Where apps hide your files

Finding and moving your screen recordings

Updated 2026-10-28 · 5 min read

A screen recording made with Shift-Command-5 lands on your Desktop by default, as a .mov file with a date in its name. You can change the folder in the Screenshot toolbar, and the change applies to screenshots as well.

The default

~/Desktop/Screen Recording 2026-10-28 at 10.15.30.mov

Press ⇧⌘5, record, then stop. The file appears on the Desktop: Apple's guide says screen recordings are saved as .mov files whose names begin with Screen Recording and include the date and time. The exact time format follows your Mac's region and clock settings, and the words follow your system language, so the name may read differently on your Mac.

If it is not there, the Save to option was probably changed. Skip ahead to the next section, or run this read-only check:

defaults read com.apple.screencapture location

That prints the folder if one has been set. If it says the domain/default pair does not exist, as it does on a Mac that has never been customised, recordings use the default, the Desktop.

Changing where recordings go

1. Press ⇧⌘5 to open the Screenshot toolbar.
2. Click Options.
3. Under Save to, pick Desktop, Documents or Other Location to choose any folder. The other entries hand the capture to an app (such as Mail, Messages or QuickTime Player) instead of saving it to a folder you chose, so pick a real folder if you want recordings to land somewhere predictable.
4. Record again. The new location is used for both screenshots and recordings.

That one setting controls everything the Screenshot tool saves, so a folder like ~/Pictures/Captures keeps screenshots and recordings together. There is no separate setting per type in the toolbar; if you want recordings elsewhere, move them in Finder afterwards. The Options menu is the supported way to change the folder, and it takes effect at once.

The floating thumbnail

After you stop recording, a thumbnail can appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen for a few seconds. Apple's guide explains that it gives you time to act before the file is saved to your chosen location:

• swipe it to the right to save immediately;
• drag it into a document, an email or a Finder window;
• click it to open a window where you can trim or share the recording.

Control-click the thumbnail for a shortcut menu that includes Show in Finder and Delete. If you find the delay confusing, turn off Show Floating Thumbnail in the same Options menu, and recordings are written to disk as soon as you stop.

Recordings started from QuickTime Player

File > New Screen Recording in QuickTime Player opens the same Screenshot toolbar, with the same Options and Save to setting. Apple's QuickTime guide says that depending on where you chose to save the recording, an app may open. If Save to is a folder, the file goes there exactly as with ⇧⌘5. If Save to is QuickTime Player, the recording opens in a QuickTime window, and you keep it with File > Save. The related post on QuickTime recordings covers what happens if you close that window without saving.

Format and file size

Recordings are QuickTime movie files, .mov. They can be large because screen content at Retina resolution is a lot of pixels, and length matters most: a short clip is small and a long one grows steadily. List recordings on the Desktop, largest first:

ls -lhS ~/Desktop/Screen\ Recording*.mov

To shrink one, open it in QuickTime Player and use File > Export As with a lower resolution, or trim it from the thumbnail window. Move the original to the Trash in Finder only after you have checked the new one plays.

Microphone and clicks

The Options menu also holds the microphone choice and Show Mouse Clicks. Neither changes where the file goes, but both change what it contains. Check them before a long recording, because a recording made with the wrong microphone cannot be fixed afterwards. The Options menu offers microphones only; Apple's guide does not describe capturing the sound the Mac itself plays.

Moving and backing up recordings

Recordings are ordinary files, so drag them anywhere. If your Desktop and Documents folders sync to iCloud Drive, recordings saved to the Desktop sync as well, which uses iCloud storage and upload time for large files. Choose a folder outside iCloud for long recordings, such as ~/Movies, if that matters to you. The Photos app does not import recordings automatically; use File > Import there if you want them in your library.

Why they go missing

Common reasons:

• Save to was changed to a folder you forgot.
• Save to was set to an app, so the recording went to QuickTime Player, Mail or Messages instead of a folder.
• Desktop Stacks grouped the file, so it looks absent when it is only inside a stack.
• iCloud Desktop sync is on, and you are looking on a different Mac.

Searching for a recording

Spotlight indexes .mov files on the Desktop, but it will not help when a folder has been excluded from it or the recording sits on an external drive. Give Everywhere Full Disk Access, which macOS requires for the Desktop, Documents and external drives, and typing Screen Recording lists every recording by name wherever it was saved, including on drives not plugged in; ⌘Y previews one before you open it. It matches names only, so a recording you renamed needs the new name.

Common questions

Where do screen recordings save on a Mac?

On the Desktop by default, as a .mov file whose name begins with Screen Recording and includes the date and time. If you changed Save to in the Screenshot toolbar, they go to that folder instead.

How do I change where screen recordings are saved?

Press Shift-Command-5, click Options, and choose a folder under Save to, or Other Location for any folder. The same setting applies to screenshots.

Why is my screen recording not saved yet?

While the floating thumbnail is showing, the file has not been saved to your chosen location; swipe it right to save at once. If Save to is set to QuickTime Player, the recording opens there and needs File > Save.

Does changing the screen recording folder also change screenshots?

Yes. The Save to option in the Screenshot toolbar sets one location for both screenshots and screen recordings.