How to screen record with your webcam on a Mac

To screen record with your webcam on a Mac, put a live camera window on screen and record the whole screen around it. The free way uses two built in apps: open QuickTime Player, choose File > New Movie Recording, turn on View > Float on Top, then press Shift-Command-5 and record. The camera window ends up in the recording with everything else.

Can you screen record with your webcam on a Mac?

Yes, though no single Apple tool does both at once. The Screenshot toolbar that Shift-Command-5 opens records the screen, and its Options menu covers where to save, a timer, the microphone, the floating thumbnail, the pointer and the capture format. Apple's documentation lists no camera option there. QuickTime Player can record the screen or the camera, and each recording holds one of them.

So there are two ways to get your face into a screen recording:

1. A camera window on screen. Any live camera preview that stays above your other windows gets captured by the screen recording, because the recorder saves whatever pixels are on the display. This works with the free Screenshot toolbar and with any other recorder.
2. A recorder that composites the camera itself. Dedicated recording apps draw the camera into the video file for you, often with editing on top. They replace the Screenshot toolbar rather than working alongside it.

The rest of this guide covers the first route, which costs nothing to try.

How to record your screen and face at the same time with QuickTime

QuickTime Player ships with every Mac, so this method costs nothing.

1. Open QuickTime Player and choose File > New Movie Recording. A live view from your camera appears in a window. If you have more than one camera, choose it from the Capture Device Selection menu next to the record button.
2. Choose View > Float on Top, so a checkmark appears beside it. The camera window now stays above your other apps.
3. Resize the window and drag it into a corner of the screen you are not going to use.
4. Press Shift-Command-5. Choose Record Entire Screen, or Record Selected Portion with the camera window inside the selection. Under Options, choose your microphone.
5. Click Record, give your demo, then click the stop button in the menu bar.

Leave QuickTime's own record button alone. The movie recording window is only there as a live preview, and the Screenshot toolbar does the recording.

This is the right answer if you record now and then. The cost is setup: two apps to arrange at the start of every session, and QuickTime's window to close afterwards so the camera turns off.

Does Presenter Overlay work for screen recordings?

Presenter Overlay is Apple's other built in option, and it is aimed at live calls. It places you in front of or beside the screen you share, in a small or large layout.

Apple lists its requirements as macOS Sonoma 14 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon, and its Mac Help page adds Continuity Camera with an iPhone 12 or later as another way in. You start it from the screen sharing feature of your video app, and Apple notes that if Presenter Overlay does not appear as an option, the app you are using does not support it.

Apple describes it only as a video call and screen sharing feature, and says nothing about recording a local screen with the Screenshot toolbar. If you present live in a call app that supports it, use it. For a tutorial or product demo you record on your own, a floating camera window is the direct route.

A floating camera window that stays out of your way

I build Preen, so weigh this section with that in mind. Preen is a menu bar camera app, and the button in the top right corner of its panel pops out a floating camera window built for exactly this job.

• It stays on top. The window floats above your other apps, appears on every Space, and stays visible over full screen apps.
• It does not take focus. Clicking or dragging the camera window leaves the app you are demoing active, so your next keystroke still lands where you expect.
• It has no window frame. The borderless window is just your camera at 16:9, and you can drag it anywhere by the video itself.
• Use the camera you already have. Pick the built in camera, a USB webcam, or an iPhone through Continuity Camera from the panel.

Preen does not record anything itself. It supplies the camera layer, and you record with Shift-Command-5 or whichever recorder you already use. Because it is an ordinary window on your display, it also appears when you share your entire screen in a call.

The floating window is included in Preen's free trial, so you can try it in your own recording setup before deciding. After the trial it needs a license.

Tips for a clean screen recording with your face

Switch to True view before you record. Preen shows a mirrored preview by default, the way a mirror does, and the recording saves the pixels exactly as the window shows them. With the mirror on, anything written behind you comes out backwards. Click True view in the panel and the window shows what your viewers should see.

Record the whole screen, or a region that includes the camera. A recording or screen share limited to a single window captures that window alone, so a camera floating above it is left out.

Give the camera an empty corner. The camera window covers whatever sits under it. Check where your app puts its buttons and menus before you start, and move the camera away from them.

Keep the pointer off your face. The pointer draws above every window, including the camera.

Check your microphone. Preen's Mic button mutes your Mac's default microphone input, so leave it unmuted while you record, and choose the right input in the Screenshot toolbar's Options menu.

Close the camera when you finish. Preen only runs the camera while its panel or floating window is open. Close the floating window with the panel's button, close the panel, and the camera light goes off.

Related reading: how to preview your camera on a Mac and why a Mac picks the wrong camera with Continuity Camera.