How to record your Mac screen with zoom

A full-screen recording is hard to follow on a phone or in a chat window. Zooming in where the action is fixes that. Here are two ways to do it.

Option 1: the built-in recorder plus a video editor

Press ⇧⌘5 and choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion.
Stop the recording from the menu bar. The file is saved to your Desktop.
Open it in a video editor such as iMovie and add a zoom or crop to each part you want to enlarge.

This costs nothing. The work is in step 3, because the built-in recorder doesn't know where you clicked, so every zoom is placed by hand.

Option 2: Lightcap

Press ⌃⌘` to open the capture bar and choose Studio recording.
Drag an area, click a window, or press F for the full screen. Recording starts.
Do the thing you want to show, then press stop. The editor opens.
Press ⇧Z. Lightcap adds zooms where you clicked. Clicks close together in time and place become one zoom.
Adjust if you like: drag a zoom on the timeline to move it, change its scale in the panel on the right, or press Z to add one yourself.
Select a slow part on the timeline and press ⌫ to cut it.
Press ⌘E to export an MP4. It is also copied to the clipboard, ready to paste.

Tips for a recording people will watch

Record a window or an area, not the whole screen. Less to zoom, nothing private in view.
Click deliberately. Automatic zoom follows your clicks, so one clear click per step gives clean zooms.
Cut the waiting. Loading spinners and typing pauses are the first thing to remove.
Keep it under a minute when it is going into a chat or an issue.

Good to know

Lightcap exports MP4 or GIF. GIF is 15 frames per second with no sound.
Recordings include microphone audio, not system audio.
To show the keys you press, turn on Input Monitoring when Lightcap asks. It is optional.

Questions

Can the built-in Mac screen recorder zoom?

The recorder you open with Shift-Command-5 records the screen but does not add zooms. You add them afterwards in a video editor.

How do I add zoom to a screen recording on Mac?

Record with Lightcap's Studio recording, then press Shift-Z in the editor to add zooms where you clicked. You can move or resize each zoom and export an MP4.

Download Lightcap for Mac and try every feature free for 7 days. No account or card needed. It runs on macOS 15 or later.