Recording Videos with Built-in Tools on Your Mac

Meta description: The moment we talk about videos, the excitement builds up. For content creators, businessmen, and office workers, it’s a must-have thing so knowing how to use Mac to record videos is important.

Knowing how to record a video on Mac can open up many possibilities. You can create vlogs, tutorials and various other types of videos. No native macOS video recorder is available on a Mac. What the MacOS does have are various built-in apps to create recordings. MacBooks have built-in cameras and microphones so you can take photos and record your voice. This article will cover various ways to record videos. By finding out more about these you can make a good choice for your needs.

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Photo Booth app

One of the easiest ways to make a recording on a Mac is by using the Photo Booth app that’s built into the macOS.

• Go to Finder and then Applications to select the Photo Booth application.
• Open up the Photo Booth and preview what the webcam shows. You don’t want to capture what’s not necessary to record.
• Of the buttons that appear at the bottom left you must choose the one with the video camera icon. This will change the app to video mode instead of photo mode.
• To start recording click on the red Record button.
• To stop recording press the red Stop button.
• Select Export and save the video wherever you want on your Mac.

You may decide to record yourself using Mac’s internal camera or choose to use an external camera. It doesn’t matter if you use the iSight camera or plug an external camera into a USB port. One of the disadvantages of using a built-in app like Photo Booth is that you can’t change the recording quality or format.  

Setapp offers advice on how to record video on a Mac using Mac’s built-in apps. It also gives various useful tips such as using hotkeys once you have set up Screenshot. Hotkeys offer a shortcut for video recording of Mac screen. Setapp also gives suggestions for various third-party apps for recording such as Capto and Dropshare. These apps that offer more professional video recordings are available for free with a seven-day trial.

What happens if Photo Booth won’t record video? Not updating software, using a defective camera or app permissions could be some of the reasons why it isn’t recording videos.

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QuickTime Player

The QuickTime Player is built-in with the MacOS for playing media files. If you want to know how to film on MacBook you can choose the QuickTime Player app and select File → New Movie recording. The QuickTime Player is easy to use for recording video and you don’t have to do any extra downloading or installing.

• Open the Finder application, navigate to the Applications folder, and select the QuickTime Player.
• Choose File at the top menu bar and New Screen Recording.
• You will find the recording settings by clicking the arrow icon.
• Start the recording by clicking the Record button found at the bottom.
• You may decide whether to capture the entire screen with a single click anywhere or select a specific screen section by clicking and dragging using the touchpad.
• To conclude the recording, click on the Stop button found in the menu bar.
• Save your video file by clicking File and Save in the app’s top menu.
• Click on Edit in the top menu bar on the screen. While comprehensive editing features are not available, you can perform basic tasks such as flipping, rotating, or shortening your recording.

If you want to make a time lapse screen capture Mac recording you can use QuickTime and iMovie. You can download iMovie from the app store if you haven’t installed it yet. QuickTime enables screen capturing and iMovie is the tool to use for speeding up the recording.

Mac’s built-in screen recorder

The Mac’s built-in screen recorder offers another way if you want to know how to record a video on iMac. It is easy to capture what happens on your screen.  

• Hold the Command, Shift, and 5 on your keyboard to activate the screen recorder.
• Select the full screen or a select area of the screen using the appropriate buttons.
• If you have more than one screen, you may record them both.  
• To start recording select the Record button.
• To stop the recording by selecting the Stop button.
• Click Save under Options and choose a location on your Mac for your recording.  

Conclusion

If you want to know to record a video on a Mac there are built-in apps that work well for basic recordings. Recording a video takes only a few simple steps when using apps like Photo Booth or Quick Time Player. You don’t have some of the capabilities in terms of editing etc. that come with using third-party apps. If you want to produce more professional recordings, there are many third-party apps available for this purpose.