How to reduce screen recording file size on a Mac with free tools.

The recording workflow

1. Find out how big it is and why

   Select the file in Finder and choose File > Get Info for the size. Open it in QuickTime Player and press Command-I for the resolution and frame rate. A large frame and a long duration are the usual causes.

2. Trim first

   In QuickTime Player choose Edit > Trim (Command-T), drag the yellow handles past the dead time at both ends, and click Trim. Every second removed is size removed at no quality cost.

3. Export at a lower resolution

   Choose File > Export As and pick 1080p or 720p. At 1080p or 4K, set the format to Smaller File Size to use HEVC, or Greater Compatibility to keep H.264.

4. Compare, then go further only if needed

   Check the new file with Get Info and watch 20 seconds at the size your viewer will see. If text is still readable and the file fits, stop here.

5. Use iMovie or HandBrake for a specific target

   iMovie shows an estimated size before you export. HandBrake has presets that guarantee a file under 25 MB up to a stated duration.

6. Keep the original

   Export As, iMovie, and HandBrake all write a new file. Keep the source recording until the smaller one has been delivered and checked.

Why Mac screen recordings are so large

File size is bitrate multiplied by duration. Bitrate, in turn, follows the number of pixels in the frame, how much the picture changes, and the codec. A full-display capture can hold far more pixels than a 1080p video, and a ten-minute take is ten times a one-minute take.

Apple does not publish the resolution, frame rate, or bitrate of built-in recordings, so there is no official megabytes-per-minute figure and we do not quote one. The formula below works for any video once you know its bitrate, and the table is that formula applied, not a measurement.

Megabytes per minute = megabits per second × 60 ÷ 8. To find your own recording’s average bitrate, reverse it: file size in megabytes × 8 ÷ duration in seconds.

One thing that does not work: compressing the file into a .zip. H.264 and HEVC video is already compressed, so an archive saves very little. Shrinking a video means re-encoding it at a lower resolution or bitrate, which is what every tool on this page does.

Record a smaller file in the first place

The cheapest megabyte is the one you never record. Four choices before you press Record decide most of the file size.

• Record a portion or a window, not the whole display. Press Shift-Command-5 and use Record Selected Portion, or Record Selected Window on macOS 26 Tahoe and later. Fewer pixels, smaller file.
• Keep the picture still where you can. Close video playing in the background and avoid dragging windows around; a static interface gives the encoder little to store.
• Stop when you are done. Leaving the recording running while you look for the Stop button is the most common source of dead time; Command-Control-Esc stops it immediately.
• On macOS 26 or later, know your Capture Format. Apple says HDR records HEVC and SDR records H.264, and that HEVC compresses better at the same quality, but it publishes no size comparison for the two capture formats. Choose by compatibility, then test: record the same 60 seconds in each and compare the sizes on your Mac.

QuickTime Player: Export As 1080p, 720p, or 480p

This is the route already on your Mac. Apple’s QuickTime guide describes File > Export As as a way to save a copy with a specific resolution, and lists what each option means.

What Apple does not promise is a size. The guide says the exact resolution and data rate of an exported movie depend on the original, so the only way to know the result is to export and check. The output is a .mov; QuickTime Player does not export MP4.

1. Open the recording in QuickTime Player.
2. Trim it first with Edit > Trim if there is dead time at either end.
3. Choose File > Export As and pick a resolution. Options larger than your movie are dimmed.
4. For 4K or 1080p, open the Format pop-up menu: Smaller File Size exports HEVC, Greater Compatibility exports H.264.
5. Name the file, choose a destination, and click Save. Window > Show Export Progress shows how far along it is.
6. Check the result with File > Get Info in Finder.

iMovie: export an MP4 and see the estimated size first

iMovie is free from Apple and does one thing QuickTime Player does not: it tells you the size before you commit. Apple’s article on converting MOV files describes the steps and says the estimated size of the converted file appears below the thumbnail in the export sheet.

