If you've ever wanted to screenshot your Mac's desktop or record a video of it but don't know quite how to do so, then you've come to the right place. Keep reading to learn how you can record any Mac desktop activity in just a few simple steps.

m1 mac family
Recording the activity on your Mac's screen can be useful for a number of reasons. For example, if you want to teach someone how to perform a particular function on their Mac, you could record a mini tutorial showing them how it's done.

Or maybe you want to demonstrate a bug or some odd Mac behavior, in which case you could make a video showing it in action. Either way, it's easy to capture a recording when you know how.

In macOS, Apple includes a Screenshot app in the Applications/Utilities folder which provides a screen capture interface that unifies the screenshot and screen recording features on Mac, making them easier to access from one place. You can also get to it by hitting the keys Command-Shift-5 on your keyboard.

screen capture
In the Screenshot app's overlay, immediately to the left of the Options button are two buttons to begin a screen recording, either taking in the whole screen or just a portion of the action.

If you want to capture a selected portion of the screen, click Record Selected Portion, then use the mouse cursor crosshairs to select the area you want to capture. Once you're ready, click the Record/Capture button in the floating overlay. When you take the screen recording, a button will appear in the menu bar for you to click when you're ready to end the recording.

Mac desktop
The Options menu lets you control a handful of other variables, like where you want your recordings to be saved (Desktop, Documents, Clipboard, and so on) and whether to include a 5 or 10-second delay before the recording takes place, giving you time to get your screen in order.

As you'd expect, unchecking the Show Mouse Pointer option ensures the mouse cursor doesn't appear in your capture. There's also a Remember Last Selection option, which is handy if you want to capture a particular part of the screen several times consecutively. The Show Floating Thumbnail option takes a little more explaining.

When you take a screenshot or screen recording, a floating thumbnail appears in the bottom corner of the screen, just like it does when you take a screenshot on an iOS device.

screen capture
Clicking on the thumbnail opens the capture in a window, which includes image Markup tools, or a clip trimming option in the case of recordings, as well as options to share the image/recording or delete it if it didn't turn out like you wanted.

If you're taking multiple video clips in sequence, you probably won't want the floating thumbnail showing up in subsequent captures, which is why the option to turn it off exists.

By default, screen recordings are saved in .MOV format, which can be viewed in Apple's QuickTime Player as well as many third-party video playback apps such as VLC, making your video clips easy to share with others.

For tips on controlling the behavior of screenshots using keyboard shortcuts, check out our dedicated how-to article on the subject.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
Global Close Your Rings Day Pin

Apple Stores Giving Away a Limited-Edition Pin For Free Today

Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last. Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...
Apple Logo Spotlight Blue

White House Hits Back at Apple's Massive EU Fine

Thursday April 24, 2025 5:57 am PDT by
Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports. The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of ...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
ipad air magic keyboard feature

iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard

Thursday April 24, 2025 12:09 pm PDT by
When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu. This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management,...
apple watch ultra yellow

What's Next for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3

Friday April 25, 2025 2:44 pm PDT by
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too. 2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple didn't update the...