Best **FREE** Screen Recorder For Mac?

Here’s a FREE, simple and straightforward way to record your Mac screen - including computer or system sound, voice-over, and face cam - using just OBS Studio for Mac. This tutorial requires macOS 13 Ventura or higher and the latest version of OBS Studio for Mac (28.x.x or higher).
This video is NOT sponsored.
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00:00 - QuickTime Limitations
00:54 - Free Screen Recording
01:25 - Requirements
01:55 - Download OBS
02:50 - Setup Canvas
04:28 - Adding Scenes
05:15 - Add Screen Capture Source
08:52 - Add Camera Source
11:37 - Add Microphone
12:49 - Set Up Recording
14:21 - Recording
15:35 - Recording Playback
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Tools I use to make my videos (Affiliate links):
==========✳️ CAMERA GEAR ✳️==========
Sony Alpha 6400 | APS-C Mirrorless Camera amzn.to/32NP7JR
Sony SEL20F28 E Mount - APS-C 20mm F2.8 Wide Angle Prime Lens amzn.to/2TfKAx3
Sigma 16mm f/1.4 DC DN Contemporary Lens amzn.to/36Lhgp2
Elgato Cam Link 4K Compact HDMI Capture Device, USB 3.0 amzn.to/3v5NxgU
==========✳️ AUDIO GEAR ✳️==========
Rode VideoMic NTG On-Camera Shotgun Microphone amzn.to/3zhqLWm
Elgato Wave: 3 USB Condenser Microphone and Digital Mixer for Streaming, Recording, Podcasting amzn.to/3fnsQaJ
Rode VideoMic GO II amzn.to/3uQekzu
RODE NT-USB Mini Condenser Microphone amzn.to/3NMdTh7
==========✳️ LIGHTING GEAR ✳️==========
Elgato Key Light, Professional Studio LED Panel amzn.to/2OSbNjW
Corsair Elgato Light Strip RGB LEDs amzn.to/3zZaGW4
==========✳️ PRODUCTION SOFTWARE ✳️==========
Screenflow 10 bit.ly/screenflowEditing
Final Cut Pro
iMovie
Apple Keynote
Ecamm Live Free Trial: bit.ly/myecamm
***********************************************
TWITTER ➔ / michaelkinney
#obs #screenrecorder #mactutorial
DISCLOSURE: I often link to products & services I regularly use and think you might find helpful. To support this channel, I use affiliate links wherever possible, which means if you click one of the links in this video or description and make a purchase I may receive a small commission or other compensation.

[@MarvinLiyanage]

You're great at explaining things and I love how clear and straightforward the video was. Thanks Michael!

[@shutterbug49]

You are for sure a gifted instructor. You make outstanding video tutorials; easy to follow and simply put forward for even a novice like myself to understand. Thank you Michael.

[@MacVideoMagic]

You're very welcome!

[@gwkoglin7516]

Been using OBS for a short time... timely video - clear and to the point... didn't know I could record computer audio. Thanks Michael.

[@peterhubbard7665]

Brilliant tutorial! I'm just starting down this path of recording content and this has been the clearest tutorial video I've seen. Thanks.

[@TwinCarry]

Sir you have a talent! I watch tutorial videos all the time and YOU have a gift to explain process with clarity, simplicity, perfect tone and pacing. I hope you teach for a living! Thank you so much!

[@AmrMiqdadi]

Thank you so much for this comprehensive video. short and to the point

[@mp34054]

Thanks for sharing this easy to follow and beginner friendly intro to OBS.

[@jvolz283]

I love your videos; they are concise and informative! Great job!

[@azaramirli2601]

well done sir. quick, step-by-step and thorough. thank you

[@Mattguitarmania]

Thank you Michael! I’ve always enjoyed your videos and this is definitely the best and simplest tutorial for OBS that I have watched, and I’ve watched several. Thank you for making it clear, simple and very practical. I would love to see more videos on OBS

[@natalierosemartin]

Your teaching style is clear and direct. thank you!

[@BowenCenter]

Thank you, sir! Excellent video and tutorial!

[@YY-ds6pt]

Well done. Very clear and straightforward.

[@vineyardchickshomestead]

This is great! We've relied on you for som many iMovie tips and tricks and this video is HUGE. We just started using OBS for streaming live music and it is a bit limiting for live streaming in terms of what we can display on the screen during the live. Just using an intro video that we manually play at the beginning and an overly but I'm sure there is so much more we could be doing. Checking out your playlist for OBS next but we'd love to see you do more on OBS if you have not already. Thanks so much for all you do!

[@MacVideoMagic]

You're welcome. I'm a fan of OBS and would love to do more OBS for Mac tutorials if people are interested.

