QuickTime Screen Recording: How to Stop Lags and Reduce File Size

1. QuickTime Screen Recording: How to Stop Lags and Reduce File Size How do I stop my QuickTime from lagging when I am recording my games?" "How do I reduce QuickTime recordings file size?" -- Users from Apple Community I believe many MacBook users have also come into the same problems mentioned above. As the built-in video player & screen recorder of the MacBook/iMac, QuickTime can be counted as versatile. However when it comes to the fluency of recording and the size of the recorded videos, it will lose its competitive edge. The first user above added that QuickTime is choppy both when it is recording and playing videos. The other user found the size of the recorded file was way too big, like 1 GB for a 2 minute recording, which are hogging big chunks of disk space in his 128 GB MacBook Air. Now let's look at the solutions to stop lags and reduce file size in QuickTime screen recording. And if you are disappointed with QuickTime, you may switch to a third-party screen recorder, which is more feature-rich than QuickTime and runs smoothly. Solution A: Change the Resolution from System Preferences Changing display resolution on MacBook/iMac to lower resolution can help to make QuickTime less laggy and get the recorded videos smaller in size, although you have to sacrifice a little visual quality.  Double-click the gear icon (System Preferences) from toolbar on the bottom.  Click the menu icon on the top.  Click the Displays on the window.  Choose Resolution>>Scaled.  Click a comparatively lower resolution. FonePaw Technology Limited 1

2. Solution B: Export as Medium Quality Another way to reduce the file size of QuickTime recordings is exporting the recording in medium quality after the recording is finished.  On QuickTime, choose File>> Export As after finishing recording and you will get 4 options from QuickTime Player menu bar: 1080p/720p/480p/Audio Only.  Select a medium or low definition like 720p or 480p. FonePaw Technology Limited 2

3. Note: users with the older version of QuickTime may adjust the video quality from the drop-down menu on the recording-control panel. Solution C: Convert the format MOV to MP4 using the third-party app QuickTime screen recordings are saved as .mov files, which are usually larger in size than many other multimedia formats. So by converting recorded MOV files to MP4, you can significantly reduce file size of QuickTime recordings. FonePaw Technology Limited 3

4. You can install FonePaw Video Converter Ultimate and convert the recorded videos in format MOV to MP4. In fact, by converting QuickTime videos to MP4, you not only save the storage space of your MacBook but also enable the videos to be played on PC with Windows system. Click here for more specific instructions to convert MOV to MP4. The above solutions are quite complicated and it may be not effective useful. As a result, it is suggested to record screen without QuickTime. Below an easy-to-use, no lag fluent and space-saving screen recording software is introduced. Solution D: Record Screen Without QuickTime FonePaw Screen Recorder for Mac is a better screen recorder than QuickTime. And it is now free to download. The advantages of FonePaw Screen Recorder (Mac): Smaller size: The recorded video of same length and quality by FonePaw is considerably smaller in size compared with QuickTime Player. In my experiment, a 40 seconds long video recorded by FonePaw recorder is 304 KB while the same recording in QuickTime takes 3.1 MB. Never lag: After using FonePaw recorder for months, it is rare for me to see recording video lag or become choppy. Easy to use & user-friendly: If you compare the interface of FonePaw Screen Recorder with QuickTime recorder, you'll find the former one is more clear and you can finish screen recording without any FonePaw Technology Limited 4

5. instruction. FonePaw Screen Recorder is also more user-friendly. For example, during the recording, there is a floating bar that let you pause screen recording, enable webcam and tell you how long you have recorded, etc. Snapshot when recording screen: During the screen recording, the clicking of camera icon on the floating bar enables you to capture the current frame of your video. Annotation panel for better demonstrating: Click the pen icon and an annotation panel will be displayed, allowing you to draw or write in the screen recording. How to use FonePaw Screen Recorder (Mac): Step 1: Double-click its icon to open FonePaw Screen Recorder on your Mac. Step 2: You will see a floating bar where you can select screen area, enable webcam, record audio and take screenshots. FonePaw Technology Limited 5

6. Step 3: After you have selected the recording area and set up all the recording settings, click REC button to start recording. Step 4: During the recording, you'll see a new toolbar, where you can pause or stop the recording. On the toolbar, you can also click the pen icon to add annotations onto your screen. Step 5: When you stop the recording, the recorded video will be saved in MP4. To access the recorded video, click the button on the top right corner to view the recording history, where you can see and share all recorded screen videos and screenshots. FonePaw Technology Limited 6