It also gives you an MP4, which settles the format question in the same step.

1. In iMovie, click Create New in the Projects view and choose Movie.
2. Click the Import button, select your recording, and click Import Selected.
3. Select the clip in the browser and choose Edit > Add to Movie, or press E.
4. Click the Share button and choose Export File.
5. Open the Quality pop-up menu and choose Medium or Low, or lower the Resolution. Watch the estimated size under the thumbnail change.
6. Click Next, choose a location, and click Save.

HandBrake: free, open source, with a quality control and size presets

HandBrake is an open-source video transcoder built by volunteers. Version 1.11.2 runs on macOS 10.13 or later, costs nothing, needs no account, and runs entirely on your Mac. It writes MP4, MKV, or WebM with H.264, H.265, or AV1 video.

Its documentation recommends the default preset, Fast 1080p30, as a good starting choice, and constant quality encoding over a fixed bitrate. On the Video tab, moving the quality control left lowers quality and file size; right raises both. For the x264 and x265 encoders, HandBrake’s recommended range for 1080p is RF 20–24, where a higher RF number means lower quality and a smaller file. The documentation warns that drastically lower quality settings may show significant loss of detail, which on a screen recording means fuzzy text.

When you have a hard limit, use the Web > Social presets. HandBrake’s documentation says they are designed to guarantee that video up to a certain duration produces a file smaller than a specific size, and both numbers are in the preset name: Social 25 MB 30 Seconds 1080p60, Social 25 MB 1 Minute 720p60, Social 25 MB 2 Minutes 540p60, and Social 25 MB 5 Minutes 360p60. A five-minute screen recording at 360p will not have readable small text, so for long recordings a link beats an attachment.

1. Download HandBrake from the project’s official site (the project warns that unofficial mirrors exist) and open it.
2. Click Open Source and select your recording, or drag the file onto the window.
3. Choose a preset: General > Fast 1080p30, Fast 720p30, or a Web > Social preset that matches your length.
4. On the Video tab, nudge the quality control a few steps left if you need a smaller file.
5. Click Preview to encode a short sample and check that text is readable.
6. Set the destination under Save As and To, then click Start.

Which free tool to use for which size problem

Start at the top row and move down only if the file is still too large. Each step down trades more picture quality for size.

One more free option from Apple’s documentation: in Finder, Control-click a video and choose Services > Encode Selected Video Files, then pick a setting in the Encode Media window. Apple describes it for converting HEVC video to H.264.

File size in Qreata: decided when you pick the resolution

Qreata is not a compressor, and it is fair to say so on a page about compression. It does not import video, so it can’t shrink a recording you already made. It exports H.264 only, with no HEVC and no bitrate or quality setting. If your problem is an existing 2 GB .mov, the free tools above are the answer.

Where it helps is predictability for recordings you have not made yet. You pick 720p, 1080p, or 4K before recording, and the screen track is recorded at 4, 8, or 16 Mbps. By the arithmetic above that is about 30, 60, or 120 MB per minute for the screen track, plus about 1 MB per minute of audio. You know roughly what a five-minute walkthrough will weigh before you press Record: around 150 MB at 720p or 300 MB at 1080p. Treat those as estimates and check the exported file.

The editor shortens the video itself, which is the lossless way to cut size. Remove silences cuts pauses of 0.8 seconds or longer, Remove filler words takes out “um” and “uh” in English and Russian speech, word-level cuts remove a false start from the transcript, and a slow page load can run at up to 4× speed. A seven-minute take that becomes five minutes is about 29% smaller by the same arithmetic, with no change in picture quality.

Two limits to plan around: Qreata Cloud, the optional paid hosting, accepts MP4 files up to 1 GB, and while recording Qreata watches free disk space and stops by itself before the disk fills. The app costs $49 once for three Macs, runs on Apple Silicon with macOS 14 or later, and has a full 7-day trial.

Questions about this workflow