[@charley3849]

Great information, great presentation! I had used OBS years ago, but I didn’t know it was capable of doing this kind of screen recording, thank you so much!

[@SeeYouUpTheRoad]

Wonderful video thank you so much!

[@dawnboden]

Thank you! Love your passion and natural talent to teach. You have inspired me

[@BrainDeadTX]

Awesome tutorial, thank you!

[@BrianMCollyer]

Great explanation very easy to follow - I did not like the idea of downloading another plugin. Thanks for pointing this out, the how-to.

[@joshuafinch9192]

I'm brushing up on my novice screen recording skills and have to say, these are some of the very best software tutorials I have come across. Thank you so much for not skipping steps and having a great sense of humor!

[@MacVideoMagic]

Glad you like them!

[@Peace.Love.God.]

Thank you for the great free content!

[@PCHUANG-yk9pw]

You have done a fine job, so professional and accessible.

[@SanthoshRadhakrishnan]

Thank you, that was much helpful

[@FYT9]

Awseome… you make it easy to understand - thank you!

[@timsellsted521]

Super helpful explanation!

[@navarrov]

Thank you for sharing this! I was about to purchase software for this, so you saved me money :)

[@johnvanderkieftiv7327]

Rockstar! Great Tutorial as always!!!

[@FedericoAmbrosi]

nice video really helpful thanks man!

[@dianam3251]

Great instructions from beginning to end for someone just looking simply to record the screen. I would note that it also makes the files smaller than QuickTime Player, so it takes up a LOT less space on the Mac. Even when I increase the bit rate. And I would suggest maybe a short video explaining some of the settings, especially how to balance a good quality image vs a smaller file. I played around and got to something I like but I don’t know what the settings really mean and whether I can improve the quality even more while keeping the file still smaller than those produced by QuickTime Player’s.

[@KarimBenabd]

Thank you for this great video and tutorial 👍

[@franknelson791]

Fantastic video and discovering OBS is a total solution for a project I'm working on.

[@psychicgayboy]

thank you bro! you really helped me alot!! I just bought a MacBook Air m1 at the beginning of this year 2023 and ive been looking for a screen recorder and now I found one that works amazing thanks to you! much love

[@tabhorian]

Thanks man. good explanation

[@DreamPartnersMedia]

Fantastic video. Was exactly the solution I needed.

[@MacVideoMagic]

Glad it helped

[@WoodworkJourney]

Great tutorial 👍👍

[@ctrchg]

Your videos are great! Thanks.

[@vishalkalal9657]

Perfect Tutorial for OBS, Thanks a ton

[@DragonMarketing717]

Awesome content! Amazing audio quality, clear, and great step by step instruction. Gifted teacher & leader! Have a blessed & abundant day 🙏

[@MacVideoMagic]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@Dynamofoe]

Very helpful and concise- great video thank you! 🙏🏽

[@MacVideoMagic]

Glad it was helpful!

[@BigVezy]

Great video man, thanks a lot!

[@josippuskaric9440]

this is great, thank you

[@derekbarr4763]

Great piece of software. I use it for Zoom to display scroller and lower thirds.

[@mycloudvip]

So thankful for finding your channel and content! Can the corner shot from your live camera stream be made into a circular shape? Do you have tutorials on how to work with green screen with this very app as well as blurring your background, lower thirds ... all that good stuff! Thanks

[@hubLINGUA]

Thank you so much!

[@kudamah]

Great vid... thanks

[@emanuilspasov3678]

This is killer. Thank you.

[@derekhollingsworth9604]

You are an articulate gifted teacher. Well Done & Thank you!!

[@MacVideoMagic]

Wow, thank you!

[@tigress1girl]

Great video! how did you switched between screens in this video though? (full screen of you and then back to the obs recording)

[@floriangruber9678]

Thanks for this video!!!

[@raven-chan2071]

Ty for this video :)

[@alittlecoding]

helpful video thanks

[@Macsnapshot]

Thank you for your excellent tutorials. You are gifted in such a way, that you explain everything so quick and easily for me to understand.😌

[@MacVideoMagic]

Glad it was helpful!

[@ProduceWithGibbs]

This was exactly what I was looking for! After about an hour of searching 🤦. Thank you!

[@MacVideoMagic]

No problem!

[@stephenshomo2049]

Yes. I'd like to see more OBS tutorials. Thx

[@geoterminus6040]

Thank You!

[@AungAung-xb7fo]

great tutorial thanks a lot

[@MacVideoMagic]

You're welcome!

