Your Mac can do more! When your friend asks you to record a ball game for him that can’t be watched in time, or you’re overcoming a difficult game, you might want to record the whole process. It’s not that hard. Let’s take a look:
How to do a screen video recording on Mac
Here’s how to record your Mac screen on macOS Mojave and later. Not only will you be able to record a video of the entire screen, but you can also choose to select specific parts of the screen.
1. Press Command + Shift + 5 to open the screen recording tools.
2. To record the entire screen, click the fourth icon from the left.
3. To record only a part of your screen, click the fifth icon from the left.
4. Optional: Click Options to see additional settings:
Save to: Change where the screen recording will be saved.
Timer: You can choose to start a five or ten-second timer to get some leeway before the screen recording starts after clicking Record.
Microphone: Use this to choose your Mac’s internal microphone (if available) or any other connected mics to record audio in the screen recording.
Show Floating Thumbnail: After you take a screenshot or screen recording, its thumbnail stays in the bottom-right corner of the screen for a few seconds. Uncheck this to stop showing this thumbnail if you find it distracting.
Remember Last Selection: This keeps the settings you choose intact for the next time you make a screen recording. It also includes remembering the screen selection area, thus helping you take screenshots or recordings of the same size or screen portion multiple times.
Show Mouse Pointer: You can use this to show or hide the mouse clicks in the screen recording.
5. Finally, click Record to start the video recording.
6. When you’re done, click the stop icon in the top menu bar.
Use QuickTime Player to record a video of your Mac
On macOS High Sierra and earlier, pressing Command+Shift+5 cannot access the Screenshot Toolbar. In this case (even the current macOS version), you can use QuickTime Player to screen record your Mac. Methods as below:
1. Open the QuickTime Player from the Launchpad or Applications folder.
2. Click File > New Screen Recording. You can also press Command + Control + N.
3. Click Record on the updated version on macOS. Before that, you can choose to record full screen or only part of it. This is exactly the same as the Command+Shift+5 method shown above.
In the old version, you can click the red and white button and click anywhere on the screen to start full-screen recording or choose a section to record only that part.
4. When you’re done, click the stop icon in the menu bar.
5. Screen recording will turn on for you to preview. Click the red button to save the file and close this window.
Where are my Mac’s screen recordings saved?
By default, the screen recording on Mac is saved to the desktop. You can right-click on the desktop and select Use Stacks to group all screen recordings into a bundle called Movies.
What’s the format of Mac’s screen recordings?
The screen recordings you do on your Mac are saved in .mov format. You can see the size of the screen recording file by selecting it and pressing Command + I.
Can Mac take screenshots while recording the screen?
The answer is yes, just like you can click on the picture while recording a video on iPhone, you can also press Command+Shift+3 or Command+Shift+4 and take a screenshot during screen recording on Mac.
