You’ve probably seen a dozen third-party apps promising the world when it comes to capturing your Mac screen. They want your subscription money. They want your data. Honestly, it’s mostly noise. People often overlook the fact that the most reliable tool for the job is already sitting in their Applications folder. It’s been there for years.
I’m talking about QuickTime Player. It’s old school. It’s basic. But if you know how to screen record in QuickTime, you realize it’s surprisingly powerful for everything from quick tutorials to capturing bug reports for work.
Most users just hit the record button and hope for the best. That’s a mistake. You end up with massive file sizes or, worse, no audio because you didn't toggle the right internal settings. Apple doesn't make the audio routing part easy—that’s just the reality of their sandboxed ecosystem. But once you get the hang of the workflow, you’ll stop looking for alternatives.
The Basic Workflow (And the Mistake You’re Likely Making)
Open QuickTime Player. You can find it via Spotlight (Command + Space) or in your Launchpad. Once it’s open, ignore the file picker that usually pops up. Go straight to the File menu at the top of your screen. You’ll see "New Screen Recording."
Click it.
Now, if you’re on a modern version of macOS (anything from Mojave onwards), you’ll notice that QuickTime actually triggers the native screenshot toolbar. This is where the confusion starts. Some people think they’ve left QuickTime and entered a different utility. You haven’t. QuickTime is just the interface for the system’s capture engine.
Before you click "Record," look at the Options menu. This is the part everyone skips. If you want to record your voice while you demonstrate something, you have to manually select your microphone here. By default, it’s often set to "None." I’ve seen people record twenty-minute presentations only to realize they’ve created a silent movie. It’s a gut-wrenching feeling. Don't be that person.
Select your "Built-in Microphone" or your external USB mic. Also, decide if you want to show mouse clicks. For tutorials, seeing that little black circle appear around the cursor is a lifesaver for the viewer. It provides visual feedback that makes your video look ten times more professional without any extra editing.
Dealing with the "No System Audio" Problem
Here is the inconvenient truth about how to screen record in QuickTime: it cannot record your Mac’s internal audio out of the box.
If you’re trying to record a YouTube video or a Zoom call, QuickTime will capture the video perfectly, but it won’t "hear" the sounds coming from the apps themselves. This is a security feature Apple implemented to prevent piracy. It’s annoying. It’s restrictive. But there are ways around it.
Most pros use a third-party driver like BlackHole (an open-source project) or Rogue Amoeba’s Loopback. These tools create a "virtual bridge." You send your Mac's output to the virtual bridge, and then tell QuickTime to use that bridge as its "Microphone" input.
- Install a driver like BlackHole 2ch.
- Go to your Audio MIDI Setup on the Mac.
- Create a "Multi-Output Device" so you can hear the sound through your speakers while it also goes to the recorder.
- In QuickTime's Options, select "BlackHole 2ch" as the microphone.
It sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through. It is. But if you want high-quality internal audio without buying expensive software like ScreenFlow or Camtasia, this is the gold standard method.
Screen Recording Specific Areas vs. Full Screen
Sometimes you don't want the world to see your messy desktop. I get it. My desktop is usually a graveyard of "Final_v2_REALLY_FINAL.pdf" files.
When you trigger the recording, you’ll see icons in the floating toolbar. One is for the entire screen. The other is for a "Selected Portion." Use the latter. You can drag a frame around a specific browser window or a software interface.
Quick tip: if you hold the spacebar while dragging that frame, you can move the entire selection box around without changing its dimensions.
Once you’re happy, hit "Record." To stop, look at the very top of your Menu Bar, near the clock and Wi-Fi icon. You'll see a small circle with a square inside it. Click that. The recording ends instantly, and a preview pops up.
Trimming and Exporting Like a Pro
Don’t just send the raw file. It likely has five seconds of you fumbling at the start and three seconds of you trying to find the stop button at the end.
QuickTime has a hidden "Trim" feature. Hit Command + T.
A yellow bar appears at the bottom. Drag the ends to crop out the fluff. When you’re done, click "Trim." This doesn't actually delete the footage yet; it just prepares the file. You still need to save it.
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Go to File > Export As.
You’ll usually see options for 4K, 1080p, and 720p. If you’re uploading to Slack or emailing a colleague, 720p is usually plenty and keeps the file size manageable. If it’s for a YouTube channel, go 1080p or 4K. QuickTime exports in H.264 or HEVC (H.265). HEVC is great for saving space, but be careful—older Windows machines or ancient browsers might struggle to play it back. When in doubt, stick to 1080p for the best balance of quality and compatibility.
Performance Issues and Lag
If your Mac starts sounding like a jet engine while you're recording, you're probably pushing the CPU too hard. This happens often on older Intel-based MacBooks.
To mitigate this, close your 50 open Chrome tabs. Turn off background apps like Dropbox or Spotify. Recording your screen is a resource-intensive task because the computer has to encode video in real-time while also running whatever software you’re trying to demonstrate.
On the newer M1, M2, or M3 chips, this is rarely an issue. Those machines have dedicated media engines that handle encoding without breaking a sweat. If you’re on an older machine, though, lower your screen resolution before you start. It gives the processor fewer pixels to worry about.
Why QuickTime Over Other Tools?
You might wonder why anyone bothers with this when apps like Loom exist.
Privacy is the big one. When you use a cloud-based screen recorder, your video is immediately uploaded to their servers. If you’re recording sensitive company data or personal information, that’s a risk. QuickTime keeps everything local. It’s on your hard drive. You control where it goes.
It’s also free. No watermarks. No "5-minute limit" like the free tiers of many popular apps. You can record for hours if you have the disk space.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Recording
- Check your storage: A 10-minute 4K screen recording can easily top 2GB. Make sure you aren't running on empty.
- Clean your workspace: Use a neutral wallpaper. Hide your desktop icons (right-click desktop > Stack or just hide them in a folder).
- Test the audio: Record a 5-second "check, one, two" before you do the real take. There is nothing worse than finishing a perfect demo only to find out your mic was muted.
- Use the shortcuts: Command + Shift + 5 gets you to the menu instantly. It's much faster than mousing through the QuickTime menus.
- External Displays: If you have multiple monitors, make sure you've selected the correct one in the options menu. QuickTime will default to your primary display unless told otherwise.
Once you’ve finished your recording and trimmed it, move the file out of your "Movies" folder or wherever it saved. Rename it immediately. "Screen Recording 2024-05-12 at 11.04.22 AM.mov" is a nightmare to find later. Give it a real name like "App_Demo_Draft_01.mov". Your future self will thank you.