Screen recording has become one of the best methods to create a footage of your desktop activity with ease. There might be several occasions when you want to capture your gameplay, record streaming videos, or either make some video tutorials or software reviews on your Mac. In case these circumstances arise, a good screen recorder is necessary. Actually, there are lots of screen recording software that are available online. However, most of these tools only offer paid version or have a poor recording quality. In this article, we will introduce the best free screen recorder for Mac.
Good news is that Mac comes with a support for these things out of box. You can record videos on Mac or take screenshot of the mac screen with the in-build softwares. Here is how you can do it: Taking Screenshot on the Mac. Mac does not have a dedicated key to capture the mac screen but it comes with a set of commands to do the work.
- On your Mac, press Shift-Command-5 (or use Launchpad) to open Screenshot and display the tools. Click a tool to use to select what you want to capture or record (or use the Touch Bar). For a portion of the screen, drag the frame to reposition it or drag its edges to.
- How to take a screenshot or record video on a Mac. Digital Original. You might want to capture part of the screen on your Mac - maybe a menu from a restaurant you want to visit or a part of a.
Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder
Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder is a free but in the meantime very comprehensive program that you can use to create high-quality videos. With the help of this tool, you will have an easy access to the experience of using a brilliant screen activity recorder that doesn't leave any watermark at all on your video after a successful registration. Moreover, this program can capture your desktop activity together with the audio coming from your system and microphone. Overall, there is surely no doubt that Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder is one of the best free screen recorders for Mac available on the market. To utilize this program, you can follow the step-by-step guide below.
- Firstly, you need to visit the official website of Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder.
- On the main page of the site you can click the 'Start Recording' button to launch the screen recorder.
- Once you launched it, you can set to record screen or webcam, custom recording area, and change audio input, etc. You can also go to settings and make some configurations.
- Once done settings, hit the red recording button to start recording. During the recording process, you can add a webcam to your screen, and you can even add some annotations to it.
- After you have finalized the recording, click the stop button to stop it. At this point, a preview window will pop up. On the preview window, you can save the video by clicking the 'Save video' button, or even share the video with your friends by clicking the share button.
Monosnap
Monosnap is another mentionable flexible program specifically developed for Mac OS. You can use this program not only to record your screen but also to take quick screenshots in case you need to use it as a powerful screen recording software. In addition, this tool can be used as a storage software. This program can also offer the option of capturing your webcam, microphone or system sound as you can just set it before you start recording according to your need. Aside from that, the mentioned program can record in 60 fps. This means that you can record smoothly even you are playing high framerate games. If you want to use this free video recording software for Mac, you may follow the steps below.
- Download and install Monosnap.
- After successfully finalizing the installation, click the Monosnap's drop down menu, then choose 'Record Video' to start recording.
- In case you want to stop this program from recording, just click its drop down menu again then click 'Finish recording' to end it. Afterwards, your recording will be saved automatically, and you can check it right away at the location of your choice of saving.
OBS Studio
The next free screen recording tool for Mac that you can rely on according to our list is OBS Studio. This is a free and open source screen recorder that is available on both Windows, Mac, and Linux. The suggested program will allow you to capture real-time activities and create excellent live streaming videos. Moreover, this program has the ability to incorporate footage from your previous recordings or add exiting videos. On the other side, this program is to some degree complicated, in the sense that you can take certain time familiarizing its interface and configurations. Here are the steps on how to use this program.
- First of all you need to have OBS Studio installed in your computer.
- Once you have it, launch OBS, then click 'Scene' > 'Source' > 'Add Icon', and then click 'Windows Capture'.
- After the previous step is done, a pop up window will show and allow you to rename your video you are going to record. Once done, click the 'OK' button to proceed.
- Next, select the window you want to record.
- Lastly, you only need to hit the 'Start Recording' button to initiate recording. Once done recording, just click the top button to end it.
Jing
Another free screen recording software for Mac is Jing by Techsmith that has been very popular on the market for a long time. This program is very simple and easy to use that are the pillars of its popularity. It comes with a movable sun icon that can be placed anywhere on your display, which enables you to easily utilize its function. Aside from screen recording, you can use this tool to take screenshots and edit it right after capturing. However, this program can only record up to 5 minutes. If you are still interested to use this program despite its time limitation, you can follow these steps.
- First and foremost, download and install this program on your pc from the official Techsmith website.
- Hit the 'Sun' icon and select 'Capture'.
- Once you are inside the options panel, simply adjust the frame according to your preference then select 'Capture video'.
