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

The short answer

• Built in: open QuickTime Player, choose File → New Movie Recording, turn on View → Float on Top, then record the screen with ⌘⇧5. The camera window is recorded as part of the screen.
• In a video call: on macOS Sonoma or later with Apple silicon, Presenter Overlay puts you over the screen you share. It's made for live calls, not for saving a file.
• Editable afterwards: Shotnix records the camera as its own track alongside the screen, so you can move, resize, restyle, or hide it later and switch between layouts.

Method 1: QuickTime's floating camera window

1. Open QuickTime Player and choose File → New Movie Recording (⌥⌘N). A window with your camera appears. If you have more than one camera, pick it from the Options pop-up menu in that window.
2. Choose View → Float on Top so the camera stays above every other window.
3. Drag a corner to shrink the window, then move it to a corner of the screen you won't need to click.
4. Press ⌘⇧5 and choose Record Entire Screen or Record Selected Portion. Click Options, pick your microphone, then click Record.
5. Stop with the stop button in the menu bar or ⌃⌘Esc. You get one .mov file with the camera window baked into the picture.

Note. Skip Record Selected Window (macOS 26 and later) for this: it records just the window you pick, so the floating camera isn't in it. Photo Booth can show your camera too, but its window can't float on top, so it disappears behind the first app you click.

Method 2: Presenter Overlay during a video call

Presenter Overlay is built into macOS Sonoma 14 and later on Macs with Apple silicon. While you share your screen in FaceTime or another video app, click the Video button in the menu bar and choose a size. Small puts your face in a movable bubble. Large keeps you in front, with your shared screen framed beside you.

It works well live, but it's a call feature, not a recorder. macOS doesn't save a file, so keeping a copy depends on the call app's own recording feature. Virtual backgrounds also switch off while it's on.

Method 3: Record two files and combine them in iMovie

1. Start a camera recording in QuickTime Player (File → New Movie Recording, then click Record) and a screen recording with ⌘⇧5 at about the same moment.
2. Clap once where the camera can see it. The spike in both audio tracks shows you where to line them up.
3. In iMovie, add both files to a new project. Put the screen recording on the timeline and drag the camera clip above it.
4. Select the camera clip, click Video Overlay Settings above the viewer, choose Picture in Picture from the pop-up menu, and click Apply.
5. Drag and resize the inset in the viewer, slide the camera clip until the claps line up, and turn down the audio of whichever clip sounds worse.
6. Export with File → Share → File.

Note. The camera stays separate, so you can move it later. The cost is lining up the clips by hand, a plain rectangular inset, and a trip back into iMovie for every change.

What the built-in routes can't do

• Change your mind later. With the floating window, the camera is part of the screen image. You can't move it, resize it, or remove it after you stop.
• Stay out of your way. The camera window covers whatever is under it while you work, and QuickTime's controls appear whenever the pointer passes over it.
• Change the look. You get a plain rectangle. Background blur has to come live from Portrait in the menu bar's Video menu, on Macs and cameras that support it.
• Switch layouts. There's no built-in way to open full screen on your face, shrink to a corner for the demo, and come back for the ending.

Method 4: Shotnix, with the camera on its own track

1. Click the Shotnix menu bar icon, choose Record Area, Record Window, or Record Fullscreen, and select what to record.
2. On the recording bar, turn on Camera, plus Microphone for your voice. A round live preview of your face floats on screen. It's only there for you and never appears in the screen capture.
3. Click Record and talk through the demo. Stop from the HUD or the menu bar timer, or press ⌃⌘Esc.
4. Click Edit Video. Your camera appears as a bubble over the recording, saved as its own track.
5. Open the Camera tab to set the shape and size. Pick one of eight positions or drag the bubble on the preview, and turn on Mirror if you prefer a selfie view.
6. Press ⌘E to export an MP4.

Note. macOS asks for camera access the first time. Shotnix is free, open source, and runs on Apple silicon Macs with macOS 13 or later.

Screen recording with a webcam in Shotnix →

Shapes, backgrounds, and layouts after recording

Because the camera is a separate track, nothing about it is locked in when you stop recording. Try a look, play it back, and change it.

• Shapes: Circle, Rounded, Wide, or Cutout, which drops the frame and shows just you over the screen.
• Behind you: keep the Original background, Blur it, or Remove it so your video's background shows through. Finding you in the frame happens on your Mac.
• Shrink while zoomed: the bubble gets smaller during zoom moves so it doesn't cover the detail on screen.
• Layouts: at the playhead, switch to Full camera for talking points, Side by side with the screen, or Camera hidden. Each layout is a block on the Camera lane that eases in and out.
• Intro and outro: one click on Full camera for intro & outro opens and closes the video on your face.
• Vertical versions: switch the aspect ratio to 9:16 and the camera stays put while the screen pans to follow your cursor.

Which method should you use?

For a quick clip where the camera can sit in one corner the whole time, QuickTime's floating window is enough. For a live presentation, use Presenter Overlay. If you want to adjust the camera after recording, it has to be recorded separately. iMovie works if you don't mind syncing by hand. Shotnix handles the recording, the sync, and the layouts in one app.

Tips for a better camera take

• Face the light. A window in front of you helps; a window behind you turns you into a silhouette.
• Raise the camera to eye level, and look at the lens when you make a point, not at your own preview.
• Plan the corner. Place the bubble where your demo never needs to click, then check the playback for moments it covers something.
• Sound matters more than picture. A headset or USB microphone close to your mouth does more than a better camera.
• Black preview or no camera: check System Settings → Privacy & Security → Camera and turn on the app you're recording with.

Questions