub page, checked September 2026; we did not hands-on test the paid Mac apps. Our testing method has the details.

Built-in options at a glance

Three ways to record come with every Mac and cost nothing. The rows below them are the two kinds of app people install when those aren't enough.

Option 1: Cmd+Shift+5, the Screenshot toolbar

Best for: bug reports, quick "here's what I mean" clips, anything internal. It's already on your Mac and takes two clicks. The steps are at the top of this page. The Options menu is where the useful settings live:

• Microphone: pick one to record your voice.
• Include System Audio: record the sound your Mac plays (macOS 27 Golden Gate or later only).
• Show Mouse Clicks: draws a black circle around the pointer on each click, which helps viewers follow along.
• Timer: a 5 or 10 second countdown before recording starts.
• Save to: Desktop by default.
• Capture format (macOS 26 or later, on supported Macs): SDR records H.264 and is the most compatible; HDR records HEVC. Pick SDR for anything you'll share.

Recording one window: on macOS Tahoe 26 or later, click Record Selected Window, then click the window. On earlier versions, use Record Selected Portion and drag the frame around the window, or use OBS's window capture. A window records sharper than a full Retina display, because less gets scaled down later.

Its limits: you get a raw .mov with no zoom, no cursor treatment and no editing beyond a trim. Convert it to MP4 before sending it to a client or uploading it anywhere picky (we compare formats in MP4 vs MOV vs WebM). Before macOS 27 it can't capture system audio at all; we cover exactly what it records on each version in does Cmd+Shift+5 record audio?

Option 2: QuickTime Player

Best for: webcam clips and quick trims. In QuickTime Player, choose File → New Screen Recording, or press Control+Command+N. On current macOS this opens the same Screenshot toolbar as Cmd+Shift+5, with the same options and limits. Open the finished file in QuickTime and use Edit → Trim to cut the start and end.

The one extra: File → New Movie Recording records your webcam. Run it alongside a screen recording and you have a crude face-cam setup. If you need the app's sound on macOS 26 or earlier, QuickTime won't get it for you; our guide to recording a Mac screen with system audio covers the free workarounds.

Option 3: The terminal, with screencapture

Best for: scripted or remote captures. macOS ships a command-line recorder that's easy to miss. Run screencapture -v recording.mov and press a key in that terminal to stop. Useful flags, from the screencapture manual:

For example, screencapture -V 60 -g -k demo.mov records one minute with your mic and visible clicks. It's bare-bones otherwise. If your demo lives entirely in a terminal, a text-based recorder is often better; see asciinema, VHS and real video for terminal demos.

Option 4: OBS Studio, free and built for streaming

Best for: streams, webcam overlays and long sessions. OBS Studio is free, open source and supports macOS 12 or later. It gives you scenes, window and display capture, webcam overlays, and on macOS 13 or later system audio without any extra driver.

1. Download OBS from obsproject.com and run the auto-configuration wizard (choose “optimize for recording”).
2. Under Sources, click + and add macOS Screen Capture. Pick a display, a window or an application.
3. Add a Video Capture Device source for your webcam and drag it into a corner.
4. Allow OBS under Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording, and Camera and Microphone, then restart it.
5. In Settings → Output, check the recording format (MP4 plays almost everywhere), then click Start Recording.

The honest downside: OBS is a broadcast studio, not a demo tool. You configure scenes, sources and audio before you record, and what comes out is a flat capture with no zooms, cursor treatment or background. For a 40-second product demo, the setup often takes longer than the recording. We compared the two in OBS vs ZoomCap.

Option 5: ZoomCap, for demo videos

Best for: product demos, launch videos, tutorials people finish. Everything above gives you a faithful, flat capture. That's fine until the recording has a job to do. Then tiny text, a lost cursor and no visual focus start to matter (we listed the usual failures in why screen recordings look blurry or bad).

A demo recorder records the screen and your clicks, then uses them to add zooms, a smoother cursor and a background. That's what ZoomCap does, and it's what we recommend for any Mac recording with an audience. How it works and what it costs are in “Why ZoomCap on a Mac” below the comparison table.

Screen recorders for Mac compared, free and paid

If the built-in recorder isn't enough, these are the apps worth a look. Prices were read from each vendor's site in September 2026; we did not hands-on test the paid ones. “Free finished export” means whether you can export a video without paying.

Why ZoomCap on a Mac

We make ZoomCap, so weigh this accordingly. On macOS 15 or later you start it with one terminal command, npx zoomcap record (Node 18+, part of the paid plans). It records screen, system audio and mic at 60fps with no extra audio driver, puts a ● REC item in the menu bar, and zooms where you click and where you type. Stop with q or ⌃⌥S. The editor then opens in your browser with the zooms already placed, for backgrounds, padding, captions, a webcam bubble and 9:16 or 1:1 versions, and exports an MP4 up to 4K. No terminal? The free browser recorder works in Chrome or Edge with nothing to install, and there you add zooms with a click.

