How to Record Your Computer Screen on Windows PC and Mac

Home >
Learn Center >
How to Record Your Computer Screen on Windows PC and Mac

Last Updated: Sep. 09, 2021

Summary

Here's how to record your computer screen on Windows or Mac using the online screen recorder for both the PC and Mac, the built-in tools on Windows & Mac, and third-party computer screen recording softwares.

Want to record your computer screen for a presentation at work or a how-to video for YouTube? Both Windows PC and macOS, coming with built-in tools, allow you to record your screen activity. Besides, many online screen recorders and third-party computer screen recording softwares can also help you do a screen-recording.

Now let's see how to use all available tools to record your computer screen on a PC & Mac.

Quick Navigation:

Part 1 Record Computer Screen Using Online Screen Recorder

Part 2 Record Computer Screen with Built-in Tools on a PC & Mac

2.1 Record Your Screen with the Windows Game Bar 2.2 Record Your Computer Screen on Mac

Part 3 Third-party Screen-capture Apps to Record Computer Screen

Part 1 Record the Computer Screen Using Free Online Screen Recorder

The first way recommended for you to record your computer screen is using the online screen recorder, RecordCast. It is the easiest computer screen recorder to capture the screen on a PC and Mac smoothly.

Frankly, many online computer screen recorders can be used to capture your screen. What makes RecordCast stand out is that it's entirely free to use and watermark-free. With a few clicks, you can start recording your entire screen, application windows, or Chrome Tab. Besides recording screen, webcam, and audio, RecordCast also allows you to make some edits to your recorded video, such as trimming, splitting, adding text and music, and more.

Record Now Edit a Video

Steps to record your screen with RecordCast both on a PC & Mac:

Step 1

Visit the RecordCast homepage on your browser and click Recording to start.

Image Board: Online Screen Recorder - RecordCast: Step 1

Step 2

Select a recording mode and click Next Step to choose one audio recording option, then click the Start Recording to capture your computer screen.

Image Board: Online Screen Recorder - RecordCast: Step 2

Well, though technically you can record any screen activities with ease by RecordCast, you have to bear in mind that any attempt to record a copyrighted online video/audio without permission from the owner is illegal. Meanwhile, if you distribute or make profits by selling these unauthorized copies, it also constitutes copyright infringement and will put you in trouble.

So before you use RecordCast, it's advisable to refer to the local law or get permission from the owner of the online video/audio in the first place. RecordCast is not liable for any intentional or unintentional copyright violation.

Part 2 Record Computer Screen with Built-in Tools on a PC & Mac

Whether you're working on a PC or Mac, you can capture your computer screen thanks to their built-in tools.

2.1 Record Your Screen with the Windows Game Bar

Game Bar, built into Windows 10, is primarily designed for gamers to record their gameplay. It can also be used for any open application, offering a convenient way to record the screen and even add audio if needed.

You can use Game Bar to record activity in most applications, except the Windows desktop, File Explorer, and specific Windows apps, such as Weather.

Pro Tip:

If you need to record some of the screens above, or not working with Windows 10, you can rely on some third-party screen-capture tools or free online screen recorders, like RecordCast.

To record your computer screen with Game Bar, follow the simple steps below:

Step 1

Go to Windows Menu > Settings > Gaming > Game bar and turn on the switch for Record game clips, screenshots, and broadcast using the Game bar. Check the top 5 game recorders online.

Image Board: Record Your Screen on Windows 10 via Game Bar

Step 2

Navigate to the screen you want to record and press the default keyboard shortcut to open the Game Bar: Win + G.

Step 3

Now, you'll see a pop-up Game Bar widget menu with three options: Capture, Audio, and Performance. Just click the record button to start recording your computer screen.

Image Board: Record Your Screen on Windows 10 via Game Bar

One thing to mention is that though Game Bar is quite user-friendly to record a gameplay like Minecraft, it doesn't have many video editing tools to edit your recordings. If you wanna speed up certain video footage or add video transitions, etc., using FlexClip's free video editing tools could be a viable option.

2.2 Record Your Computer Screen on Mac

Need to record your computer screen on a Mac? Here we'll share two ways for you to record your screen on your Mac:

Method 1: Record Your Screen Use Command + Shift + 5

If you're using macOS Mojave or higher, you can record your computer screen with its own screen-recording feature. Here's how:

Step 1

Press Shift + Command + 5 to bring up the screenshot toolbar.

Step 2

Then, the toolbar appears on the screen; you can choose to capture the entire screen, just the selected window, or a selected portion of the screen.

Image Board: Record Your Screen on Mac via Command + Shift + 5

Step 3

Click Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion to start recording your screen.

Method 2: Record Your Screen Use QuickTime Player

If you're running a version of macOS older than Mojave, you can start the screen recording directly from QuickTime Player.

Step 1

Open QuickTime Player from your Applications folder, then click File > New Screen Recording.

Image Board: Record Your Screen on Mac via QuickTime Player

Step 2

A new window labeled "Screen Recording" will pop up, and you can click the arrow next to the record button to change the recording settings.

Image Board: Record Your Screen on Mac via QuickTime Player

Step 3

To start recording, click the red record button first, then you can click anywhere on the screen to begin recording the entire screen, or you can drag to select an area to record, then click Start Recording within that area.

Find out how to use QuickTime to record internal audio and webcam.

Part 3 Third-party Screen Recording Softwares to Capture Your Screen

Besides the online screen recorder and the built-in tools, many third-party screen recording softwares are available to capture your computer screen, like OBS Studio, Free Cam, etc.

OBS Studio (Windows & Mac)

Compatible with Windows and macOS, OBS Studio proves to be the best and free computer screen recorder to help you record your screen activity, microphone, and computer audio, then saves the output as an MP4 file. It also has built-in streaming functions for those who want a live audience while recording.

Image Board: OBS Studio

Free Cam (Windows)

For a Windows user, Free Cam is an extremely basic screen recorder to capture the computer screen for free. It captures your screen activity and audio, then saves your recording as a WMV file.

Image Board: Free Cam Screen Recorder

Final Words

That's all for the best computer screen recorders and how to use them to capture your screen on PC and Mac. To sum it up, it's much easier to use RecordCast screen recorder than other ways on a PC and Mac to record your computer screen. Moreover, RecordCast gives you more options to edit your recordings.