How to Create a Screencast with a Mac – 5 Great Apps
Have you ever watched an online video tutorial, or record a screencast of what you’re doing on your Mac screen? Ever wondered how to create one of these yourself? Of course getting the right software is part of the mix, but many users don’t even know where to begin.
Fortunately, there are many options available for capturing screen casts of OS X, one option is even bundled into the Mac! So regardless of what you are planning on doing and what version of software is running on your Mac, you will have options for recording your very own screencasts.
Let’s review a few of the top choices for creating screencasts on Mac.
Creating Mac ScreenCasts with QuickTime
First up is my personal favorite, simply because it requires no additional downloads and every Mac comes with it: QuickTime. Yes Quicktime, the movie playing app, can also capture screen casts! This is a hidden feature of sorts, but it’s great and it creates a .mov file that you can then edit, import into iMovie, upload to YouTUbe, or whatever else you wish to do with the screen cast.
QuickTime screen casting is great and easy to use, it’s a good starting point for novice users to try things out, but even pro users like myself use Quicktime for capturing screencasts simply because it’s there on every version of OS X without having to get added software.
4 Great Mac Screencast Apps: ScreenFlow, SnapzPro, LiceCAP, & Reflector
If QuickTime isn’t enough for you or you want some pro features with less reliance on apps like iMovie to edit your screen cast, other popular choices are SnapzPro and ScreenFlow, and for iOS screencasts the app called Reflector, each are paid apps but have demo versions to test out.
- Check out ScreenFlow for Mac is a pro solution for many Mac OS X users serious about making screencasts
- Check out Snapz Pro for Mac is compatible with many versions of Mac OS X and is great for many users
- Check out Reflector to record an iPhone or iPad screen, this runs in Mac OS X and is perfect for capturing iOS device screencasts on versions that don’t have Quicktime support
- BONUS app! Record animated GIF screencasts with Mac OS X LiceCAP, this is a great free option if you want to generate animated GIF files of screen casts directly from the Mac
For the latter options, you’ll find there’s much more to a good screencast than just having Snapz Pro. To create a high quality screencast like those at Murphymac straight from your Mac’s desktop with third party applications you’ll want to explore each application a bit and set up your workspace for capturing content. It’s worth a read, but really you should explore the apps yourself and see which one is right for you. For many users, myself included, QuickTime is sufficient for screen casts, but ScreenFlow has benefits that are hard to beat, and SnapzPro is compatible with earlier versions of OS X which can be very helpful for many Mac users as well. Finally, Reflector can handle iOS screen casting to the Mac for versions of both OS X and iOS that don’t support direct-to-Quicktime screen recording.
Do you use QuickTime for screen casting, or do you use a third party app like Snapz Pro or Screen Flow? Do you have another solution? Let us know!
