How to record your screen and webcam at the same time on Mac

Can a Mac record the screen and the camera together?

Free route: QuickTime's camera window over a screen recording

A lot of teachers picked this up in 2020, and it still works. You don't record the camera at all: you keep its preview on top and let a screen recording film it.

1. Open QuickTime Player and choose File → New Movie Recording. A window opens with your camera's live picture. You don't need to click its Record button.
2. Click the arrow beside the Record button and choose the camera, if you have more than one.
3. With the camera window in front, choose View → Float on Top, so a checkmark appears next to it.
4. Drag a corner to make the window smaller, drag it to a corner of the screen, then move the pointer away so its controls fade.
5. Press ⇧⌘5, choose the entire screen or a portion that includes the camera window, pick a microphone under Options, and click Record. Stop with the Stop button in the menu bar or ⌃⌘Esc.

A note on step 3. Apple's QuickTime Player guide documents Float on Top for a movie window, "in front of all other onscreen windows", and its movie recording page doesn't mention it (both checked 15 October 2026, guide versions up to macOS 27 Golden Gate). University help pages use the same command on the camera window; check the View menu with the camera window in front before a long take.

The trade-offs: it's a rectangle, its controls show whenever the pointer crosses it, it covers whatever is behind it, and it's in the picture for good. To keep the option of moving it, also click QuickTime's Record button and line up the two files in an editor such as iMovie. Photo Booth also records camera clips, but its guide lists no way to keep its window in front (checked 15 October 2026).

Does Presenter Overlay work for a screen recording?

Not as Apple documents it. Presenter Overlay arrived with macOS 14 Sonoma, and Apple's Mac User Guide (macOS 27 version, checked 15 October 2026) describes a video-call feature: on a Mac with Apple silicon, or with an iPhone 12 or later as a Continuity Camera webcam, you share your screen in an app that captures video, such as FaceTime, and pick an option from the Video menu in the menu bar. Small puts "a movable bubble that shows a cropped view of you" within your shared screen; Large makes you "the most prominent feature".

Apple's page doesn't mention recording at all. The overlay is what the call sends; ⇧⌘5 records your screen, which is a different picture. If the meeting is the video you want, test the call app's own recorder, since whether the overlay lands in its file is up to the app.

Free route: OBS Studio

OBS Studio is free and open source, and the camera goes into the recording's canvas, not onto your screen. Its knowledge base lists the Video Capture Device source for webcams and capture cards on macOS (checked 15 October 2026).

1. In OBS Studio, add a macOS Screen Capture source for the display, window or app you want to show.
2. Add a Video Capture Device source and choose your camera from its Device list. macOS asks for Camera access for OBS the first time.
3. Keep the camera above the screen in the Sources list, then drag and resize it in the preview to where it should sit.
4. For a round camera, right-click the camera source, choose Filters, and add an Image Mask/Blend filter with a circle image.
5. Set your microphone in Settings → Audio and click Start Recording.

The cost is the setup: a scene, a canvas, an output format and a mask image to make yourself. The camera is still baked into the one video OBS writes. For sound, see our guide to screen recording with audio on a Mac.

Which apps add a camera bubble for you?

Per each maker's site, as read for our Screen Studio alternatives page on 15 October 2026 unless dated otherwise.

• Loom records the screen and a camera bubble you can shape and filter, and the video is a link the moment you stop. If the video's job is to replace a meeting, it's the better tool; a free Starter plan, paid plans per user. loom.com
• CleanShot X adds a camera to its recordings, and since version 5.0 (1 September 2026) its Studio Mode lets you adjust the camera after recording. Its Studio Mode page does not list camera layouts. Basic is a one-time purchase, Pro a subscription (as read on 21 September 2026). See Snapline vs CleanShot X.
• Screen Studio has the deepest camera feature list here: layouts (fullscreen, split, overlay, screen only and a cutout), background removal and face tracking on your Mac. It is a monthly or yearly subscription. screen.studio
• Cap is the open-source answer. Its Studio mode records the screen, camera and microphone on separate tracks, and the editor offers camera layouts including split screen, a floating camera and camera only. Free for personal use. cap.so

A camera bubble that stays in frame: Snapline

Snapline is the app this page's author makes, so weigh this section accordingly. Its Camera Bubble is a real window on your screen showing the camera's mirrored live picture, like QuickTime's, with the problems of the window trick taken care of. It's off by default.

1. Press ⌥⌘R (rebindable) and choose a region, a window or a display.
2. On the Record Screen bar, click the Camera toggle. The chevron beside it picks which camera: a built-in, a USB camera or an iPhone as a Continuity Camera.
3. The first time, macOS asks for Camera access. If it is refused, the toggle stays off and the recording can still start.
4. Drag the bubble where you want it and resize it by the handle on its rim. Hover it for two more badges: one switches between a circle and a rounded rectangle, the other picks a border style.
5. Record and stop as usual. The bubble is in the movie exactly where you left it.