- To stop the recording, simply hit the 'Stop' button, and then the recorded file will automatically pop up for preview.
Quicktime Player
The last recording program for Mac is the Quicktime Player. This is an extensible multimedia framework that can be used not only to record videos but also to play, edit and share videos on Mac. This tool can be characterized with that it has a very intuitive interface which makes it very easy to use even for beginners. This program can create footage of your Mac screen with a web camera or iPhone screen. You can follow the instructions below to capture your screen using this best free screen recorder for Mac.
- To begin with, you have to launch Quicktime Player at the first hand.
- Once you see the interface, click 'File' and select 'New Screen Recording', then a screen recording window will pop up. On this window, you can configure your recording settings. After configuring, hit the red round recording button to start recording your screen.
- Once done with the complete recording process, click the 'Stop' button in the menu bar, then your recorded file will automatically pop up.
Conclusion
As you can see, the aforementioned programs are the currently best free Mac screen recording software you can find on the market. You can decide which program you will use for your recording. I highly recommend Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder. Compared to the other programs above, this program can be used to quickly record your screen, audio, as well as a webcam as it is a web-based application. Aside from that, it has an easy interface and even beginners can use it.
Related posts:
Taking a screenshot on a Mac® is as easy as on a PC—when you know the keyboard shortcuts to do so.
There are plenty of key commands in macOS® you might want to use for screen capture. Ableton live 9 mac free. download full version. Today, we'll break down the six best shortcuts for screenshots that any Mac user NEEDS to know—plus the one useful application that accomplishes all that and more with just one click.
Capture a Screenshot of an Area
Figure 1 – Keyboard shortcut for taking a screenshot of part of a Mac screen
One of the most common needs for that 'print screen' command on a Mac is when we need to capture a portion of the screen. It's like a snipping tool for Mac. Be it an Instagram story, Twitter update, or part of a webpage to share with a colleague, you can screenshot any of those with just a few key combos.
(1) To capture a portion of the screen, do the following:
- Press Command-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Select the area of a screen you want to capture by moving and dragging the cursor.
- After releasing the mouse button, the screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.
Figure 2 – Apple Support tweets the solution for screen capturing on Mac.
(2) To copy a portion of the screen to the clipboard, do the following:
- Press Command-Control-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Select the area of a screen you want to capture by moving and dragging the cursor.
- After clicking on the mouse, the screenshot will be saved to the clipboard.
- Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, such as Word, Skype, or Outlook.
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.
Capture a Screenshot of an Active Window
Figure 3 – The process of taking screenshots of an active application
If you need a screenshot of a specific application that you're currently using, use this method. You can easily print screen an active window of any program, be it Safari, Chrome, Photoshop, or Microsoft Excel.
(3) To capture a screenshot of an active window, do the following:
Screen Capture Software For Mac Video
- Press Command-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Tap on the spacebar on your keyboard. The cursor will change to a camera.
- Select the active application window you want to capture by moving your cursor.
- When you move the cursor over an application, the window will be highlighted.
- Click the mouse button on the window you want to capture. The screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.
(4) To copy a screenshot of an active window to the clipboard, do the following:
- Press Command-Control-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Tap on the spacebar on your keyboard. The cursor will change to a camera.
- Select the active application window you want to capture by moving your cursor.
- When you move the cursor over an application, the window will be highlighted.
- Click the mouse button on the window you want to capture. The screenshot will be saved to the clipboard.
- Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, like Word, Skype, or Outlook
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.
Capture the Entire Screen
Good news is that Mac comes with a support for these things out of box. You can record videos on Mac or take screenshot of the mac screen with the in-build softwares. Here is how you can do it: Taking Screenshot on the Mac. Mac does not have a dedicated key to capture the mac screen but it comes with a set of commands to do the work.
- On your Mac, press Shift-Command-5 (or use Launchpad) to open Screenshot and display the tools. Click a tool to use to select what you want to capture or record (or use the Touch Bar). For a portion of the screen, drag the frame to reposition it or drag its edges to.
- How to take a screenshot or record video on a Mac. Digital Original. You might want to capture part of the screen on your Mac - maybe a menu from a restaurant you want to visit or a part of a.
Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder
Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder is a free but in the meantime very comprehensive program that you can use to create high-quality videos. With the help of this tool, you will have an easy access to the experience of using a brilliant screen activity recorder that doesn't leave any watermark at all on your video after a successful registration. Moreover, this program can capture your desktop activity together with the audio coming from your system and microphone. Overall, there is surely no doubt that Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder is one of the best free screen recorders for Mac available on the market. To utilize this program, you can follow the step-by-step guide below.
