How to Screen Record on a Mac (With Audio)

Short version: Press Shift + Command + 5, choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion, turn on your microphone under Options if you’re narrating, and click Record. Recordings save to your Desktop as a .mov. The catch: the built-in tools capture your mic only — to record your Mac’s system audio you need a virtual audio device like BlackHole.

macOS has screen recording built right in, and most people never touch the more capable option or realize why their recordings come out with no computer sound. Here’s the complete picture.

Method 1 — the Shift + Command + 5 toolbar

This is the fastest built-in way:

1. Press Shift + Command + 5. A toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen.
2. Choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion.
3. Click Options to pick your microphone (for narration) and set where the file saves.
4. Click Record, do your walkthrough, then click the stop button in the menu bar.

By default the file lands on your Desktop as a .mov. It’s quick and good enough for most quick captures.

Method 2 — QuickTime Player

QuickTime does the same job with a familiar window: open QuickTime Player → File → New Screen Recording, choose your mic if needed, and record. It’s handy when you want to trim the clip right afterward in the same app.

The system-audio gap (and how to fix it)

Here’s what trips everyone up: macOS’s built-in tools record your microphone, never your Mac’s own audio. So a recording of a video call, a YouTube clip, or any app sound comes out silent on the system side.

To capture what your Mac plays, you need a virtual audio device — the free, popular one is BlackHole. You install it, route your system output through it, and set it as the recording input (alongside your mic). It’s a bit of setup, but it’s the only way to get internal audio from the native tools.

What about a simpler, all-in-one recorder?

On Windows, capturing system audio and your mic together is far simpler — a good recorder just offers both as checkboxes, no virtual audio device required. That’s how KeepCast works today on Windows: screen, system audio, and mic in one synced MP4, plus a built-in editor.

KeepCast is Windows-first right now, with Mac on the roadmap. If you’d want that same one-click, no-BlackHole experience on your Mac, join the waitlist and we’ll let you know when the Mac version lands.

The bottom line

For a quick Mac recording, Shift + Command + 5 is all you need — just remember to turn on your mic under Options. For your Mac’s system audio, the built-in tools fall short, so reach for a virtual audio device like BlackHole. And if you want system sound and mic together without the setup, that’s exactly the gap a dedicated recorder fills.