It costs $29 once (or $12.49/month), with a free plan of 2 watermarked exports a month. Over three years that's $29 against $324 for Screen Studio's yearly plan, a difference of $295. Of the paid recorders we price-checked, Glidesmith (Mac only) matches that $29 one-time price, and OBS, OpenScreen and Recordly cost nothing. Full plan details are on the pricing page.

On safety: recordings are edited and exported on your own computer and never uploaded to us. The CLI hands the file to the browser editor over localhost, and keystrokes are logged as timing only, never which keys. The security page shows the data flow. Payments go through Dodo Payments, and if it doesn't work for you and we can't fix it, there's a 14-day refund.

Its real limits: no motion blur, no hosted share links, speed changes apply to the whole video (1×, 1.5× or 2×), automatic zoom needs the CLI's click data, and the CLI records the whole display (no window-only capture yet). On macOS 14 and older the CLI falls back to video only. The flags and setup are in the docs.

When Screen Studio fits better

If you need motion blur, hosted share links or recording an iOS device plugged into your Mac, Screen Studio has them, according to its site (checked September 2026). It runs on macOS only (Ventura 13.1 or later), costs $29 a month or $108 a year, no longer sells a lifetime licence to new buyers, and its terms say fees are non-refundable. Our Screen Studio pricing breakdown has the plan details.

When a free app fits better

If you stream or run multi-source scenes for hours, OBS is built for that and costs nothing. If your budget is exactly $0 and you want automatic zoom with no watermark, OpenScreen and Recordly are open source. Tight Studio's free plan exports without a watermark on Apple Silicon Macs. If you need a talking-head update sent as a link, Loom. We go deeper in Screen Studio alternatives.

When not to use ZoomCap

If you need a share link with viewer analytics, motion blur or iOS device recording, or you stream long multi-source sessions, ZoomCap isn't built for that. And if the clip is a quick internal bug report, Cmd+Shift+5 is already on your Mac.

Which one should you use?

• Demo, tutorial or launch video that has to look finished: ZoomCap. One command, zooms on clicks and typing, $29 once. See how to record a product demo for the script.
• Tutorial with your face on camera: ZoomCap's webcam overlay; see recording your screen and webcam on a Mac.
• Bug report or quick internal clip: Cmd+Shift+5. Already installed, and fast. Our bug report video guide has a template.
• Recording with app or browser sound: ZoomCap's CLI on macOS 15+, or Cmd+Shift+5 on macOS 27.
• If you stream or record long multi-source sessions: OBS.
• Terminal-only demo for docs: asciinema or VHS.
• If your budget is exactly $0 and you want automatic zoom: OpenScreen or Recordly.

Before you hit record

Three habits improve a recording more than any tool switch: make text bigger (18–20px in editors, 125–150% browser zoom), turn on Do Not Disturb, and record a window rather than the whole display. And check what's on screen: passwords, API keys, customer data, open DMs and personal tabs are all easy to capture by accident and hard to remove afterwards.

• Close or hide every app you don't need; hide the Dock if it isn't part of the demo.
• Use a clean browser profile with no personal bookmarks or extensions showing.
• Bump the pointer size under System Settings → Accessibility → Display.
• Record five seconds and play it back with headphones before the real take.
• Check free disk space: Retina recordings grow fast.

Common problems

• Recording is black or the app won't start recording: allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording, then reopen the app. Some apps also block recording of protected video, which shows up as a black area or missing sound.
• No sound: the Microphone option is set to None, or you expected system audio on macOS 26 or earlier.
• File won't play somewhere else: if you recorded HDR, the file is HEVC, which some players and sites handle badly. Switch Capture Format to SDR (Apple labels it Most Compatible), or convert to H.264 MP4.
• Text is unreadable in the video: you recorded a big display and it was scaled down. Record a window, bump the font size, or zoom in on the action.
• How long can it record? The built-in recorder doesn't advertise a time limit; the practical limit is free disk space. Check it before recording anything over an hour, or do a short test first.
• The file is huge: trim it first, then compress it once. Our free video compressor runs in your browser.

When a screen recording isn't the right tool

A screenshot with an arrow is faster to make and faster to read when the point is "this button, here." Written steps beat video for anything people will follow line by line, like install commands. And if you need back-and-forth, a live screen share is quicker than trading recordings. Record when the sequence is the point.

Frequently asked questions

Record your next demo with ZoomCap

Open the free browser recorder and record now, with no download and no card. When you want automatic zoom from the CLI and exports without the watermark, it's $29 once on the pricing page.