How to record your MacBook screen easily without third-party apps (2024)

Here's how you can record your MacBook screen easily using macOS's built-in tools, without the need for third-party software.

Apple's Mac computers, such as MacBooks, come with a built-in screen recording feature that allows you to record either the entire screen or a portion of it. This can be useful for a range of tasks, including creating tutorials, capturing specific parts of the UI to share with your team, troubleshooting, providing support, delivering presentations, and content creation—the possibilities are endless. However, many new Mac users, and even some long-time users, have never used the screen recording function. Here's how you can record your screen easily using macOS's built-in tools, without the need for third-party software.

Screen recording on MacBooks and macOS, at large, is easy,((Vishal Mathur / HT Photo))

How To Record Screen On macOS (All Macs)

Step 1: Use the keyboard shortcut Command + Shift + 5.

Step 2: After pressing this combination, a small window will appear, allowing you to choose whether to capture the entire screen, a selected window, or a specific portion. For screen recording, you’ll need to select either "Record Entire Screen" or "Record Selected Portion."

Step 3: Choose "Record Entire Screen" for this tutorial, then click on the Record button.

Step 4: That's it! Your screen is now being recorded. Everything you do on your Mac screen will be captured. You can tell that recording is in progress if you see the recording icon next to the volume icon in the menu bar.

Step 5: When you’re finished recording, simply click the stop button in the menu bar. Your recording will automatically be saved, and a floating preview will appear in the bottom-right corner of your screen. 

Step 6: You can right-click on the preview to save it to your preferred location or delete it if you're not satisfied with the result. If left as is, the recording will be saved to your desktop.

Alternate Way Using QuickTime Player

Here's an alternative way to record your screen on macOS using QuickTime Player, which comes pre-installed on your Mac.

Step 1: Open Launchpad and launch QuickTime Player.

Step 2: From the menu bar, click File and select New Screen Recording.

Step 3: Next, you can choose the area you want to capture, just like the previous method. You can either select a portion of the screen or opt to record the entire screen. The interface remains the same, but here you're accessing it through QuickTime Player. Once you've made your selection, click Record to start.

Additional Options:

Before you begin recording, you can customise the settings:

Audio: Choose whether you want to capture audio from your MacBook or an external microphone.

Timer: Set a delay before the recording starts, with options for 5 or 10 seconds.

Save Location: Select where you’d like to save your recording, such as your Desktop, Documents, Mail, Messages, or any other location.