How to Record a Video on Mac – Quick and Easy

Whether you want to create a training video, share your gameplay with your audience, or explain an in-depth concept to your students – using screen recordings in your videos can help you achieve these goals with ease. And if you work on a Mac, doing this becomes even easier. 

How? Well, that’s exactly what we’re going to share with you in this article. We will show you how to screen record a video on your Mac quickly and easily. And if you stick around till the end, we will also share BONUS tips on how to edit a screen recording on Mac – completely online without downloading any additional software. 

Let’s dive right in.

How To Record A Video On Mac Using The Easiest Option

With the past few updates to the MacOs, Apple lets you record the screen without the use of any external software. And that is honestly a boon. If you’ve never used the feature before, just follow the steps below and you’ll be a screen-recording pro in no time. 

Step 1: Press Command + Shift + 5 keys together to bring up the screenshot and screen recording menu on your Mac. You’ll now see a toolbar with multiple icons. The first three icons on the left are for taking screenshots. But the two icons after that with the circles on the rectangles are for screen recording. On the left side of the toolbar are the 3 options to take screenshots. On the right, you’ll find the controls to record your screen as a video. 

Step 2: Click the fourth icon from the right, (the full screen with the record button) to record your entire screen. Your cursor will now turn into a camera icon.

Step 3: If you click on the last icon (dotted rectangle with circle), you will have to select the part of the screen you want to record. You can now drag and drop the window to move it to the section that you want to record. You can also click and drag the corners to adjust the window size.

Step 4: Another functionality you get access to is recording sound. Just click the Options menu in the toolbar. You can then select the Built-In Microphone option to record default audio that’s playing on your screen. And if you don’t want any sound to be recorded, just select the None option. 

Note: You can also record audio from an external microphone or any other audio source from the Microphone list. Just plug in an external mic or earphones with mic for best results, especially if you want to record a voice over.

Step 5: You can also customize your screen recording further with the Options menu. Here are a few of the things you can do: 

- Set a timer to start recording a video
- Choose where your recorded video will be saved
- Tweak other settings like Show Floating Thumbnail (shows you a thumbnail on screen once your recording is over), Remember Last Selection (useful if you want to record similar videos one after the other), and Show Mouse Clicks (great for recording tutorial or how-to videos as it highlights the clicks made by your mouse in the recording)

Step 6: Once you are done setting it all up, just click the Record option in the toolbar. Or press the Return key. Now your Mac will start recording your screen.

Step 7: To stop recording, click on the Stop icon in the menu bar on top of your screen. Alternatively, you can press Command + Shift +5 again to bring back the screen-record toolbar and stop the recording by clicking on the screen recording icon once again. 

Step 8: You will now see a thumbnail of your saved recording on the bottom right corner of your screen. Swipe it away to save it for later or click on it to watch it or share it. 

Step 9: You can also trim your recording if needed. For this, just click on the thumbnail. Next click the Trim button. You’ll see the video timeline appear at the bottom of the window. Now just move the yellow slider from both ends (or only one end) inwards (as you need). The section within the yellow slider will be the part you’ll keep. Finally, click Done to save the recording. 

That’s how easily you can record your screen and trim the video on your Mac itself. 

But what if you want to edit your screen recording? What if you want to add text animations and other effects to make a fun, super cool video ready for YouTube or any other social media platform? You can do this with InVideo, without downloading any additional tools. What’s more is that you can do this even if you’re completely new to video editing. Let’s see how you can do this:

How To Edit Screen Recording On Mac - The Easiest Way

First, all you have to do is sign up or login to your InVideo account. Next, select the Blank Canvas option. Now select the aspect ratio of your video depending on where you want to post it and in what aspect ratio you recorded it. . Finally click on the Make A Video button. 

How to upload your screen recording to InVideo

You will now be taken to the InVideo editor. Here you can upload your screen recording by clicking on the Uploads section in the left corner menu. Next click Upload Media and just select the screen recording from your Mac to upload it. 

Once your screen recording video is uploaded to the editor, drag and drop it on the workspace to start editing. 

How To Trim Your Video on InVideo

When you drag your video into the workspace, you’ll see a pop up asking you if you want to trim your video. 

You can trim your video by dragging the bar at the start or end of your video towards the left or right respectively. You can also use the precision trimmer (the box under the timeline with the start and end time) to enter the exact start and end time. Once you have trimmed your video, click Done. If you don’t want to trim the video recording, click the Use Full Video option.

How To Crop Your Video on InVideo

If you want to crop your video, for different social media platforms, you can do that easily on the InVideo editor. Just click on the video in the workspace to select it. Next, you’ll see a menu bar on top of your video. Just click on the Crop option.

You’ll now see a pop up with different crop dimensions. You can either manually crop your video by dragging the corners, or you can select from one of the options in the pop up itself. Once finished, click Done. 

Note: If your video is originally in the wide or 16:9 aspect ratio, cropping it might compromise the quality of your video.

How To Add Text To Your Video On InVideo 

One of the cool things you can do with your screen recordings from Mac is add text to it to make it more engaging, especially if it is for a tutorial or explainer video. 

To add text to your video, just click on the Text option in the menu on the left corner of the editor. You’ll see different types of text options you can choose from. Select the one that best suits your needs and click on it. You will see the text box appear on your video.

You can edit text and change what it says by just clicking on it, deleting the dummy text and writing your own. You can also customize the text further by choosing a different font, color, alignment and more using the menu above your workspace to do so. 

You can further edit your Mac screen recording by adding your own logo, music or voice overs and lots more using the InVideo editor. Check out how to edit your video recording on Mac in different ways with this helpful guide. 

Once you are done editing your screen recording, click on the Download & Share button on the top right of your screen. Next click Export.

Your video will start to render. Once done, just click the Download button to save your video to your device. 

And that’s how to edit a screen recording on Mac within minutes and without downloading any software. 

Wrapping Up

Now that you know how to record a video on Mac and how to edit a screen recording on Mac, it’s time to use the tips in this article to create your own recording. If you’re looking for more tips on video creation, check out our guide on editing videos. 

Plus — if you have any questions or want to take the conversation further, check out the InVideo community where you can learn from 25K other marketers and video creators just like you.