How to Record Your Screen on MacBook Pro

Press ⇧⌘5 on any MacBook Pro running macOS Mojave or later. The Screenshot toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen with options to record the full screen or a selected portion.

Click "Record Entire Screen" or "Record Selected Portion," adjust any options (save location, timer, show floating thumbnail), then click Record.

Stop recording with ⌃⌘Esc or by clicking the stop button in the menu bar. The file saves as a .mov to your chosen destination (Desktop by default).

Open QuickTime Player, go to File → New Screen Recording. Choose your microphone from the dropdown (or None for silent capture), set quality to High or Maximum, then click the red record button.

Click anywhere for full-screen capture, or drag to select a region. QuickTime on M-series MacBook Pro encodes in H.264 with hardware acceleration — even long sessions stay smooth.

For ProRes recordings (maximum quality), QuickTime on M3 Pro and M3 Max can record in Apple ProRes — check Format options if you need log footage for color grading.

The MacBook Pro notch (introduced in the 2021 14-inch and 16-inch models) sits in the menu bar. When you record the full screen, the notch area is captured as a black bar at the top — macOS fills it with the menubar background color.

If you record a selected region that excludes the menu bar, the notch simply does not appear. For most tutorials and product demos this is the cleaner choice.

When you share recordings, viewers on non-notch displays see a black bar where the notch was. This looks fine in most contexts but can be distracting for polished marketing videos. To avoid it, record a selected region that starts below the menu bar.

Limelight automatically frames content within the safe display area, helping you avoid notch-related awkwardness in the final output.

MacBook Pro's ProMotion display refreshes at up to 120 Hz, making the UI feel incredibly smooth. However, screen recordings are captured at the frame rate of your export setting, not the display refresh rate.

macOS screen recording defaults to 30 fps. QuickTime recordings also default to 30 fps. Neither the ⇧⌘5 tool nor QuickTime lets you change this directly.

Limelight captures at a high internal rate and exports at up to 60 fps. For software demos where fluid mouse movement matters, 60 fps makes a visible difference.

Bottom line: your recording will not look 120 Hz buttery, but it will look sharp and clean. ProMotion mainly benefits your comfort while you are recording, not the output.

Limelight (limelightmac.com) is built specifically for macOS screen recording on Apple Silicon. On MacBook Pro it takes advantage of the M-series media engine for fast export.

Limelight adds two features that matter most for tutorials: automatic zoom-in on click areas (so viewers see exactly where you are interacting) and on-screen keystroke display (so viewers can follow keyboard shortcuts without guessing).

Note: Limelight is video-only. It does not record audio or webcam. Add narration in iMovie, Final Cut Pro, or any audio editor after the fact.

Limelight requires macOS 14 or later. It is a $34 one-time purchase with a free tier available.

MacBook Pro supports multiple external displays. Press ⇧⌘5 and move the toolbar to the display you want to record — the "Record Entire Screen" option captures whichever display the toolbar is on.

To record a specific window regardless of which display it is on, use "Record Selected Window" and click the window.

If you are recording a presentation, move your slides to the external display and record that screen, leaving your presenter notes on the MacBook Pro screen unrecorded.

Screen recording permission denied: Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording. Add and enable the recording app. Quit and relaunch the app after granting permission.

Poor video quality: QuickTime compresses recordings aggressively. For higher quality, use Limelight or record with Screen Recording quality set to Maximum in QuickTime options.

Lagging during recording: This is rare on M-series MacBook Pro but can happen if an external GPU or heavy GPU workload is active. Quit unnecessary GPU-intensive apps.

Notch appears as black bar in shared video: Record a selected region starting below the menu bar to eliminate the notch from the frame.