A free screen recorder for Mac with a video editor built in

Recording your screen on a Mac is easy. Turning that recording into a clean tutorial is the slow part: you need to cut mistakes, zoom in on details, add captions and a voice-over. DepCut gives you a free screen recorder and a full video editor in one workflow.

What the recorder does

The free DepCut Mac app sits in your menu bar. Choose Record Screen and a control bar appears with three capture modes:

• Record Entire Screen for a full-display capture.
• Record Window to capture one app window.
• Record Selected Portion to drag a rectangle and capture just that area.

Pick the audio from the same bar: System Audio for the sound your Mac plays, any connected microphone for your voice, or None. Press Record, and stop from the bar or the menu bar when you are done.

The recording saves as a .mov file on your Desktop. Recording needs macOS 15 or later. Full details: record your screen with the DepCut Mac app.

From recording to finished tutorial

Drag the .mov onto your DepCut timeline and edit:

1. Cut the mistakes. Remove pauses, false starts and dead air. See cut dead air and tighten the pace.
2. Add narration. Record a voice-over straight into the timeline, or generate one from a script. See record a voiceover into your timeline.
3. Point at what matters. Add arrows, shapes and titles over the screen. See add shapes, arrows and stickers.
4. Add captions. Generate subtitles so viewers can follow along muted.
5. Export in the size you need.

For a full walkthrough, read edit a Mac screen recording into a clear walkthrough.

Tips for better screen recordings

• Clean your screen first. Close unrelated apps, hide desktop clutter, and turn on Do Not Disturb.
• Record a window, not the whole screen, when you only need one app. The result is sharper and has less distraction.
• Increase text size in the app you are recording, so it reads well on a phone.
• Record the screen and the voice separately if you can. Record the screen first, then narrate in the editor. It is easier to get both right.
• Move the pointer slowly and pause on each click.

Who it is for

• Teachers and course creators recording lessons.
• Product teams making demos and release videos.
• Support teams answering questions with a short video.
• Creators making software tutorials for YouTube.

Get started

Install the free DepCut Mac app, record a short test, and open it in DepCut to edit.