- Firstly, you need to visit the official website of Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder.
- On the main page of the site you can click the 'Start Recording' button to launch the screen recorder.
- Once you launched it, you can set to record screen or webcam, custom recording area, and change audio input, etc. You can also go to settings and make some configurations.
- Once done settings, hit the red recording button to start recording. During the recording process, you can add a webcam to your screen, and you can even add some annotations to it.
- After you have finalized the recording, click the stop button to stop it. At this point, a preview window will pop up. On the preview window, you can save the video by clicking the 'Save video' button, or even share the video with your friends by clicking the share button.
Monosnap
Monosnap is another mentionable flexible program specifically developed for Mac OS. You can use this program not only to record your screen but also to take quick screenshots in case you need to use it as a powerful screen recording software. In addition, this tool can be used as a storage software. This program can also offer the option of capturing your webcam, microphone or system sound as you can just set it before you start recording according to your need. Aside from that, the mentioned program can record in 60 fps. This means that you can record smoothly even you are playing high framerate games. If you want to use this free video recording software for Mac, you may follow the steps below.
- Download and install Monosnap.
- After successfully finalizing the installation, click the Monosnap's drop down menu, then choose 'Record Video' to start recording.
- In case you want to stop this program from recording, just click its drop down menu again then click 'Finish recording' to end it. Afterwards, your recording will be saved automatically, and you can check it right away at the location of your choice of saving.
OBS Studio
The next free screen recording tool for Mac that you can rely on according to our list is OBS Studio. This is a free and open source screen recorder that is available on both Windows, Mac, and Linux. The suggested program will allow you to capture real-time activities and create excellent live streaming videos. Moreover, this program has the ability to incorporate footage from your previous recordings or add exiting videos. On the other side, this program is to some degree complicated, in the sense that you can take certain time familiarizing its interface and configurations. Here are the steps on how to use this program.
- First of all you need to have OBS Studio installed in your computer.
- Once you have it, launch OBS, then click 'Scene' > 'Source' > 'Add Icon', and then click 'Windows Capture'.
- After the previous step is done, a pop up window will show and allow you to rename your video you are going to record. Once done, click the 'OK' button to proceed.
- Next, select the window you want to record.
- Lastly, you only need to hit the 'Start Recording' button to initiate recording. Once done recording, just click the top button to end it.
Jing
Another free screen recording software for Mac is Jing by Techsmith that has been very popular on the market for a long time. This program is very simple and easy to use that are the pillars of its popularity. It comes with a movable sun icon that can be placed anywhere on your display, which enables you to easily utilize its function. Aside from screen recording, you can use this tool to take screenshots and edit it right after capturing. However, this program can only record up to 5 minutes. If you are still interested to use this program despite its time limitation, you can follow these steps.
- First and foremost, download and install this program on your pc from the official Techsmith website.
- Hit the 'Sun' icon and select 'Capture'.
- Once you are inside the options panel, simply adjust the frame according to your preference then select 'Capture video'.
- To stop the recording, simply hit the 'Stop' button, and then the recorded file will automatically pop up for preview.
Quicktime Player
The last recording program for Mac is the Quicktime Player. This is an extensible multimedia framework that can be used not only to record videos but also to play, edit and share videos on Mac. This tool can be characterized with that it has a very intuitive interface which makes it very easy to use even for beginners. This program can create footage of your Mac screen with a web camera or iPhone screen. You can follow the instructions below to capture your screen using this best free screen recorder for Mac.
- To begin with, you have to launch Quicktime Player at the first hand.
- Once you see the interface, click 'File' and select 'New Screen Recording', then a screen recording window will pop up. On this window, you can configure your recording settings. After configuring, hit the red round recording button to start recording your screen.
- Once done with the complete recording process, click the 'Stop' button in the menu bar, then your recorded file will automatically pop up.
Conclusion
As you can see, the aforementioned programs are the currently best free Mac screen recording software you can find on the market. You can decide which program you will use for your recording. I highly recommend Apowersoft Free Online Screen Recorder. Compared to the other programs above, this program can be used to quickly record your screen, audio, as well as a webcam as it is a web-based application. Aside from that, it has an easy interface and even beginners can use it.
Related posts:
Taking a screenshot on a Mac® is as easy as on a PC—when you know the keyboard shortcuts to do so.
There are plenty of key commands in macOS® you might want to use for screen capture. Ableton live 9 mac free. download full version. Today, we'll break down the six best shortcuts for screenshots that any Mac user NEEDS to know—plus the one useful application that accomplishes all that and more with just one click.
