How to Screen Record on Mac and Windows

Want to start recording your computer screen like a pro? It’s easier than you might think!

Your Mac or PC already has built-in tools that can get the job done. And there are some browser-based tools, like Wistia’s screen and webcam recorder, that can help you create higher-quality, professional-looking screen recordings.

If you’re ready to learn the ins and outs of your computer’s built-in screen recording tools and Wistia’s screen and webcam recorder, let’s dig in!

How to record your screen and webcam on any computer

Wistia’s screen and webcam recorder makes it super easy to create high-quality screen recordings and turn them into engaging marketing assets. Here’s how:

1. If you’re a Wistia user, head over to the Studio to start a new recording. If you don’t have an account with us, no worries! You can still try it out. All you have to do is go to the Wistia video recorder and press “Get instant access.”
2. Choose your screen, webcam, and mic settings.
3. Hit the “Start Recording” button at the bottom right of your screen.
4. Wait for the three-second countdown …  and record your screen!

Once you’re done with your recording, it’s automatically saved to your Wistia account. That means you can dive right into the editing process as soon as you stop recording. If you don’t have a Wistia account yet, go ahead and create one if you want to save and edit your recording.

How to screen record on a Mac

Your Mac comes with QuickTime Player, a multimedia player that offers screen recording capabilities. To activate it, press Shift+Command+5. When the video recorder bar appears, choose your settings and then select “Record Entire Screen” or “Record Selected Portion.”

QuickTime can be convenient for quick screen captures, but it has a few limitations. The screen recorder cannot record your screen and webcam simultaneously, it can only save your recordings as .mov files, and you can only trim your recordings.

How to screen record on Windows

A Windows PC offers a built-in screen recording tool called the Snipping Tool. Simply open the Snipping Tool, choose the camera icon, select “New,” set your recording area, and press “Start” to start recording. Don’t forget to hit “Save” when you’re done!

While the Snipping Tool’s screen recording feature is good enough for quick captures on a Windows PC, it comes with some limitations. For starters, you can’t record your screen and webcam at the same time. And there isn’t much as far as editing features go. The video quality isn’t that great, either.

How to edit your screen recordings

Whether you record your screen with Wistia or locally on a Mac or Windows computer, the Wistia editor makes trimming your recordings a breeze.

Open the recording in the Wistia editor. Here you can split, trim, stitch, and add transitions and background music to polish up your video in a snap. If you want to dive deeper into how to edit videos with Wistia, we’ve got you covered!

Share your screen recordings

When your recording is ready to make its grand debut, there is no need to go through the hassle of downloading it. Since your video’s already hosted on Wistia, you can embed it on your site, publish it to social, and send it to anyone you want via a direct link. Here’s how:

1. Embed your screen recording on your site

When you create a Wistia recording, an embed code is automatically generated for you. To grab the code, open the video and select the blue “Embed & Share” button above it. From there, you can choose between an inline embed code or a popover embed code.

2. Publish it to social

Connect your Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn accounts to Wistia and easily share your recording across these platforms with Wistia’s Publish to Social feature. Say goodbye to hopping between social platforms!

3. Send direct links

Just grab that Wistia URL from your browser and send it anywhere you want. This is a great way to share a private video link. Speaking of which, Wistia offers two more ways to share your video privately: password protect your video or grant access to certain users.

Track the engagement of your recording

Once you share your recording with the world, you can use Wistia’s built-in video analytics to track its performance and adjust your video marketing strategy if needed. Wistia shows statistics like play rate and engagement rate.

Improve the engagement of your screen recordings

Wondering how to improve the way folks engage with your screen recordings? Try these tips!

• A/B test different thumbnails for the same video to see which one performs best.
• Customize the player to increase the play rate.
• Place a Call to Action in your recording and experiment with its placement throughout the video.
• Add an email collector form to convert viewers into customers.
• Adjust your content or recording length to help with engagement.