Record your screen and audio on Mac
Record a screen, a window or an area you drag out, with a webcam bubble, your microphone and sound from other apps. You can also record audio on its own. Recordings are saved to your library, ready for the video editor.
Open the recorder
Section titled “Open the recorder”| From | How |
|---|---|
| Any app | Press ⌃⇧V |
| The menu bar | Video Capture… |
| The gallery | Open the Capture menu and choose Record Video |
| The capture overlay | Click Video, then drag an area or click a window. The recorder opens with that source selected. |
The Record Screen window shows a preview on the left and the options on the right. Switch between Basic (just the essentials) and Advanced (every input and option). Advanced adds Select Area and System Audio.
Recorder options
Section titled “Recorder options”| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Source | The screen or app window to record. |
| Select Area | On: after you press Start, drag out a rectangle to record. Off: record the source selected above. |
| Camera | Adds your webcam. Drag the bubble in the preview to place it. It’s recorded as its own track, so you can adjust it in the editor. |
| Microphone | Pick the device (and channel, on multi-channel interfaces). The bar shows the live level. |
| Optimize mic audio for | Voice removes background noise and evens out your level. Music records the mic untouched. Custom lets you set Remove background noise and Even out the level separately. |
| Auto-caption | Transcribes your narration on your Mac after you save. Needs the mic on. The speech model downloads once (about 60 MB). |
| System Audio | Sound from other apps, such as music, videos or game audio. This is not your microphone. |
| Countdown | Off, 3 seconds, 5 seconds or 10 seconds before recording starts. The countdown isn’t recorded. |
Record
Section titled “Record”- Click the record button, or press ⌃⇧V while the recorder is open.
- A small control panel stays on screen while you record:
- Pause stops and resumes the recording. The shortcut is ⌃⇧P.
- Draw lets you annotate live. Strokes are saved as editable, time-stamped annotations unless you switch the panel to burn them into the video. ⌘Z and ⇧⌘Z undo and redo.
- Click Stop Video Recording, or press ⌃⇧V again.
Review and save
Section titled “Review and save”When you stop, the recorder comes back so you can play the take. Then choose:
- Save adds the recording to your library. The gallery comes forward with the recording selected.
- Re-record discards the take and starts again.
- Discard throws the take away and closes the recorder.
To edit a saved recording, double-click it in the gallery. There you can trim, zoom, add annotations and captions, and export.
Record audio only
Section titled “Record audio only”Open Audio Capture… from the menu bar, choose Record Audio from the gallery’s Capture menu, or click Audio in the capture overlay.
The Audio Capture window has the same microphone, Optimize mic audio for, System Audio and Countdown options. To record only system audio, switch the microphone Off. Your mic stays selected for next time. After you stop, play the take back and choose Save, Re-record or Discard. Saved audio appears in the gallery. Open it in the audio editor to trim it.
Recording settings
Section titled “Recording settings”Settings → Recording includes:
- Normalize Microphone Audio, recommended: compresses the mic while you record, so soft speech stays audible and loud peaks don’t clip
- Normalize System Audio, recommended: keeps system audio at a level comparable to the mic
- Auto-caption When Mic Audio Is Present: transcribes recordings with a microphone when they’re saved, except audio recorded with the mic set to Music
- Ask Before Recording Without a Microphone (on by default)
- Video Quality: resolution and frame rate for screen and window recordings
- Hide app window while recording (on by default)
Change the record and pause shortcuts under Settings → Keyboard. The capture filters that hide the wallpaper, dock and desktop icons apply to recordings too.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”- No video. Grant Screen Recording.
- Silent mic or no webcam. Allow SuperCapture under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone or Camera.
- No system audio. Turn on System Audio (shown in Advanced mode).
See the screen recording overview for what you can do with a recording.