[@urdecisionisurs]

Great video, excellent

[@aminoacids13]

Thhnx! Do you know how you can select just a selection of the screen that you want to record? Just like you can do in QuickTime? I dont want to record the whole screen but just a selection of a Web page for example

[@alienwisconsin]

Michael, I just gotta say THANK YOU! You are extremely helpful and a wonderful communicator, one of the best on here. I rolled my eyes when you said OBS and then you read my mind as I was thinking "The thing for gamers?" it was eerie and funny. So keep up the great content.

[@weverton.santiago]

Thanks so much

[@DeejaySISQO]

thanks for all this info but I have a question , what if I want to record screen from right angle or left or or , is there a way for that ?

[@jriis2010]

Great video and you are such a great presenter. I have followed your guide and so far it works. I have problems with my camera (Elgato Face Cam) in the sense that my movements are mirrored, so i turn left when moving my face right and vice versa. How do i set the camera recording to act properly ?

[@MacVideoMagic]

Elgato Face Cam software should have a setting for that.

[@brianhudson7058]

GREAT VIDEO

[@guappo_wood]

Do you have to use black hole still and is this working with fl studio too👀 nice video

[@bobchesker2820]

I am glad to see you with a new full review. I wanted to ask if there will be more manuals for imovie or has this direction been postponed for a long time (or until a global update)?

[@MacVideoMagic]

More iMovie tutorials coming.

[@LarryLobo]

Amazing!

[@Goomer]

Excellent

[@gezapapp-vid9749]

Your presentation put me on the right track to record streaming videos. Thank you. I encountered a challenge that I could solve by changing Safari to Opera browser. Namely, Safari could not play the video when OBS was in memory. Opera has a feature that enhances the video quality. LUCID MODE. When enabled, the video played, when disabled, I viewed a BLACK SCREEN. Audio was audible. I wonder if there is/are OBS settings that may overcome this idiosyncrasy. The video blocking occurred when the source of videos was an archive of old recordings (50 years +).

[@issiewizzie]

How were you able to zoom in to portions of the screen and out to highlight particular areas?

[@salahharoon4192]

Great tutorial (Y)

[@MacVideoMagic]

Glad you liked it!

[@WMAJacademy]

awesome video

[@crustycheesegirl]

thank u so much

[@DLGNT]

Is it possible to do this with macOS Monterey or lower?

[@VJ-Syd]

Can I simultaneously listen in Airpod while recording going on (Video + Audio) ....and the Output having both Video + Audio ?

[@trapics1874]

I only watched your video only for screen capture and that's all so I might miss out on things. On the OBS window, it would randomly freeze and I would be afraid to start recording as if it might break my computer. If its normal for that to happen then ill be glad.

[@CreativeRecipeswithKaren]

Your videos have helped me for some time now. Thanks. I have MacOS Monterey. Can it work? Or can I download Ventura.

[@MacVideoMagic]

According to the OBS developers, you need to be running macOS 13 Ventura or later to get the direct system audio capture I show in the tutorial. They may be working on it for older operating systems. Depending on the age of your Mac, Ventura should be a free upgrade.

[@christianoland1983]

I'm trying to find one that is super quick and easy to open up, and can also record videos that aren't 8000GBs... Would OBS be your suggestion for that? Imagine like... easy / quick to open and lightweight like zoom recordings... for quickly recording webinars / seminars at a moments notice.

[@dipendutta2259]

Your articulation is remarkable and you make it easy to understand. I am requesting that you please make a tutorial for GarageBand to create simple background music for iMovie and importing a song and add music in it. Thank you so much!

[@MacVideoMagic]

Great suggestion!

[@WrvrUgoThrUR]

Great option. You can also use QuickTime and a USB-C audio dongle with 1/8th mic and headphone jacks looped back into itself for audio recording. The audio source will then become USB Audio Device from the MacOS audio menu.

[@MacVideoMagic]

Cool solution! Gonna have to try that one.

[@WrvrUgoThrUR]

@@MacVideoMagic sure. I recommend Sabrent USB-C audio dongles. You can also use a headphone split to tap off of the USB-C dongle’s headphone Jack to monitor the audio with headphones and using the other side of the y-tap back into the dongle for recording as mentioned before.

[@Maharinii]

Can we choose low quality for recording?

[@KingPorter]

@Micheal Kinney What if I don't see an option for Mac OS screen screen capture in the menu???

[@Ga2-20]

What about capturing fullscreen from e.g. KZbin? Or Capture Desktop? With only one screen device which is Macbook screen. This is the issue I am struggling with long time :/ Do you have any ideas how to record those kind of screens?

[@DevanshuUgale]

thanks you it help me to record my meet class😅

[@yal1ncey]

amazing

[@dannhagstrom586]

Yes, I’d love some more videos on OBS. I’m going to be recording some two camera art demo videos and it looks like a good solution. The clear and concise Michael Kinney style will make them very useful.

