How to Record Your Screen on Mac Using Built-in Tools

Whether you need to record a software tutorial for a colleague, capture a recurring bug to send to IT, or save a specific clip from a live virtual presentation, knowing how to record your screen is an essential digital skill.

While there are dozens of expensive, third-party screen recording applications available on the internet, you do not actually need to buy any of them. You can record your screen on a Mac for free using Apple’s incredibly powerful, built-in screenshot utility.

How to Open the Screen Recording Tool

macOS groups its screen recording features together with its standard screenshot tools. To access the recording menu, you must use a simple keyboard shortcut.

1. Press and hold Command + Shift + 5 on your keyboard.
2. A floating toolbar will appear at the bottom of your screen, presenting several icons for capturing images and video.

How to Record the Entire Screen

If you want to capture everything happening on your display, including your menu bar and dock, follow these steps:

1. On the floating toolbar, click the icon that looks like a solid window with a recording circle in the bottom right corner (hovering over it will display Record Entire Screen).
2. Your cursor will turn into a small camera icon.
3. Click anywhere on your screen, or click the Record button on the toolbar, to immediately begin capturing video.

How to Record a Selected Portion of the Screen

If you only want to record a specific application window or a small section of a website, you can restrict the recording area to protect your privacy and hide desktop clutter.

1. On the toolbar, click the icon that looks like a dashed box with a recording circle (hovering over it will display Record Selected Portion).
2. A highlighted box will appear on your screen.
3. Click and drag the edges or corners of the box to resize it around the exact area you wish to record.
4. Click the Record button on the toolbar to begin.

How to Record Audio with Your Video

By default, the Mac screen recorder only captures video. If you want to narrate your tutorial or capture your voice, you must enable your microphone.

1. Press Command + Shift + 5 to open the toolbar.
2. Before clicking Record, click on the Options button.
3. In the menu that appears, look under the Microphone section.
4. Select Built-in Microphone (or choose your external microphone if you have one plugged in).

Note: The native Mac tool does not easily record internal system audio (like the sound coming from a YouTube video playing on your screen) without advanced routing software. It is primarily designed to capture your microphone input.

How to Stop the Recording and Save

Once you have finished capturing your content, stopping the recording is very simple.

1. Look at the menu bar at the very top of your Mac screen (near the Wi-Fi and battery icons).
2. Click the small, black Stop Recording icon (a square inside a circle).
3. Alternatively, you can press Command + Control + Esc.

A thumbnail of your new video will briefly appear in the bottom-right corner of your screen. By default, the high-quality .mov video file is automatically saved directly to your Desktop, ready to be edited or shared.