The border presets run from Hairline (the default) to Brand gradient and Soft glow, and Settings → Recording → Camera bubble edits the width, colour, gradient and glow. The toggle, shape, placement and camera are remembered. What separates it from a floating window:

• It never leaves the recording. It stops at the edges of the recorded area, and in a small region it shrinks to fit. On a window recording it follows the window as it moves.
• A zoom never magnifies it. The camera is drawn into the frames after the zoom, so pressing Zoom (⌥⌘Z) mid-take enlarges your screen while your face stays put, as does the keystroke capsule.
• A lost camera doesn't cost you the take. The bubble fades out with a notice and the recording carries on.

A Quick Recording, the default, is finished when you stop: the bubble is part of the picture, mirrored as you saw it. To rearrange the camera later, record a Studio take.

In a Snapline Studio take: the camera as its own part

On a Mac with Apple silicon, flip the Record Screen bar's switch from Quick to Studio. The bubble shows on screen the same way, but it is never filmed into the screen: the camera is recorded as a part of its own, on the same clock, and where the bubble last settled is where the editor first places it.

• The Camera section (⌘5) shows or hides it, mirrors it or not, and gives it a shape (Circle, Rounded Square, Square, Horizontal, Vertical or Original), a size, a roundness, a shadow and a border. Drag it on the preview to move it.
• Layouts (⌘6) are bands on the timeline: Desktop (the camera over the screen), Split (side by side, camera left or right), Mobile (camera above or below, for 9:16), Camera Only and Screen Only. In Split and Mobile the camera takes 25 to 50 percent. Each layout starts with a Cut or a Smooth move of 0.2 to 1.5 seconds, so a video can open on your face and cut to the screen.
• Zooms skip it, and wherever the camera was off or lost, every layout shows the screen alone, never a frozen face.

What Studio doesn't do: a take records one camera, never two, and the Studio page lists no background removal or face tracking, which Screen Studio has. Studio is included in every Snapline license and the trial.

Snapline is free to try in full for 14 days, then a one-time license, and requires macOS 14 or later. Screen Recording is the one permission a recording requires; Camera is asked for only when you turn the camera on. Download Snapline and put yourself in the corner of your next recording.

Troubleshooting

The camera isn't listed

• Reconnect a USB camera, then reopen the camera menu. For an iPhone, keep it close to the Mac.
• On a Mac with no camera, Snapline's Camera toggle is disabled and says "No camera detected".
• If a camera you chose before is gone, Snapline opens the default camera and puts the bubble back in its default corner.

Camera permission was refused

macOS asks once per app. After a refusal, the only way back is System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera, where you switch the app on. Snapline's Camera toggle then explains and opens that pane, and stays off until access is granted.

The bubble is in the wrong place, or missing from the file

With the QuickTime trick, the camera window has to be inside the area you record: a portion of the screen that misses it records no camera. In OBS, check the camera's position on the canvas. In Snapline the bubble can't leave the recorded area, and its placement is stored relative to it, so a bubble left bottom-right comes back bottom-right in the next region.

The green camera light stays on

Some app still has the camera open. QuickTime keeps it open while the New Movie Recording window is, so close the window. Snapline closes the camera when you turn the toggle off, cancel the selection or finish the recording.

Text I hold up reads backwards

That's the mirrored self-view, and a recording that films the preview keeps it, a Snapline Quick Recording included. In a Studio take the camera part is saved as the lens saw it, so unticking Mirror in the editor's Camera section shows it the right way round. In OBS, flip the camera source horizontally.

Questions

Can I record my screen and webcam at the same time on a Mac for free?

Yes. Open QuickTime Player's New Movie Recording window, choose View → Float on Top, shrink it into a corner, and record the screen with ⇧⌘5. OBS Studio is the other free route, and it keeps the camera off your own screen.

Does QuickTime record the screen and the camera in one file?

Not by itself. A movie recording is the camera alone and a screen recording is the screen alone. The trick is to leave the camera window open on top while a screen recording films it, which gives one file with the camera baked in where the window sat.

Does Presenter Overlay work when I screen record?

Apple documents it as a video-call feature: in an app that captures video, while you share your screen, the Video menu in the menu bar offers a Small or Large overlay. Apple's page does not mention recording, so it is not a way to add a face cam to a ⇧⌘5 recording.

Can I move or remove the webcam after recording?

Only if the camera was recorded as a separate track. QuickTime's window trick, OBS's default recording and a Snapline Quick Recording bake it into the picture. Cap, CleanShot X's Studio Mode, Screen Studio and a Snapline Studio take keep it adjustable after recording.

Why is my webcam mirrored in the recording?

Self-view previews are mirrored, and a recording that films the preview keeps the mirroring, so text you hold up reads backwards. In a Snapline Studio take, untick Mirror in the editor's Camera section; in OBS, flip the camera source horizontally.

Does Snapline need Camera permission?

Only when you turn the camera on. Screen Recording is the one permission a recording needs; Camera is asked for the first time you switch on the Camera Bubble or the camera in a Studio take.