How to Screen Record on Mac with Low File Size? Setting & Format

How to Screen Record with QuickTime and Get Low File Size?

1) Open QuickTime Player on your Mac.

2) Click File > New Movie Recording > click on the arrow > Quality > select High.

3) Start screen recording.

4) As the recording finished, click File > Export As > select 480p (SD) or 720p (HD)

Note: Recording settings of QuickTime Player are limited. You cannot manually change frame rate (fps), file format, scaling, etc.

If you want to have more flexible options to get a smaller screen recording file, you should try a third-party recorder.

How to Screen Record on Mac with Low File Size? Third-party Tool Option

Kingshiper Screen Recorder for Mac give more settings. See how to set it up and make the recording file smaller.

Step 1. Install and open Kingshiper on your Mac device.

Step 2. Click Settings > Export.

Step 3. In Video Format, select MP4 (AV1).

Step 4. In Frame Rate, select 20 FPS.

Step 5. In Resolution, select Standard Definition.

Step 6. Back to the panel, click Screen Recording > press Command + 1 to start/ stop recording.

Step 7. Click My File > the scissors icon > Export.

Step 8. Find the recording file by click the folder.

Learn More: What Settings Decide a Low File Size Recording?

a.Resolution

It refers to image clarity. By controlling the clarity, you get different size of recording file. The lower the resolution, the smaller the video file.

● 480p = SD (Standard Definition): ~2 MB File Size for 1 Minute
● 720p = HD (High Definition): ~5-15 MB per min
● 1080p = FHD (Full High Definition): ~37-124 MB per min
● 4K = UHD (Ultra High Definition): ~150-300+MB per min

b.Video Codec

This is a technology to compresses and decompresses digital video. Different codec produce different file sizes.

For QuickTime Player, Apple uses H.264 video codec for High Quality and Apple ProRes video codec for Maximum Quality by default.

You can tell H.264 video codec bring smaller file size than ProRes.

But, don’t miss AV1 and H.265 (also known as HEVC).

Check the ranking (from smallest to largest file size): AV1 < H.265 (HEVC) < H.264 (AVC) < ProRes.

c.Output Format

Mac saves video recordings in the .mov file format by default. Compared to MP4, MOV files tend to have higher bitrates and less compression, which leads to larger file sizes.

Thus, if you want to have a low file size for recording, you should export the file as MP4.

d.Frame Rate

Frame rate affects the video fluency. The higher, the smoother.

● 24 fps - typical for movies, with slightly ‘choppier’ motion
● 30 fps - most used in online videos, TV shows, and screen recordings
● 60 fps - for sports, gaming, and slow motion