[@Dynamofoe]

Second this thought for multi-cam option would be helpful!

[@KingPorter]

Is MacOS Big Sur okay for OBS?

[@ivankurniadi2666]

Wonderful tutorial! Can you advise on how to record full screen, say, from zoom? Each time I turn the zoom or youtube to full screen OBS seems to not be able to record it (screen turns black, works fine if the app being recorded is not in full screen). I can do this without a hassle in windows but mac seems to be more challenging. Would love your advise on this. Thanks!

[@pradeep_marketer]

I'm Using a Vmaker Mac screen recorder to record all my videos, and the Vmaker Mac recorder supports macOS 10.14 (Mojave), macOS 10.15 (Catalina), macOS 11.1 (BigSur), macOS 12 (Monterey), and macOS 13 (Ventura).

[@derekhollingsworth9604]

Ok. I went ahead and started using OBS but quickly hit a wall because there doesn't appear to be any way to edit the recordings. I noticed you have a lot of tricks and tips videos but what I really need is a zero to hero course on a screen recorder so I can record videos and then cut and splice them. I have spent days trying to figure this out without success. I wish you had such a course. Any advice

[@Chaudharyashif]

You’re awesome.

[@bulcub]

are you using a dual or 3 monitor setup? or obs setup on another machine?

[@mcbridemuleya7182]

Great video. I am using MacOS Ventura 13. When I start recording, there are two cursors on my screen, as such, the cursor on the Window captured can't click only the one on the cursor controlling OBS works. What can I do to fix this?

[@MacVideoMagic]

Are you using Window Capture or Display Capture?

[@HerveDaCosta]

Goodness. Please create an OBS mini course! I'll buy it. I have difficulty using it with Zoom. The audio is complex, I cannot hear myself etc. Please, help!

[@muhammadsarmadhussain3400]

The audio recording is stereo or mono?

[@TheCreativeIncomeLife]

Can OBS record separate webcam and screen? Sometimes I may want to go from full webcam back to corner. I edit in Final Cut but prefer the separate files for more customization.

[@MacVideoMagic]

Not out of the box. I think there are OBS plugins that can do that (isolation recording).

[@dkramerga]

When I added my sources the properties did not automatically display as on your video

[@m.j.mcintear793]

I tried to open it and it said its no application open to open the file and i mistakingly opened photos and if does support mkv. Where do i find quicklook like you opened and played to test. I hate recording hours just to know later its no sound lol

[@Furybeatsgme]

didnlt get an option for macos screen capture

[@salah458]

wow I have just installed this software and it's pretty amazing ! however I keep having black borders around my screen despite keeping everything te default, need to play with the resolution a bit to fill the screen ! if you have any tips about that please enlighten me ! and thank you so much for the video, I liked and subscribed :) update : I have figured it out in 10 minutes ! I dont have a background with this kind of software or with recording/streaming at all, so this goes to show that you can easily find your way around this software, also, watch Mike's video and pay attention to details as it will help you so much with navigating quickly through the app. I have downloaded OBS at noon and now it's 1:25 pm, so it took me 1 hour and half to figure it all out and be all-set to record my sessions! thanks Mike for the amazing video ! godspeed

[@secretsolutions-ti9gw]

Thank you very much for sharing this tip with. I just installed OBS on my MacBook Air M1. (MacOs Ventura 13.2.1) Since I was not sure I had downloaded the Silicon version, I uninstalled everything again and downloaded and installed the Silicon version directly from the OBS website. Everything opened and I gave MacOS screenshot as source. Now for my problem. I don't get my screen that I want to transfer on the Canvas, but the program from OBS. And that too in endless overlapping windows. Similar to Time Machine. Can someone please help me? What did I do wrong?

[@MacVideoMagic]

Are you using just your MacBook Air screen, or are you using a second monitor? If you're not using a second monitor, you can minimize the OBS interface before recording your screen by going up to the OBS icon in the top menu and selecting "Hide". Otherwise, you can try using a different screen capture method from the macOS screen capture options, like Window or Application capture.

[@-musiclee-]

Can you pick a window Let’s say a Google meets meeting Hit record. Then I move the window. Or minimize And it keeps recording the selected Google meets window? Which is technically not on screen if minimized ???

[@ML-hg1jq]

I downloaded OBS 30.0.2 for Mac M1 Silicon. I got as far as 5:51 in your video and discovered the newer OBS does not have the same properties window and there is nowhere I can select method-->display capture. When I press record, nothing records. Would you please make a new video about *simple* screen and internal audio recording for the new OBS Mac version? thank you! :)

[@2rockintwins]

I'm having this same issue