Where apps hide your files

Finding Camtasia's projects and recordings

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Camtasia keeps two kinds of files in two different places: recordings, which go to your Movies folder, and projects, which go wherever you saved them. Here is how to find both, plus the folder that holds a recording you never finished saving.

Where recordings go

TechSmith's support article for Camtasia on Mac gives your Movies folder as the default save location for recordings:

~/Movies

Camtasia's own recordings are .trec files. To open the folder, choose Go > Go to Folder in Finder (⇧⌘G), type ~/Movies and press Return, or from Terminal:

open ~/Movies

Unfinished recordings: the Temporary Recordings folder

If Camtasia or your Mac stopped mid-recording, TechSmith says to look here:

~/Movies/Camtasia/Temporary Recordings

Look for files ending in .trec. The folder name may differ between releases, so if it is not there, list what Camtasia has created in Movies:

ls ~/Movies | grep -i camtasia

Copy a recovered .trec out of this folder before you do anything else, then bring it into Camtasia with File > Import > Media or by dragging it onto the media bin. TechSmith's article only tells you where to find the files, so treat a successful import as likely rather than guaranteed.

The 14-day auto-delete

This catches people out. TechSmith says recordings are automatically deleted after 14 days by default if they are not used in the project. If a recording you never put on the timeline has vanished, this is the likely reason. TechSmith's steps to change it:

1. Open Camtasia.
2. Choose Camtasia > Settings (Preferences in older versions).
3. Click the Recording icon.
4. Deselect the auto-delete option (TechSmith's article calls it Save recordings to), or change the period.

Change it before a long shoot, not after.

Where projects go

A Camtasia project on Mac is a .cmproj file, and Camtasia puts it wherever you choose in the save dialog. There is no single projects folder to look in. Check these places:

• File > Open Recent inside Camtasia, which lists the last projects you opened.
• The folder you used at the first save, often Documents, Desktop or Movies.
• A cloud-synced folder, if you saved into one. TechSmith recommends keeping projects and media on a local drive, because working from network or cloud storage can corrupt projects or break exports.

A .cmproj is a package: Finder shows it as one file, and Show Package Contents (Control-click) opens it. Do not edit inside it. TechSmith explains that choosing Create standalone project when you first save embeds the imported media, including .trec files, in the project, so it can move to another disk or computer without losing media. Without that, the project refers to media in its original location, which is why a moved project can show missing media.

After a crash

TechSmith does not publish a Mac folder for project autosaves. Camtasia's 2026 release notes do mention a Project Recovery feature, so recent versions handle this themselves. Before assuming anything is lost:

• Reopen Camtasia. If it offers to recover a project, accept it.
• Look at File > Open Recent.
• Look in the folder where you last saved the project for a newer .cmproj.
• Check Temporary Recordings for the raw recording.
• Check Time Machine if you use it, since it includes ~/Movies.

Which file is which

Extension	What it is
.trec	A raw Camtasia recording, from the recorder.
.cmproj	A Camtasia project package: your timeline, edits and, if standalone, the media.
.mp4 and similar	A finished video you produced. It goes where you chose when you exported it, not into Temporary Recordings.

Keeping these apart explains most "where did it go" moments: a finished video, a project and a raw recording are three separate files in up to three places.

Space and cleanup

Screen recordings are large, and long ones with a camera track take the most room. To see what is using the space:

du -sh ~/Movies

Videos you have already produced and shared are safe to move out of Movies to an external drive, but keep each .cmproj and its media together. If you did not choose Create standalone project, moving the recordings breaks the project's links, so move them only after you have finished editing.

Moving to a new Mac

Copy each .cmproj you want to keep. A standalone project carries its media inside it. A project that refers to outside media needs those files too, at the same paths, or Camtasia will report them missing. Copy any .trec files you still need from ~/Movies as well.

Why a normal search misses these files

~/Movies is an ordinary folder, but a Camtasia recording is one more video among many in Spotlight's results, and a recovery file in Temporary Recordings sits in a folder most people never open.

Finding the files next time

Typing .trec into Everywhere lists every Camtasia recording on the Mac, including ones in Temporary Recordings, and typing .cmproj lists every project, wherever you saved it. Movies, Documents and Desktop are protected folders, so Everywhere includes them once it has Full Disk Access, which it asks for during setup. Press ⌘↵ to reveal a result in Finder. It matches file names only, not what is on screen in the recording.

Common questions

Where does Camtasia save recordings on a Mac?

In your Movies folder, ~/Movies, per TechSmith. Recordings not used in a project are deleted after 14 days by default unless you change that under Camtasia > Settings > Recording.

Where are Camtasia's temporary recordings?

In ~/Movies/Camtasia/Temporary Recordings as .trec files, per TechSmith. If that folder is missing, run ls ~/Movies | grep -i camtasia to see what your version created.

Where does Camtasia save project files on a Mac?

Wherever you chose in the save dialog. Projects are .cmproj packages, so use File > Open Recent in Camtasia, or search for .cmproj.

Does Camtasia for Mac have an autosave folder?

TechSmith does not document one for the Mac. Recent versions include Project Recovery, so reopen Camtasia and accept a recovery prompt, then check Open Recent and the folder where you last saved.