Capture a Screenshot of an Area
Figure 1 – Keyboard shortcut for taking a screenshot of part of a Mac screen
One of the most common needs for that 'print screen' command on a Mac is when we need to capture a portion of the screen. It's like a snipping tool for Mac. Be it an Instagram story, Twitter update, or part of a webpage to share with a colleague, you can screenshot any of those with just a few key combos.
(1) To capture a portion of the screen, do the following:
- Press Command-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Select the area of a screen you want to capture by moving and dragging the cursor.
- After releasing the mouse button, the screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.
Figure 2 – Apple Support tweets the solution for screen capturing on Mac.
(2) To copy a portion of the screen to the clipboard, do the following:
- Press Command-Control-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Select the area of a screen you want to capture by moving and dragging the cursor.
- After clicking on the mouse, the screenshot will be saved to the clipboard.
- Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, such as Word, Skype, or Outlook.
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.
Capture a Screenshot of an Active Window
Figure 3 – The process of taking screenshots of an active application
If you need a screenshot of a specific application that you're currently using, use this method. You can easily print screen an active window of any program, be it Safari, Chrome, Photoshop, or Microsoft Excel.
(3) To capture a screenshot of an active window, do the following:
Screen Capture Software For Mac Video
- Press Command-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Tap on the spacebar on your keyboard. The cursor will change to a camera.
- Select the active application window you want to capture by moving your cursor.
- When you move the cursor over an application, the window will be highlighted.
- Click the mouse button on the window you want to capture. The screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.
(4) To copy a screenshot of an active window to the clipboard, do the following:
- Press Command-Control-Shift-4 to change a pointer to a crosshair.
- Tap on the spacebar on your keyboard. The cursor will change to a camera.
- Select the active application window you want to capture by moving your cursor.
- When you move the cursor over an application, the window will be highlighted.
- Click the mouse button on the window you want to capture. The screenshot will be saved to the clipboard.
- Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, like Word, Skype, or Outlook
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.
Capture the Entire Screen
Figure 4 – Keyboard shortcut for capturing the entire screen on a Mac
(5) To capture a screenshot of a whole page, do the following:
- Press Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen.
- The screenshot will be saved as a PNG image on your desktop.
(6) To copy a screenshot of a whole page to the clipboard, do the following:
- Press Command-Control-Shift-3 to copy the whole screen.
- The screenshot will be automatically saved to the clipboard.
- Select the application where you want to insert the captured image, like Word, Skype, or Outlook
- Press Command-V to paste the screenshot.
Mac App for Taking Screenshots
Figure 5 – Parallels Toolbox: The ultimate Mac application for screen and video capturing
Screen Capture Mac Video Sound
Sometimes, remembering all the dozens of shortcuts to take a Mac screenshot is not our main priority. All we need is a simple application that has everything ready for us with just one click.
Parallels® Toolbox Screen and Video Pack is the best Designed to help optimize your workday, it has all the important tools for everyday needs, such as screen and video capturing, video converter, YouTube video downloader, and more.
Apowersoft screen recorder offline installer. You can try Parallels Toolbox without any obligations and decide for yourself whether a small introductory price is a fair cost for all the time saved.
Where to Find Screenshots on a Mac
Figure 6 – The primary location for all screenshots on a Mac is the desktop
Once you're done taking them, where do screenshots on a Mac go?
Normally, screenshots are saved as PNG images (titled with the current date and time stamp) right on the desktop. The format looks as follows: 'Screen Shot 2018-07-04 at 12.25.36.png'. Alternatively, a user can copy Mac screenshots to the clipboard by adding Control to the key combination and then pasting it right in the needed document. Here at Parallels, we practice this often—we love taking a MacBook® screenshot and sharing it with coworkers. It's an easy and quick way to effectively communicate what we see on our end.
What to Do if Screen Capture on Mac Is Not Working
Screen Capture Mac Video Free
The shortcuts for screen capturing may not work for a few reasons. One of the most common ones: they are simply disabled.
To fix that, do the following:
- From the Apple menu in the top left corner, open System Preferences and click on the Keyboard.
- In the new window, click on Shortcuts.
- Find Screen Shots in the left menu.
- Check if the shortcuts are active and have the same key combos you type.
- To change a shortcut, select it and click the new key combination.
If the shortcut is working but screenshots turn out blank, the reason is often copyright issues with the third-party application on the screen. To solve that, use the Parallels Toolbox application for screen capturing.
