How to Record Your Screen on Mac, Windows and Chrome

Step-by-step screen recording for Mac, Windows 11, Chromebook and the browser. Record with system audio, your microphone and a webcam, then trim.

Screen recording went from a niche feature to something everyone does: bug reports, onboarding, support replies, product demos, course lessons. Every mainstream platform now has a recorder built in, and the browser can do it too, so you rarely need to install software. Here is how to record your screen on each platform, how to get audio and your webcam into the recording, and what to do before you share it.

The short answer: on a Mac press Shift + Command + 5, on Windows press Windows + Alt + R (Game Bar) or use Snipping Tool's video mode, on a Chromebook press Ctrl + Shift + Show windows and switch to video, and in any desktop browser use an online screen recorder.

Before you press record

Five minutes of preparation saves five takes.

Decide the scope. Whole screen, one window or one browser tab. A tab is the sharpest and the quietest: no notifications, no stray windows.
Clean the stage. Close chat apps, mute notifications (Focus on Mac, Do Not Disturb on Windows), hide bookmarks, and use a fresh browser profile if your bookmarks bar is personal.
Set a size. 1920×1080 is the safe default. If the video is going to phones, record a narrow window or plan to export at 9:16 (see vertical screen recording).
Write three bullet points for what you are going to show. Even a 60-second clip benefits from a plan; it stops the "um, let me find it" moments.

How to record your screen on a Mac

Press Shift + Command + 5. The screenshot toolbar appears at the bottom.
Choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion and drag the box if you picked a portion.
Open Options to pick a microphone, show mouse clicks, set a timer, and choose where to save.
Click Record. A stop button appears in the menu bar; click it (or press Shift + Command + 5 again) when you are done.
The file is a .mov saved to the Desktop. Open it in QuickTime to trim with Command + T.

macOS does not capture system audio by itself. To include the sound of the app you are recording, use an audio-loopback driver or record in the browser, where sharing a tab includes the tab's audio.

How to record your screen on Windows 11

Windows gives you two built-in routes.

Snipping Tool (video mode)

Open Snipping Tool, click the video camera icon, then New.
Drag a region, choose the microphone and whether to include system audio.
Click Start. Pause and stop from the small toolbar. The recording is saved as an MP4 in Videos → Screen Recordings.

Game Bar

Press Windows + G to open Game Bar, or Windows + Alt + R to start recording the active window immediately.
Toggle the microphone from the capture widget.
Recordings go to Videos → Captures. Game Bar only records one app window, not the desktop or File Explorer.

How to record your screen on a Chromebook

Press Ctrl + Shift + Show windows (the key in the F5 position).
Switch the capture bar from camera to video, then pick full screen, partial or window.
The settings gear lets you turn on the microphone and the camera overlay.
Click to start; stop from the tray. The .webm file is saved to Downloads.

How to record your screen in Chrome, Edge or Firefox

Browser recording works on every desktop operating system and needs no install, which makes it the easiest answer when you are on a work laptop or helping someone remotely.

Open an online screen recorder and click Share screen.
In the browser's picker choose a tab, a window or the entire screen. Tick Share audio on a tab to capture what the page plays.
Turn on your microphone, pick a layout (screen only or screen with a camera bubble), and hit Record. Most tools give you a 3-second countdown.
Stop when you are done. You get a preview and a download (.webm), or you save it to your library to trim, caption and share a link.

The limits are the ones of the web platform: the recording is held in memory, so keep single takes under 30 minutes, and iPhones cannot share their screen to a web page at all (use the built-in iOS recorder from Control Center instead).

Recording with audio

There are two audio sources and people mix them up:

Microphone: your voice. Every recorder can capture it; the quality depends on the mic. A headset or a USB mic beats the laptop array, and recording in a quiet room beats both.
System audio: what the computer plays. Windows Snipping Tool and tab sharing in the browser capture it; macOS needs a loopback driver.

If you want narration but hate talking live, record silent and add a voice-over afterwards. Our guide to screen recording with voice-over covers scripts, timing and AI voices.

Recording with your webcam

A face in the corner makes explanations warmer and keeps attention. Options:

Camera bubble: a round camera overlay bottom-left or bottom-right of the screen. The standard for async updates.
Side by side: screen on one side, camera on the other. Good for teaching.
Camera only for intros and outros, cut together with the screen part.

Chromebooks have a camera toggle in the capture bar; Mac and Windows need a third-party or browser recorder for an overlay. The online video recorder composes camera and screen in the browser, including a 9:16 layout for mobile.

After you stop recording

Trim the first and last seconds: the click on Record and the reach for Stop.
Add captions. Many viewers watch muted, and captions help search inside the video.
Add a title card so the video has a name when it is embedded.
Pick the format. 16:9 for docs and desktop, 9:16 for Shorts, Reels and TikTok, 1:1 for feeds.
Share a link rather than a file. A 2-minute 1080p recording is 50–150 MB; a link plays anywhere and you can update the video later without resending.

Screen recorders compared

Recorder	Platforms	System audio	Webcam overlay	Output
macOS Screenshot toolbar	Mac	No (needs loopback)	No	.mov
Windows Snipping Tool	Windows 11	Yes	No	.mp4
Xbox Game Bar	Windows	Yes	No	.mp4 (one window)
Chromebook capture	ChromeOS	Tab/system	Yes	.webm
Browser recorder (takeascreen.com)	Any desktop	Tab audio	Yes, with layouts	.webm, share link

Let the recording make itself

For walkthroughs of websites, there is a faster route than recording by hand. On takeascreen.com you describe the video ("how to export invoices from our billing page, with a voice-over"), and an AI agent opens the site in its own browser, records the steps, writes the narration and adds the voice. You get a share link, and you can restyle the result with a layout, a presenter avatar or a mobile frame. Try it for a dollar, or keep it simple with the free screen recorder.

Frequently asked questions

How do I record my screen with sound on a Mac?

Use Shift + Command + 5 and choose your microphone under Options for your voice. For the sound of apps, install a loopback audio driver or record in the browser with tab audio sharing.

Does Windows 11 have a built-in screen recorder?

Yes, two: Snipping Tool (video mode, any region, with system audio) and Xbox Game Bar (Windows + Alt + R, one app window).

Can I record my screen without installing anything?

Yes. Any desktop Chrome, Edge or Firefox can record a tab, window or screen through a web page such as the free online screen recorder. Nothing is uploaded unless you choose to save it.

A share link. If you need a file, MP4 (H.264) plays everywhere; WebM is what browsers record natively and converts to MP4 in one step.

Next: how to take a screenshot when a still image says it better.